Thursday, September 20, 2012

LUIS MONTERO: High School Basketball Class of 2015 Phenom Alert!!!

LUIS MONTERO: Class of 2015


Written by: Prospect-Central

Warning, Warning, Phenom Alert, Phenom Alert!!!  I may be jumping the gun, but 6-foot 7-inch Luis Montero looks to have the makings of a top 10 prospect from the Class of 2015.

Last month the native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic made his high school debut at the Scott Hazelton basketball camp in Andover, Massachusetts and left coaches and recruiters absolutely flabbergasted. With his size, length, athleticism, handles and overall feel for the game, Montero showed that he was indeed one of the top rising sophomores in the country.

The newly turned 16-year old will play for Wilbraham & Monson Academy (Wilbraham, MA) this up-coming season and should make an immediate impact from the rip.  Along with Montero, Wilbraham & Monson have some other nice players on the squad as well.

Goodluck Okonoboh is a top 100 player in the Class of 2014 and should control the paint for the Titans this season.  There's also a 6-foot 10-inch sophomore by the name of Djery Baptiste who had to sit out all of last year due to injury, but appears to be an intriguing prospect none the less.  Rounding out the trio is Kerem Kanter, who of course is the younger brother of the Utah Jazz's Enes Kanter and may have a breakout junior year.

Whether Luis Montero is the real deal or not is yet to be determined, but he clearly has the skills to become one of the top players in his class.  With his size and length, along with his ball handling and vision, Montero is already receiving Anfernee Hardaway comparisons. Now I'm not ready to sign off on that just yet, but I am ready to bump him up in the rankings. If he's able to continue to play at a high level, look for Montero to crack Prospect-Central's top 10 in the Class of 2015 within the upcoming months.

9 comments:

  1. He is going to be a all star nba player.

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  2. but im form DR and i have played against him and he was born in 1993, his 19 years old playing with kids,he have played professional basketball back in DR as rookie for 1 year in 2011-12 season

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    1. Apparently you might be right. Montero may indeed be 19. Here is a link to FIBA's Basketball Without Borders website that lists his birthday as April 6th, 1993.

      http://bwb.fiba.com/camps/2011/rio-de-janeiro#tabs-2

      If this is correct, Montero should technically be in the HS Class of 2011 as opposed to the Class of 2015.

      While this is not the end of the world for Montero, this definitely changes my opinion on his future potential to some degree. Unless he reclassifies, Montero will be a 22-year old freshman in college.

      There are currently 6 players in the NBA younger than Luis Montero.

      Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (09/26/93)
      Andre Drummond (08/10/93)
      Bradley Beal (06/28/93)
      Maurice Harkless (05/11/93)
      Marquis Teague (04/28/93)
      Tony Wroten (04/13/93)

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  3. It seems Luis Montero is not only reclassifying, he actually just signed a letter of intent with Westchester Community College in New York. I'm not sure how he was allowed to be in the Class of 2015 in the first place, but it just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover.

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  4. do you guys still think that he could be a NBA player someday ?

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    1. Absolutely he could still play in the NBA. Being twenty might be old for a junior in high school, but it's still relatively young when it comes to developing prospects. Montero already has the length to play at the next level, plus he has excellent ball skills for his size, so the NBA is certainly not out of the question.

      He'll probably never be drafted, and he certainly won't be drafted coming out of a Community College, but if he continues working on his game, and I mean REALLY working on his game, Luis Montero could have a realistic shot at playing in the NBA within the next 5-years.

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    2. will he make it to D1 ? I believe the grade will be a problem for him... I heard that he's not that good yet in english, and he used to suck in school in DR. Man that could really be a problem for be into a good school after community college.

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  5. Luis Montero's now enrolled at South Plains College, which is one of the top JC school's in the country. He started taking classes in January and will play ball there next season as a 2016 JC sophomore.

    As a freshman last season, Montero helped lead Westchester CC to a NJCAA D1 National Tournament appearance. He averaged 15.6 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. He returned to Westchester this year, but their season was canceled due to transcript issues from several of their last season’s sophomores who transferred to D1 schools.

    Since Montero didn’t play in any games this season, he'll be able to play as a sophomore during the 2015-16 season. He might be out of the public eye now, but he certainly has the attention of NBA scouts. Six NBA teams were watching the JUCO freshman the other day. Montero should be one of the top players in the 2016 JUCO class next season and is still committed to the University of South Florida.

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  6. Luis Montero was in PC's Final 2015 NBA Mock Draft

    http://prospect-central.blogspot.com/2015/06/prospect-central-final-2015-nba-mock.html

    Obviously he went undrafted, but now the Portland Trailblazers will give Montero his first opportunity to play in the NBA. He will suit up for Blazers during the 2015 NBA Summer League and try to prove he can solidify a spot on the roster.

    http://www.nba.com/blazers/trail-blazers-sign-guard-luis-montero

    http://www.csnnw.com/blazers/trail-blazers-enter-%E2%80%98unknown%E2%80%99-luis-montero

    While everyone's still trying to figure out just exactly who Luis Montero is, PC was the 1st site to bring his name out of relative obscurity. Now it's time to find out if Montero can play at the next level or not.

    http://www.nba.com/summerleague/2015/players/sl_luis_montero/index.html

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