Top Male ballers in the Durham Region.

Who in your opinon are the top ballers in Durham going into the high school season 2009?

Also most Under rated player in 2009?

1. Rob Gagliardi (Pickering)
2. Jonathan Tull (Pickering)
3. Isiah Swaby (Pine Ridge)
4. Mammadou Mutumbo (Pickering)
5. Troy Joseph (Pickering)
6. Adrian Tucker (St. Mary's)
7. Justin Jarrett (J Clarke)
8. Janoi Wright (Pine Ridge)
9. Kevin Thomas (Pickering)
10. Rowan Bennett (Pickering)
11. Adam Pummer (Pine Ridge)
12. Liban Hassan (Pickering)
13. Norm Penola (Notre Dame)
14. Damone Donaldson (Notre Dame)
15. Leon Alexander (J Clarke)

I just lost all respect for you rerun after seeing that list...

I didn't know you had respect for me in the first place so I'm alright with that. So what is your opinion? Why don't you put together a list and I'll tell you my feelings?

Rerun, as you know, not everyone is going to agree with your a list. It's hard to compare players because not everyone plays the same position. For example, a guard will always dominate the ball more than a forward, and as a result will take more shot and scoring more points. Most people will rank a player by the amount of points he/she scores and not looking at his/her overall game.

To underscore my point, take a look at your list and notice that the top three players on it are guards. I am sure that is for that same reason why these players are on top of your list.

I am a little different than most people when it comes to making a top players list. I looked at the players overall game, not just is ability to score points, but the other things that player bring to his team. If scoring is the main premise of how you derive your list, then Rob Gagliardi is the best player in Durham. But what else can Rob bring to the table other then being a scorer? Now, you see where I am going with this.

Frankly speaking this is a good list although I may not agree with the the ranking of the players. Durham may not be the strongest region in the GTA, but some of the players on this list are as good some regards as any other is the GTA and beyond.

Here is my top three:

1. Jonathan Tull - A lock down defender, can score in a variety of ways like attacking the basket, improved mid range game and and tireless worker. Plays with heart, hungry and wants to get better

2. Adrian Tucker - an improved offensive game - not exclusively a post player anymore, solid mid range jumper, very good rebounder, decent shot blocker for a guy only 6' 4". Will hurt you with good inside scoring and can now put it on the ground and attach the basket.

3. Rob Gagliardi - Pure shooter, can light it up from mid range or three point distance, can and will attack the basket when given the opportunity. Does not rebound or block shot, his lack of size (6' 1") hurts him in that department.

[quote="Tango"]Rerun, as you know, not everyone is going to agree with your a list. It's hard to compare players because not everyone plays the same position. For example, a guard will always dominate the ball more than a forward, and as a result will take more shot and scoring more points. Most people will rank a player by the amount of points he/she scores and not looking at his/her overall game.

To underscore my point, take a look at your list and notice that the top three players on it are guards. I am sure that is for that same reason why these players are on top of your list.

I am a little different than most people when it comes to making a top players list. I looked at the players overall game, not just is ability to score points, but the other things that player bring to his team. If scoring is the main premise of how you derive your list, then Rob Gagliardi is the best player in Durham. But what else can Rob bring to the table other then being a scorer? Now, you see where I am going with this.

Frankly speaking this is a good list although I may not agree with the the ranking of the players. Durham may not be the strongest region in the GTA, but some of the players on this list are as good in some regards as any other in the GTA and beyond.

Here is my top three:

1. Jonathan Tull - A lock down defender, can score in a variety of ways like attacking the basket, improved mid range game and and tireless worker. Plays with heart, hungry and wants to get better

2. Adrian Tucker - an improved offensive game - not exclusively a post player anymore, solid mid range jumper, very good rebounder, decent shot blocker for a guy only 6' 4". Will hurt you with good inside scoring and can now put it on the ground and attach the basket.

3. Rob Gagliardi - Pure shooter, can light it up from mid range or three point distance, can and will attack the basket when given the opportunity. Does not rebound or block shot, his lack of size (6' 1") hurts him in that department.[/quote]

[quote="Tango"][quote="Tango"]Rerun, as you know, not everyone is going to agree with your a list. It's hard to compare players because not everyone plays the same position. For example, a guard will always dominate the ball more than a forward, and as a result will take more shot and scoring more points. Most people will rank a player by the amount of points he/she scores and not looking at his/her overall game.

To underscore my point, take a look at your list and notice that the top three players on it are guards. I am sure that is for that same reason why these players are on top of your list.

I am a little different than most people when it comes to making a top players list. I looked at the players overall game, not just is ability to score points, but the other things that player bring to his team. If scoring is the main premise of how you derive your list, then Rob Gagliardi is the best player in Durham. But what else can Rob bring to the table other then being a scorer? Now, you see where I am going with this.

