10 May 2024

Fire & Ice – Rpt III

Christian Maxon, Florida Pro: The 6’2 junior from Fort Pierce Central made his presence felt on Sunday after not being available on Saturday.  Maxon drained his first shot of the game, a three, and went from there.  He consistently dropped in shots on both sides of the arc, some off the catch, some off the dribble.  Maxon has a quick release and craftily uses step-backs and side-step dribbles to get open.  He also found teammates for easy shots.  One of the things that makes Maxon so hard to defend is that he is in constant motion, never content to stay still and wait for the ball to come to him.

Josiah Cotto, TNBA South: The 6’0 junior from St. Cloud is having a very productive spring for TNBA South.  He is very quick with the ball, explodes off the dribble to the basket, and can stop quickly and rise up to shoot and connect on perimeter shots.  Cotto continuously seeks to push the pace of the game, looking to beat the defense down the court or finding teammates for easy shots in transition.  He makes good shot vs pass decisions on the move and does a good job of reading and reacting to the defense coming off ball-screens.  Defensively Cotto is solid with quick feet and active hands.

Spencer Clayton, SWFL Hoops: A 6’2 junior at Barron Collier in Naples, Clayton had arguably the best shooting performance of the weekend on Saturday morning.  He went 6 of 7 from behind the arc and even when the defense knew it was coming they couldn’t stop him.  Clayton has good footwork, is always shot-ready, and has a quick release.  He is especially dangerous in transition as well as when stepping into the shot before the defense can rotate and get to him.  Clayton is more than capable of taking advantage of defenders that close out poorly or crowd him to take away his shot as he had a couple of drives for easy scores.  In an age where shooting is at a premium, Clayton becomes a valuable commodity.

Maddox Palmer, 1 Family Pro 2026: A 6’5 sophomore at Ponte Vedra, Palmer is a positionless playmaker.  He sees the court well, makes quick decisions with the ball, and puts pressure on the defense with his ability to drive the ball and score in a crowd, or find open teammates for easy shots.  Palmer has good strength to battle bigger opponents inside for rebounds and has the ball-handling skills to burst out of the pack under the basket at the defensive end and push the ball on his own in transition.  His perimeter shot is a work in progress but there is plenty of time to get the consistency rate up.  Palmer anticipates well on the defensive end and he has the tools to be a versatile defender.

Robbens Jobuin, Wellington Wolves 16U: A 6’5 sophomore at Palm Beach Central, Jobuin is tough to stop on the interior thanks to a solid body, good skills, and soft touch around the basket.  He can post up and score or overpower defenders with one or two-dribble drives from the high post and/or short corners.  Jobuin shows signs of becoming an effective perimeter scorer as he showed decent ball-handling skills and looked comfortable in knocking down his lone perimeter shot, a three.  He rebounds the ball at a high rate, especially on the offensive glass.  Jobuin plays with a motor that runs high and with a bit of a chip on his shoulder.

Dylan Foster, 1 Family NXT 2026: A 6’5 sophomore at Orlando Edgewater, Foster was quietly productive as his impact on the game came via passing, rebounding, and defense.  He was alert to get the ball to open shooters on the perimeter, either out of the post or after securing a loose ball or offensive rebound.  He was always in the mix to secure a rebound at either end of the court and offensively drew a lot of fouls spending an inordinate amount of time at the free throw line.  Foster has good strength and athletic ability.  It will be interesting to see how he develops over the next couple of seasons.

Christian Yeargin, AllBall 2026: A 6’3 sophomore out of Stranahan in Fort Lauderdale, Yeargin is a slasher that excels at getting to the basket.  He is quick to get ahead of the defense to score in transition, attacks the basket with the dribble in half-court sets, and makes himself available as a cutter into scoring positions.  Yeargin finishes above the rim and isn’t shy about challenging defenders at that level.  He appears to be an adequate ball-handler and passer on the perimeter.  We did not see much in the way of perimeter shooting from Yeargin in the game we watched.

Christopher Maxon, Florida Pro: A 6’2 junior at Fort Pierce Central, this Maxon has many of the same traits as twin brother Christian mentioned earlier but, at least in the contest we watched on Sunday, was more of a distributor than shooter.  That really means he didn’t take as many shots but instead looked to drive and make plays by either scoring or getting the ball to teammates that had better opportunities to score.  Again, one of the things that makes the brothers individually so difficult to defend is their constant movement without the basketball and ability to find open spaces in the defense.

 

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