Carter’s stock tumbles at Big Time

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, July 20, 2000 | 10:26 a.m.

Bishop Gorman center Jason Carter began the spring rated one of the nation's top 100 basketball prospects.

But don't expect to see the 6-foot-9, 240-pound Carter, most recently ranked the nation's No. 78 senior prospect by talent scout Bob Gibbons of Lenoir, N.C., rated anywhere near that high at the end of the summer.

Perhaps no player in the 311-team adidas Big Time Tournament saw his stock drop as far as did Carter, who elected at the last minute to play for the Double Pump All Stars rather than the local Las Vegas Stars.

"His stock really went up at the ABCD Camp (in Teaneck, N.J.)," Gibbons said. "But in an event like that, there's virtually no defense played. He did play hard and showed a lot of potential because of his size. But when you come to an event like this where teams are competing and there is more structure -- he was playing with a team that he hadn't played with before -- and he didn't look good.

"It definitely hurt his rating," Gibbons continued. "Based on his play at the adidas camp, I projected him as a top 100 in the country player. But in seeing him here, I think that's totally wrong."

Added Frank Burlison, respected national basketball columnist for FoxSports.com: "He looks out of shape to me. For a guy with his size and ability, he really wasn't a dominant factor."

Gibbons said Carter's decision to not play for the Stars may have played a role in his disappointing tournament.

"When I saw him back in December in the Holiday Classic, I thought he had the potential to be an excellent college player," Gibbons said. "I think he would have been far wiser to have played for Al La Rocque's Las Vegas Stars, where he would have been a featured player, than to go to a totally different team where they have no chemistry and haven't even practiced together."

Gibbons believes Carter still has time to turn things around his senior year.

"He's a big guy who still has potential," he said. "It would be much better if he stayed at Bishop Gorman and learned post moves and how to score inside. But then you hear all these different stories about how he may be leaving Gorman and going to Los Angeles. ... He would be a Division I player at Gorman, probably moreso than if he went to someplace like Westchester High School in Los Angeles, where he'd be in a totally different environment.

"These summer tournaments should be used as a yardstick for your game. It shows your strengths and your weaknesses and what you need to work on. But most kids don't look at it that way. It's, 'Well, I played well at ABCD, I'm going to the pros,' and they stop working on the basic fundamental skills of the game.

"I'm not picking on (Carter). I'm just using that as one example. Because I think probably as much as any kid in this tournament, he went from being on a high plane down to a more realistic plane."

Carter was hardly the only big name player to struggle. Gibbons was also disappointed in the play of 6-8 wing forward Jawad Williams (rated No. 13) of (Lakewood, Ohio) St. Edwards, and point guard Terrance Ford (No. 20) of (Sugar Land, Texas) Willowridge.

The player whose stock may have risen the most in Las Vegas is 6-8 forward Andy Osborn of Longmont, Colo.

"He should make the all-tournament team," Gibbons said. (He did.) "He averaged 23 points per game. I had never heard of him before."