Frankly speaking this is a good list although I may not agree with the the ranking of the players. Durham may not be the strongest region in the GTA, but some of the players on this list are as good in some regards as any other in the GTA and beyond.

Here is my top three:

1. Jonathan Tull - A lock down defender, can score in a variety of ways like attacking the basket, improved mid range game and and tireless worker. Plays with heart, hungry and wants to get better

2. Adrian Tucker - an improved offensive game - not exclusively a post player anymore, solid mid range jumper, very good rebounder, decent shot blocker for a guy only 6' 4". Will hurt you with good inside scoring and can now put it on the ground and attach the basket.

3. Rob Gagliardi - Pure shooter, can light it up from mid range or three point distance, can and will attack the basket when given the opportunity. Does not rebound or block shot, his lack of size (6' 1") hurts him in that department.

What about players that arent point guards
your top 3 players are all point guards.

The point gaurd of a good team is always
in the Lime light.

Tango,

I hear you! I don't expect people to agree with me at all. I just wanted to initiate some discussion about Durham Basketball since we are approaching the start of the Senior Boys season. Secondly, it seems Peel, York, Toronto and every other region seems to do these type of lists so why not "Durham". I just quickly put out some names of players from different schools in the area. Unfortunately, I could not come up with anybody east of Ajax. I tried though. I'm still waiting for DG-10 to weigh with his list since he thinks that I'm so far off base. Personally, I can't be that far off.....there is no Corey Joseph, Devoe Joseph, Kurt Alexander, Juveol Myles, Dwayne Smith, Jon Lafountaine, or Justin Wiltshire to choose from. That was a super talented class that just exited...probably the best class ever in the history of Durham basketball.

It is an educated guess. Pickering has a lot of transfer students and so does Pine Ridge and a few other schools as well so we'll see where the new guys fit in. I see your rationale for putting Jonathan Tull as the #1 player. I haven't seen Adrian Tucker play in a long while so I could not rank him that high. Now, I disagree on one point....Isiah Swaby is not really a guard..he plays usually plays the 3 or 4 actually, but can handle the ball if needed.

I agree with rerun but i think there is
alot of up and comming players.
That have the potential to be as good if not better than some
of these players.

Jermaine Myers,(pickering)
I believe is a force to be reckoned with.
Also
Andrew Aboraa (Ajax) and
Adam Plummer(Pine Ridge) have this chemistry
while on the court together(OBA) seem to
be up incomers to the game.

A few more years and thy're there in my opinon.

I think the top 3 players in Durham are:

Jonathan Tull
Rob G.
Troy Joseph

Just my opinion I haven't seen guys like Adrian Tucker or Mammadou Mutumbo play so can't comment on them.

Also rerun some players east of Ajax (don't know any of their last names):

Tristan (Donald A Wilson)
Ryan (Sinclair)
Josh (O'neill)
Kadean and Jared (All Saints)

Also I hear All Saints now has Junior Campbell who used to play for pine ridge. Not sure if thats true or not.

I like your list rerun and agree with most of your choices. At the end of the day, we will have to wait and see what happens when the season starts. There's always lots of hidden talent out there, I'm excited to see who will really stand out. Good job being brave enough to be the only person to actually go out there and put out a full list. I don't watch enough of the other schools to make any suggestions, but obviously you have so nice job!

Don't forget Daniel Levy(St. Mary) only in Gr.11 but probably the best shooter in durham; also his game improved alot, thanks to his commitment with the Grassroots program.

Top 15

[quote="sebastian31"]Top 15

1)Rob Gagliardi (Pickering)
2)Jonathan Tull (Pickering)
3)Mick Mctosh (Pickering)
4)Troy Joseph (Pickering)
5)Norman Penola (Notre Dame
6)Liban Hasan (Pickering)
7)Tristan Stern (Wilson)
8)Mammadu Mutombo (Pickering)
9)Kevin Thomas (Pickering)
10)Isaiah Swaby (Pineridge)
11)Adrian Tucker (St.Mary's)
12)Justin Jarret (J Clarke)
13)Damone Donaldson (Notre Dame)
14)Daniel Levy (St.Mary's)
15)Leon Alexander (J Clarke)[/quote]

Mick came back from the U.S.?

lol liban is not better than tristan stern, mutumbo, kevin thomas, isiah, tucker, justin jarret, damone and levy...i havent seen leon play so i cant comment

Sebastian31 i think ur being a lil generous towards liban..you can use match-ups with all the players i just named but u can for a few of them...

Tristan is a much more aggresive player than liban, i think he will dominate him with his hard work and determination

Isaiah Swaby and Adrian Tucker is just plain better than Liban. Also i dont have a problem with liban but i dont think hes that good of a player.

Also i think Levy is best guard in durham behind the pickering guys.

