DUBAI, U.A.E.– Whenever US. senior grass roots development coach Don Showalter talks about Diamond Stone, the 6-10 264-pound center on his U17 World Championship tea, he can’t help but make comparisons to Jalil Okafor.
the 6-11, 270 pound Okafor was the dominant big man in grass roots global basketball, winning gold medals the U17 and U19 teams in 2012 and 2013 before signing a scholarship to attend Duke University.
Stone, a rising senior at Dominican High in Milwaukee, is following in his footsteps and has been the rock hard foundation for the U.S. U17 2014 world champion team that just finished unbeaten in pool play with a victory over pesky Republic of the Philippines, 124-64, at the Al Alhi Sports Club in the neigborhood just above the International Airport.
Stone has set the tone for this incrediblly talented team, scoring 22 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and making four steals as the Americans outlasted Greece, 83-73 in the tournament opener last Friday. He had his second double double with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Greece.
“I think he’s one kid who has no idea how good he can be,” Showalter said. “But I can see a little of Okafor in him. He’s got a lot of old school to his game.”
Stone has the most original first name on this team. He was named Diamond by his father Robert, who was a two-time Division III All America at Wisconsin–Whitewater. “He gave me the name because he felt a diamonds was the toughest, hardest most precious metal on this earth,” Stone recalled.
‘ Robert Stone must has sensed his son would be special when Diamond broke his wrist when he brought down the rim while dunking in middle school and missed eight weeks. Since then, he has become a dominant force at Dominican High in Milwaukee, leading them to three straight Wisconsin Division 4 state championships.
Interestingly, unlike so many players on this team that list LeBron or Kevin Durant as their favorite player, Stone’s choice was the late, great Wilt Chamberlain.
“I started to hear about him as a young age from his dad,” Stone said. “Obviously I never saw him play but I’ve watched some video.”
Stone, whose mother Cynathia played volleyball at Arkanas-Pine Bluff and he has benefits from his atletic heritage. Stone is making his own history over here in the this modern city on the Arabian Coast, which rose out of the desert as an architectural marvel that includes the Burl Kalifa, a 162 -story sky scraper that is the tallest, building in the world, is filled with seven star hotels and has some of biggest malls in the world.
Stone averaged 24.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, 2.2 assist and 3.7 blocks as a junior. He is being rationally recruited by Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Michigan State, Connecticut, NC State and Miami and created quite the buzz on the summer camp circuit when speculation began to spread he might attend the same school as his best friend guard Malik Newman from Jackson, Miss Calaway, began talking and tweeting about the ida of the two attending the same school together and listed the fact both players were being recruited by Miami, Connecticut, Kentucky, Kansas, NC State and Miami. .
“I don;’t know about that,” Stone said “that’s moe Malik. But he is my best friend. We met back in eighth grade when we both attended a John Lucas’ camp in Kenutcky. I found out he wanted to meet me and we wound up rooming together at USA Basketball.”
Their skill sets are a a perfect compliment. Newman is a score first point with deep range on his jumper with a relentless ability to attack the rim off the bounce. Stone is a classic low post center with a perimeter game that extended out to 15 feet and gobbled up offensive rebounds. Just last year, Okafor and fellow McDonald’s and Nike Hoop Summit point guard Tyus Jones started a trend when they both committed to Duke. And there is already rumors that 6-9 junior forward Harry Giles from Winston-Salem, N.C. and 6-9 guard Jayson Tatum of St. Louis are considering the same option.
Stone, who missed training camp sith a hip injury, doesn’t have to be the star every night on this team which is blessed with tall, athletic junior wings like John Jackson, Harry Giles and Jayson ttum and simply wears out opposing teams with suffocating full court triangle defense.6-10 and take advantage of the fact that most teams lack enough ball handlers to cope with the constantly trap pressure they receive. Showalter has never lost in U16 and U17 competitions since those tournaments began four years ago.
They are so good that they don’t miss a beat, even though 6-9 Ivan Rabb, arguably one of the two best prospects in the Class fo 2015 from Oakland ‘Dowd,, who injured his ankle in the Colordo Springs training sessions, are not 100 percent after returning to practice two days ago and 15 year old prodigy Seventh Woods did not make the trip after breaking his wrist in Colorado Springs.
The U.S. wore down a group of pesky gnats from the Phillipines in the final game of poll play. the Philippinos have no size to speak of but they can put four shooters on the floor at the same time and take great joy in breaking down opposing guards off the dribble. Their rabid, basektball crazed fan base which made the journey here and filled up most the seats in sold out Al Alhi Arena, cheering wildly every time their team scored a field goal and temporarily losing their minds when the inspired Philippinos cut the US. lead to 21-16 before the Americans clamped down and went on a 9-0 run to start a blowout.
“We knew it was going to be nuts out there,” Stone said. “But we also knew what they were gong to do.”
The Americans can go 12 deep with good players that have gotten much better since they were a U16 national team, cruising by the opposition by over 50 points in the 2013 FIBA Americans tournament in Uruguay. This year’s team– bleive it or not– was a lot harder to make especially with limited front court sports. Showalter cut 6-9 Thomas Bryant and 6-10 Daniel Giddens in favor of 6-8, 280 pound 6-8, 280-pound Caleb Swanigan from Ft. Wayne, who has been a revelation since dropping 70 points from last year and 6-10, slimmed down 230-pound Henry Ellenson from Rice Lake, Wisconsin, who has a terror at the top of the diamond press.
The knockout phase of the tournament starts today when the U.S., who won Pool A playing fourth place pool B finisher Japan in the round of 16 at the Al Shabab Arena. “I thought we got a chance to play there different styles in pool play,” Showalter said. “Greece has a big guy in the middle. Angola had length all over and the Philippines tried to spread us out with their guard play.” .
