I wake up in a cold sweat at 2 am, their faces creep into my dreams, or shall I say, NIGHTMARES. I have blood on my hands, dirt I did, Lord forgive me, I didn’t mean to.
You kill somebody E-Woods?
No. Worse than that when I put a prospect out there as a high major prospect too soon and ruin a kid’s recruitment. Like my guy Alex S of Studio City, he signed to go to UNC. I helped him get ranked #2 in the class of 2007, but that was too high.
I tried to tell people to rank him top 30, they didn’t listen in time and when Carolina offered, Alex accepted. He eventually transferred back west to USC to get more playing time.
This story is about finding great kids to properly support.
It’s tricky projecting how great a kid will grow to be. As a predictor of talent, it feels super great helping kids like Skyy Clark. He’s a super dope person and I’m proud I put him out there in 6th grade.
But I rarely put kids out there in 6th grade because of the fear I have of regret and possible guilt when a kid doesn’t live up to the hype.
So before you come at me all Shakespearean, “A curse on your house E-Woods”, accusing me of hyping up youngsters too soon, know I vetted these three really young guns in this feature to the max.
They’re pure of heart, and all three will punch a hole through time and space, traveling their hoop road whether I hype them up or never even speak their name. 100.
Before 2020, before the concentrated hype of hoop Cali freshman Mikey Williams got him 1.8 million twitter followers, there was my friend Tim M, class of 2006, Lynwood high school.
Tim as an 8th grader was a sub zero cold 6-2 guard going into his freshman year, super bunnies, an evolving good shot, swaggy but humble kid, great fam. Dude had bounce and grades, such a good dude, 8th grader in 2002.
T was ranked by multiple recruitment outlets as Cali’s #1 in his class and a top 10 national phenom. He was my friend. But when people tell me they think a kid is a can’t miss prospect? Not always I tell them.
Tim didn’t grow his game, his confidence didn’t stay with him. He didn’t evolve his game so as other players stock rose, his fell. Tim didn’t get injured, he just didn’t get as good as others hyped him up to become.
Where did Tim end up at, which college did he sign up to play for you ask? Well, you tell me if he lived up to the hype. His best offer was to a D-2 in North Dakota and that’s where he went.
Have you seen terrible stuff in your life like I have, things you can’t “unsee?” Does it disturb you?
Disgusting things about how kids are led astray by a few bucks bug me most. Like in 2003, I knew a 4th grader given $5,000 to switch AAU teams, no way you say?
Me, E-Woods, I’ve had D-1 coaches offer to pay me $50,000, $100,000 to get a kid to sign with their blue blood D-1. What truly disgusts me is that AAU coaches, college coaches think they can buy a kid.
This one terrible dude said about a 5-star player, “I’m going to buy that kid.” I don’t feel good repeating his other disgusting words but if it helps just that one kid not to be manipulated, it needs to be heard.
The coach added obscenely, “P**pin ain’t easy, I treat my players like a h** after I give them money.”
That’s real, it’s why I go out of my way to give good advice, why I try to link kids with great mentors, as I’ll detail in this story.
Let me tell what happens when a kid going into college takes a short cut, or takes a Jeep for free. Billy Preston who I got to know, started out playing at different preps in LA, went on to play ball at Oak Hill and by the time he got to play at Kansas, somehow he got a Jeep, which he couldn’t prove how.
Then he got got in an accident on the Kansas campus with that vehicle. Billy went from a 1 and done NBA pro prospect headed to the L, to being NCAA ineligible, his NBA dreams all messed up.
Point being? Don’t take stuff, especially when you’re a baby takeover, or prep phenom. It’s not worth it.
So who are these young ballers who have next? I’m always looking for that young bull, chalk full of energy that is dominating in junior high, who is building skills and a rep going into prep.
Look no farther than 6th grader Justice Griffith. He’s the kind of kid you can believe in. I’ve been Facetiming, watching lots of his games. It’s not that he’s a combo guard that impresses me, it’s that he attacks without fear, is fast, and is unbelievably well trained.
His awesome trainer has treated many kids with honor, mentored them, and likes to be low key. I’ve seen him take on young kids and help mold and prepare them to be an NBA MVP and he’s one of the reasons I have so much confidence in J-Griffith.
I love how beyond humble Justice is. I just got done talking to Dylan Andrews of Windward about Justice, telling my guy DA, J-Griffith he might be the one bro!
I’m very high on J-Griffith for many reasons, you have to just love how Justice has this intense motivation to be a good role model for his younger brother Titan, age 11, and his lil sis Brooklyn age 8, who is great at running.
If you felt the love these siblings have for each other, it’s so deep and sincere it hurts, in a great way. They push each other to be great people, and what is more important than that?
Justice is being raised by a caring mom who is a nurse, Tanisha, and by a great dad Courtenay, who is a firefighter. They are humble parents and Justice’s whole inner circle is the best.
Justice enjoys having behind him the same great person that helped Mikey Williams gain his success of entering prep after going head to head with all the best other kids in his class. I have to hand it to Mikey and his trainer, they proved that success at the highest level could be attained through hard work and belief.
