Words by Victoria Sun

Most high school basketball junkies still remember the first time they laid eyes on Kobe Bryant of Lower Merion High (Philadelphia, PA) or LeBron James, who starred at St. Vincent-St. Mary High (Akron, OH). Being able to brag about the exact moment you “discovered” some phenom that the rest of the country didn’t know about yet has always been a source of pride for hoop fiends.

Since its inception six years ago, the Pangos All-American Camp has turned into a fertile ground for uncovering some big-time talent that previously flew under the radar.

National media members and basketball fans that have attended the three-day event aren’t lying when they say they witnessed the coming out party of Arizona State sophomore James Harden, Golden State Warriors rookie Anthony Randolph, Gonzaga sophomore Austin Daye and Cleveland Cavaliers rookie J.J. Hickson, who all had standout performances.

In a short period of time, the Pangos All-American Camp has attracted former high school standouts including USC freshman DeMar DeRozan, North Carolina junior Deon Thompson, UCLA freshmen Jrue Holiday, Drew Gordon and Malcolm Lee, Tennessee freshman Renaldo Woolridge, Cal junior Jamal Boykin and Arizona juniors Jordan Hill and Nic Wise.

NBA rookies Jerryd Bayless, Russell Westbrook and DeAndre Jordan have all participated in the event, along with Memphis Grizzlies guards Kyle Lowry and Javaris Crittenton, Oklahoma City Thunder center Robert Swift, Miami Heat small forward Dorrell Wright, Detroit Pistons shooting guard Arron Afflalo and Boston Celtics point guard Gabriel Pruitt.

The annual event, featuring drills, individual instruction, full-court and 3-on-3 games, has become a proving ground for rising players and a showcase for more established prospects.

Last year, for exapmple, the camp was held at USC’s Galen Center in Los Angeles and delivered what many expected: A great venue to catch a glimpse of the next potential big thing in the game.

Point guard John Wall, considered to be the top player in the class of 2009 by Rivals.com, was the headliner. Top 10 class of 2010 prospect and Louisville commit Jeremy Tyler was on hand too.

Georgetown-signee Hollis Thompson, Oklahoma State-signee Roger Franklin and top 20 prospect Michael Snaer, who will be attending Florida State ,were just a few of the more well-known participants.

“I enjoyed the competition,” said Snaer, a senior at Rancho Verde High (Moreno Valley, Calif.). “I was fortunate enough to play with a lot of good players. I liked how it was organized. It was great. Everything went how it was supposed to and the all-star game was great.”

 
Former New Orleans Hornets assistant coach Dave Miller made an appearance and crammed as many life lessons as he could about basketball and what it takes to be a successful college and pro player while he conducted drills.

Miller, a former college assistant coach at Texas, Arizona State and USC, used his blunt sense of humor to stress the importance of players motivating themselves and gave them some insight on what college coaches are looking for when recruiting.

“I like to listen to guest speakers to see what they have to say, especially if they are involved at the next level so if I’m fortunate enough to make it there one day, I’ll know what to expect,” said Snaer.

The camp concluded with two all-star games highlighted by the return of former campers DeRozan and former McDonald’s All-American and current Italian League player Brandon Jennings, who handed out awards.

Because of its strong field, the camp has attracted a large contingent of national scouting services and local media members.

United States Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame writer Frank Burlison, Justin Young from Rivals.com, Van Coleman of Hoopmasters.com, Clark Francis of the Hoopscooponline.com, Brick Oettinger and Rob Harrington of Prepstars.com and Joel Francisco of ESPN.com were just a few of the hoops mavens in attendance.

Popular video media outlets BallisLife.com and HoopMixTape.com were also on hand taping plenty of video highlights.

Evan Daniels, a recruiting analyst for Scout.com, has also attended the camp and appreciates the fact that it attracts a wide range of players from high major prospects to mid-major prospects to hidden gems from different areas.

“The best thing about the Pangos All-American Camp is that it gives you an opportunity to see a variety of guys,” said Daniels, who is based in Lexington, KY. “It pulls top kids from Texas and Georgia, and then you do get to see the best kids from California.

“It makes it worth my time because you get to evaluate a variety of kids. Living on the East Coast, you don’t always get to see a ton of West Coast guys so it gives me a chance to see a ton of guys in a weekend.”

The event was originally founded by camp director Dinos Trigonis to give California players a chance to compete against top competition without having to travel far and provide players elsewhere an opportunity to travel West because the majority of all-american camps are held east of the Mississippi.

By holding the camp in June, it has become a worthwhile appetizer to all of the summer all-american individual events and national tournaments held in July.

Four of the best youngsters at camp this year were Wall’s AAU teammates Quddus “Deuce” Bello (Westchester Country Day, High Point, NC) and J.T. Terrell (Cummings High, Burlington, NC), sharp-shooting USC commit Gary Franklin (Mater Dei High, Santa Ana, CA) and multi-dimensional guard Anthony Brown (Ocean View High, Huntington Beach, CA).

The timing of the camp coupled with the consistent talent level is why Francis has attended for six straight years.

“I’ve never missed one which speaks to the quality of this camp,” Francis said. “The Pangos Camp gets high level players from Derrick Favors to Anthony Randolph. There are national players who are really good and then you also get to see promising young guys.”

When given the chance, many players have made it a point to attend the camp more than once.

Michigan-bound Darius Morris, a senior at Windward High  (Los Angeles, CA) has participated in the Pangos Camp the last two years. He noted the fact that both Jennings, rated the top player in the class of 2008, and Wall, the No. 1 senior in the class of 2009, both participated and that was an indicative of the camp’s stature.

“The Pangos All-American Camp attracts a lot of the best players locally and nationally and also gives underrated players a chance to go up against top national competition,” Morris said.

“The camp gives every body an equal opportunity to showcase what they’ve got and sometimes players that are not yet widely known blow up and shoot up the national rankings while elite ballers like Jenings solidify their status as the nation’s best.”