Dime #34

See the five kids to the left? When we slapped them on the cover of Dime #34 this summer, we wanted to capture a group that would represent the best that American high school basketball has to offer. It wasn’t about getting the flashiest or the most famous, and rather than five randomly-selected individuals, we wanted to highlight a group who could be a legit team. Doesn’t matter what class, doesn’t matter what sneaker company a kid might be loyal to, doesn’t matter what side of the country — this was our “Dream Team” of the high school ranks.

Last Friday at Rucker Park, a similar concept came to life at the second annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic at Rucker Park. Bringing together 24 of the best prepsters in the country for an all-star showcase on the world’s most famous outdoor court, it’s become one of our favorite events of the summer and a hit in Harlem, as the park has been packed to the point of overflow every time.

This year’s Elite 24 rosters were obviously stacked with talent and thankfully balanced, providing an entertaining — albeit with no D, but you know how these things go — game that had Rucker jumpin’. (And if we can pat ourselves on the back, four of our five #34 cover guys were on the court and did their thing: Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday, Lance Stephenson and Luke Babbitt. The fifth, Derrick Favors, was also invited to NYC, but decided to stay home and get ready for the upcoming school year.) Overall, the people at Boost stepped it up a level with this year’s show.

For one, the crowd was bananas. It was like one of the classic scenes from the NYC playgrounds of the ’70s; kids hanging on fences to get a look over the standing-room-only bleachers, with every little space that offered even a bad view being occupied. Most of us got there early and still never found a good spot to sit, craning our necks over and around one 400-pound security guy and another Rick Ross look-alike just to see. When Fat Joe showed up midway through, he didn’t even get a seat — he and his TS boys were standing the whole time. Joe Crack wasn’t the only celeb in the house: Baron Davis and Rafer Alston were the “coaches” for the respective teams, although Baron didn’t so much coach as he just kinda chilled on the bench and let Lincoln H.S. head man Tiny Morton handle things like subs and play-calling. Rafer, on the other hand, despite having Jerry Tarkanian and his old Cardozo H.S. (Queens) coach Ron Naclerio at his side, still went into full coach mode, stalking the sidelines and getting animated. Could Rafer be a real-life coach someday? If Kenny Anderson can do it, why not? Other notables we spotted: Marcus Williams (Nets), Kevin Love, Steve Burtt Sr., Steve Burtt Jr., Pearl Washington, Walter Berry, ex-pro Cheese Johnson (whose son, Noel Johnson, was one of the players) and Georgetown guard Jessie Sapp (or “Reggie Sapp” according to announcer Hannibal).

On the court, it was what you’d expect from a high school all-star game: a lot of dunks, a lot of cats getting dusted on crossovers, some more dunks, a lot of treys, and some more dunks.

We’ve always said an all-star game is only as good as its point guards, and the Elite 24 brought out the best in the country. Brandon “The Takeover” Jennings ran the show for the White team. After becoming a Rucker favorite last year while dropping 15 dimes in the Elite 24, the Oak Hill (VA)-via-Compton senior was an animal this time around, putting up 19 points and 23 assists. Young Money was setting guys up perfectly on lobs and hitting the mark on backdoor cuts, and when he wasn’t doing that, breaking out the Harlem Globetrotter dribble moves and sticking a few pull-up threes so you don’t think he’s just a playmaker. Oh, and the 6-2 lefty can dunk. Easily. He didn’t pull out the windmill like he did last year, but had a reverse two-hander that got the crowd going.

Across from Jennings was the Orange team PG tandem of Kemba Walker (Rice H.S. in NYC) and Dexter Strickland (St. Patrick’s H.S. in Jersey). Already dubbed “EZ Pass” from killing at Rucker and other NYC playground courts all summer, Kemba played like this was his court. Outside of the city he doesn’t have the name recognition of a Jennings, but at Rucker he’s just as big a celebrity. Kemba held down his rep, too, with some crazy passes and blowing by guys in the open court. He put up 16 points. Strickland, another NYC native who wasn’t trying to get shown up in his city, also had 16. Looking a lot more muscular than the kid we saw in last year’s game, Strick was getting up for baseline crams and stayed in the lane as a creator and scorer. Florida PG Kenny Boynton on the Orange team also deserved mention, only he wasn’t really playing like a point. The guy loves to shoot, and with the J he has, you can’t blame him. Matter of fact, when we got with Kenny the day before the game and asked about his ball-handling workout, he sheepishly admitted, “I don’t really have one. I mostly work on shooting.” He put up 17 points on Friday, going 3-for-3 beyond the arc.

Then there was Lance Stephenson and Tyreke Evans. Depending on who you ask or what you’re looking for, they’re the two best players, pound-for-pound, in America. We’ve had the senior Tyreke (American Christian School near Philly) on the cover of Dime twice already, and Lance (Lincoln H.S. in Brooklyn) has a Dime and a Bounce cover under his belt before he starts his junior season. Both of them shined at Rucker. If you had to give an NBA comparison, it was like watching LeBron and Kobe go shot-for-shot. Lance was all power, bursting through the lane sometimes with the ball tucked away like a running back before uncoiling for a dunk or finger roll. In the fourth quarter, the hometown crowd favorite really took over, scoring on clear-outs and sticking pull-ups (his J might be better than LeBron’s, actually) en route to a game-high 38 points. As for ‘Reke, dubbed “Reke Havoc” by Bobbito Garcia and Hannibal, he was a scoring machine. Pumping in 26 points on mostly layups, he was beating some of the best guards in the country off the dribble (Jrue Holiday got it especially bad a few times) and soaring in for acrobatic buckets. Tyreke isn’t a high-flyer — he had maybe one dunk — he just slithers in and out of open spaces and stays under control around the rim. And as far as the handle, he’s on another plane. One time it looked like he was gonna bop the ball off of Jrue’s forehead, but he whipped it back to himself, took a stutter-step and finished off the glass. By the fourth quarter, every time Tyreke got the ball the crowd was on its feet chanting “Too Easy” (his other nickname).

Despite having a hard time handling Tyreke, Jrue got his buckets too, scoring 24 points with his more efficient offensive game. The UCLA-committed senior out of North Hollywood is less The Professor and more Chris Paul with a wet three-ball; one or two moves and he’s out.

Of course, any kind of setting like this is a haven for guards and high-flying wings (USC commit Demar DeRozan and Indiana commit Devin Ebanks abused the rims on the regular), but what about the bigs? While guys like 7-2 Sudan product John Riek struggled in the lightning-fast atmosphere, someone like B.J. Mullens (7-1 Ohio State commit) and Samardo Samuels (diesel 6-9 Louisville commit) thrived. Mullens can run the floor and shoot like a guard, so he had no problems keeping up, and Samuels is fast enough and scary enough that no one wants to get bowled over when he’s on the loose. Mullens (18 pts) brought the house down in the second half when he reached waaaay back and caught a sick alley oop from EZ Pass that got the biggest crowd reaction of the night, getting the park on the verge of running onto the court. Samuels (21 pts)caught a few dunks himself, mostly of the power variety after sending some defender flying off of him.

At the end, the game was close. While both teams topped 160 points, the defense got a little tighter in the fourth as it came down to the wire. The White team was up by three with under 20 seconds left when Lance missed back-to-back threes. A garbage bucket on the other end put the capper on this year’s Elite 24, with the White team taking it 169-164. Jennings, Tyreke, Lance and Holiday took the co-MVPs.