Daniel Levy is not Better then Norman Penola or Justin Jarret...When I made the list i was not putting it in order..I just named 15 top guys off my head...Liban will be a big asset to Pickering this year and I wouldn't say those guys you just named are better then him...there are also other players on pickering that deserve to make the list..almost their whole squad...Some other players that should make the list are Damal Donaldson and Kadean Roberts

You kids bring so much negative feeback to each other. I have Reffed many of Liban Hassans games and i can tell you he is a solid player. He is now developing skills to play at the gaurd spot at 6'5-6'6 and long. He looks like he still has inches to gain he has big hands and a nice stroke, hes a very poise player who has alot of game experience and can do big things, he has the potential to be a lock down defender and if he keeps working on his ability to create for himself off the dribble can be a great player in the next 1 or 2 years. I see him doing big things due to the fact, he is experienced and played at all levels of highschool ball, and as i hear won an ofsaa gold medal last year. Johnathan tull in my opinion from the players i reffed in durham is standing out as the best young talent in the druham region and will be the go to guy for pickering this year. I believe with the size Liban gives them at the 3 spot they will be a very hard team to compete against. Rob Gagliardi is a pure shooter and will help stretch the defense so guys like johnathan, liban and troy etc, can implement there games in the teams system. Those will be the three key guys for pickerings success, from what i hear from a good friend of mines kirk salesman. Who i beleive is the assistant coach for the team this year! hope the best.

[quote]Daniel Levy is not Better then Norman Penola or Justin Jarret...Sebastian

...clearly you haven't seen Daniel Levy play yet lately. This kid has to be the most overlooked player in Durham. From what I'm hearing from people who play and coach him, this kid is going to surprise everyone this year. He's worked hard with grassroots this summer to improve his game. Hes only in grade 11 as well. He just needs work on his body language and strength but skill wise hes up there with anyone in Durham. He might not have been better than Norman and Justin last year but more than likely he is this year. He's top 5 in Durham easy

I have a question is travis bent playing for pickering this year? I know he was there last year but I believe he only played football. Didn't he used to play for scarborough blues #1 team? I think he'd be a great addition to the team if he decided to play.

[quote="smith"]You kids bring so much negative feeback to each other. I have Reffed many of Liban Hassans games and i can tell you he is a solid player. He is now developing skills to play at the gaurd spot at 6'5-6'6 and long. He looks like he still has inches to gain he has big hands and a nice stroke, hes a very poise player who has alot of game experience and can do big things, he has the potential to be a lock down defender and if he keeps working on his ability to create for himself off the dribble can be a great player in the next 1 or 2 years. I see him doing big things due to the fact, he is experienced and played at all levels of highschool ball, and as i hear won an ofsaa gold medal last year. Johnathan tull in my opinion from the players i reffed in durham is standing out as the best young talent in the druham region and will be the go to guy for pickering this year. I believe with the size Liban gives them at the 3 spot they will be a very hard team to compete against. Rob Gagliardi is a pure shooter and will help stretch the defense so guys like johnathan, liban and troy etc, can implement there games in the teams system. Those will be the three key guys for pickerings success, from what i hear from a good friend of mines kirk salesman. Who i beleive is the assistant coach for the team this year! hope the best.[/quote]

It is nice to hear a voice of reason on the site.

They are few and far between.

Coach Clement what is the point of copying Sebastian's list of players and re-posting it, would it make more sense if you had created your own?

This brings me back to my original post that is not fair to compare players when they don't play the same position. All the subsequent lists that have been created since my post are dominated by guards. How many of you have seen Troy Joseph and Mick McIntosh play? Mick was in Florida for the last two years and someone who attends Pickering, told me that he is fat and out of shape. Now, I don't know how true that is, but I think most of you have ranked him because of the promise he showed prior to going to Florida. I can't say if what I was told is true because I have not seen him myself and hope that is not the case. However, he had shown a lot of promise before he left Canada.

It's best to wait until the season starts to see who is right. I am sure Rob and Jonathan will have a good season, mainly because they are in a great program with good coaches. Gagliardi will score his points because he is a deadly shooter and will perhaps lead Durham in scoring but I don't see him as the top player in the Region. I will still give that to Tull for the reasons I mentioned in my earlier post.

I am very surprise at the list but then again each of you are entitled to your opinion. Adrian Tucker is a far superior player than most of the players some of you ranked ahead of him. He along with Shem Thomas and Daniel Levy will be a three headed monster for St. Mary's. Remember this is the same team that made it all the way to the semi-final last year and will be bringing back most of their players from last season except one. And by the way Shem should be on that list as well.

I guess only time will tell.

I was pointing out that Mick McIntosh was on the list and asking if he had returned from Florida?

I would never post a list of that type. I am a coach and people might question my bias.

For interest sake, Mamadou Mutumbo has left Pickering.

why where did he go?