Local hopefuls take the long way to the hoop.
Former high school basketball standouts haven’t broken through yet but are trying for a shot in Europe.
By Joe Habina
Special Correspondent
As a teammate dribbles through the lane and gets tied up in traffic, Justin Isom drifts to the open left corner and calls for the ball. After receiving a kick-out pass, Isom pulls up for a three-point shot as a defender approaches.
Isom can feel the conclusion of the play. “That’s me,” he declares, as the ball arcs high in the air and swishes through the net.
Calling attention to oneself is not discouraged at the USA Select Basketball evaluation camp, held last week at Indian Trail’s Carolina Courts. The group’s purpose is to evaluate U.S. basketball talent and help the most gifted players earn professional contracts with minor-league teams in Europe.
Isom, a Waddell High graduate, and two other local players, Jerry Hollis and Brelyn McCauley, were among the nearly 100 players, mostly from the eastern United States, to put their basketball futures on the line earlier this month.
The results varied. Some were on the verge of earning an invitation to play on USA Select Basketball’s touring team, which showcases players to those same European minor league teams during a fall tour. Others were encouraged to keep on working on their games.
USA Select Basketball is led by south Charlotte resident Sean Kilmartin and three partners. A financial planner by day, Kilmartin and his team have been placing players overseas for 10 years.
Many players attending the evaluation camp also attended tryout camps in the previous three months held across the eastern part of the United States.
Not so with the three local players. They attempted to put all their shots in one basket with USA Select Basketball’s final evaluation before its European tour.
The 22-year-old, 6-foot-5 Isom was an all-conference swingman at Waddell, graduating in 2006. He played a couple of years at Brunswick Community College and a year at Augusta (Ga.) State.
Since 2009, he’s been playing in Charlotte adult leagues and working out at the Dowd YMCA. He has been employed as a supervisor at a department store for three years but hasn’t given up on playing basketball professionally.
“Right now, I’m trying to work on my game, my (ball) handling and my shot,” said Isom. “I’m trying to be on that pro level and play overseas.”
Throughout the three-day evaluation camp, Isom says, USA Select basketball scouts were giving him positive feedback but also encouraging to give more effort boxing out for rebounds and to be more mobile without the basketball.
Hollis, 24, is also a 2006 high school graduate, having spent two seasons at Garinger High and two years at Victory Christian.
The 6-foot-5 swingman played four years at Johnson C. Smith, where he earned all-conference honors, and says he is one semester away from graduating.
Hollis has spent a year trying to keep himself in basketball shape: taking yoga, Pilates and strength conditioning, in addition to playing ball regularly.
“At this camp, I feel things are going great,” said Hollis. “I’ve been on (with my shot). Thank God.”
McCauley, an east-Charlotte resident, played two years at Garinger but graduated from Independence in 2007. He attended Fayetteville State for two years and is now enrolled at UNC Greensboro but has not played basketball for either school.
McCauley says he took a semester off from school to prepare for the USA Select Basketball event. He plays pick-up basketball five to seven days a week and thinks his fundamental style of basketball is conducive to the European type of play.
Moving forward, McCauley says he will “just wait for that phone call” from an overseas team or hope to hook up with USA Select Basketball’s European tour team. If none of that works out, he expects he will return to school.
After the event, Kilmartin had enough feedback from his evaluators to compile a preliminary assessment of each player.
He said Isom and Hollis were getting “serious consideration” for two of the touring teams’ roster spots.
McCauley, however, was being further assessed through video footage from the camp despite showing “great effort” and being “very competitive,” meaning his time had not yet come.