The video linked below does nothing for Justice, it’s just some highlights.
This kid can pass the heck out the ball and he gets his energy from playing defense. He'd rather play defense than offense and his basketball IQ is second to none. He's a pass first point guard that has the ability to score whenever he decides to.
Feel Justice’s dope video link!
Justice is proud to be coming out of the Inland Empire. It must be something in that IE water, let me have a sip of that H2O! Will Justice be the “Baby Takeover?”
Stay tuned, I most certainly am.
Who is that female Baby Takeover, so pure to the game? Inland Empire’s 6th grader Kaleena Smith, aka, “Special K.”
She plays on Team Obsessed for Ulande Washington, good dude. Could talk to him for hours about hoop.
Kaleena appreciates Ulande, they win a lot of games. They have the coolest ever Rug Rat jerseys and all.
Special K is so cold in game, I find few things, that are as fun as watching her run the point, beating opponents all while being supremely confident.
Kaleena is mature; the game is not child’s play to her. She has this immense drive to improve, her passing is off the hook, and she has ALL the moves. Her hesi is on point, she makes everyone around her better.
A lot of the credit for Kaleena being grounded while being allowed to follow her dream comes from her awesome mom Brandie McCann. She’s the real deal, a great mom who happens to work in education like I do.
Special K has already been featured in USA Today high school sports, ESPN, and a very dope Ball Is Life feature you have to see to believe:
What makes her dope? It’s more than her game, it’s her heart to play the game. It reminds me so very much of Brandon Jennings.
She could be the #1 player in her class, and I don’t chase hype, I chase players that are a lil obsessed with chasing greatness. Feel me?
Some may say Kaleena is not that tall. Tell that to her IE neighbor Londynn Jones. L-Jones constantly proves impossible is nothing because at 5-4, Londynn has proven that.
If you want it that bad, train enough, dedicate yourself to it, Kaleena might follow in Londeeezy’s dazzling footsteps!
The word amazing is a lil over used, but not on Special K. I talked to this 6th grader for 2 freaking hours straight and was beyond fascinated and impressed.
When I see her play, Hail Mary by Tupac plays in my head. But I had to know if she was really ready for me to put her out there.
Point is, if you have been around 100’s of super dope players like I have, you can tell when they’re born with it.
It’s inside them and must come out. President Barack Obama? He wrote a letter in kinder that stated his mission was to be president. Greatness must come out.
There’s a reason why Special K is already being recruited by Pac-12 programs. Didn’t Skyy Clark take his 1st Pac-12 visit at the end of his 6th grade year?
So will Kaleena step on campus once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted for visits? Yeah, it’s like that for Kaleena.
That might be too much pressure you say, but if you truly knew K, you’d see that it’s no sweat for her. This future Baby Takeover can handle all the smoke.
She has a 4.0 gpa and even though she’s a normal, bubbly, ultra swaggy 6th grader in many ways, she’s just a cool humble kid and is serious about wanting to be a future doctor.
Kaleena = Mature? Oh yeah.
The third very good baller I’m detailing here is Jatniel Cabrera. She’s such an uplifting presence and her skills are emerging quite fast.
She’s quite famous for a 6th grader, having already done Steph Curry mini movies for Under Armor, “JAT” as she likes to be known, has 20,000 IG subscribers but that hasn’t changed her a bit.
Why I am totally confident JAT will succeed is because she has been training with that uber dope trainer of a generation Olin Simplis for years now.
Since 4th grade she’s been in the lab with O, putting in work big time.
At Olin’s sessions you can find her side by side grindin’ with nice NBA players.
JAT also has the support of dope WNBA mentors such as Kennedy Burke and Imani McGee. She sponges up all they have to share.
This kid is a truly a jewel, starting to show nice handles, and has a very competitive spirit. What I also love so much about JAT is that she has the dopest AAU coach in Sherri Pegues of the Derek Fisher associated GBL Lady Rebels.
JAT doesn’t play on a team, it’s a family. Sherri is the epitome of a humble and great influence to JAT, Sherri treats all her players so well.
Sherri’s not a coach but a legend to me and to many. I recently texted Sherri, just hoping to feel connected to her singular fire, she voraciously eats the game up like few ever have.
An army of people have told me Sherri is that woman who helped them become good women. That needs to celebrated, even if Sherri’s too humble to hear it.100.
You can see JAT growing up to inspire others by just being herself. If you meet JAT, you won’t ever be the same. She gets in your heart, she gets in her opponents grill, she gets on the score board.
See the purple smoke in this SC video, JAT wants all the
Lastly, I’m dedicating a tuff maxim below to a special kid I’ve been blessed to write about a few times already.
Still only in 8th grade, Shea Joko has next. She’s not just a friend but a person I look up to.
The words in the maxim I’ll share in a sec but before I do, please ask yourself are they Eloquent? Are they Hardcore? Are they Real?
This maxim is all 3, they rep S-Joko, and she reps them.
“If I advance, follow me! If I retreat, kill me! If I die, avenge me!” – La Rochefoucauld
Is that COLD? Mos def, but for a future Baby Takeover, only cold-blooded will do. One buck.
