DUBAI, U.A.E.- Harry Giles, who grew up in Winston-Salem, N.C., in the heart of Tobacco Road, has ACC blood flowing through his veins.
And it seemed like just a matter of time before the 6-10, 16-year old junior at Wesleyan Christian Academy, who was ranked No. 1 in the class of 2016 by Rivals.com, would become a part of that heritage.
Giles was the first ninth grader ever to be offered a scholarship by Roy Williams at North Carolina. He was offered by Duke at the same time and has been heavily romanced by the other two ACC schools in the triangle– NC State and Wake Forest, not to mention royalty like Kentucky, Ohio State and Syracuse.
“Carolina is a basketball state,” Giles said. “They call it the Hoop state. A lot of great players came out of for North Carolina– Michael Jordan was born in Wilmington, went to school at North Carolina. Everybody loves the sport,old people, young people, support it. Everybody loves a good basketball game, doesn’t matter who is is, even a little kid’s basketball games.”
.Giles is the latest extraordinary young talent born in the state to follow in the footsteps of NBA and ABA stars like Walt Bellamy, Sam Jones, Bob McAdoo, Bobby Jones, David Thompson, Michael Ford, Buck Williams, James Worthy, Sleepy Floyd, Chris Paul and John Wall.
Watching Giles play effortlessly in the stratosphere above the rim as an athletic four man for Team USA in the FIBA U17 World Championships, it is easy to see why he has been the most impressive wing player in this tournament. Giles, currenty the No. 5 prospect in the in his class, glided his way to 12 points as the United State’s national team devoured China, 113-71, here at the Hamdan Sports Complex a converted state of the art natitorium locked 25 miles from downtown in the desert, to advance to a semi-final match up against Serbia in this 16-team global tournament. Australia wil play Spain in the other other semi.
We can only imagine how good he will be once he becomes 100 percent again.
Giles is just 13 months removed from a devastating knee injury where he tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus in his left knee while playing for the USA Basketball’s unbeaten gold medal winning team in FIBA Americas U16 tournament last June in Uruguay. Giles grabbed a rebound, planted his knee to turn and got hit from behind.
Giles knew it was bad as once as he hit the floor.
“The doctors told me I would be out almost a year,” he said. “That was tough, a.hard blow I had no idea what I’d do without basketball. It was awful. I was in always in the gym for practices, workouts, games, camps. It kept me motivated. I’d see somebody playing, I’d go work on my rahab.
“I worked work to get where I am, I don’t want people to forget who i am. When I got hurt, it;’s something were talking about every day, wondering if I would be the same player I was before the injury.
“Even now, I always try to work on something every day that will make my legs stronger. The knee has a lot of muscles you didn’t even know were there.”
Giles is playing in a brace but it hasn’t affected his play. He figures he is between 80 and 90 percent but you’d never know it. He made a near miraculous comeback by last May and was a relevation when he participated in tryouts for this camp. “I have confidence in my knee. It’s sore sometimes,” he said. “but that’s natural. I’m just doing everything to maintain the strength of the leg.”
Giles’ injury might have been a freak, but it brings up a growing issue of injuries of youth basketball where players’ bodies can become vulnerable from constantly playing games all year.
On this team alone, he and two key contributors– guard Malik Newman and 6-10 Ivan Rabb– both candidates for national Player of the Year– missed time with injuries. Newman, the MVP of the U16 FIBA Americas tournament and the best guard in the Class of 2015, missed the EBYL competition this summer with a wrist injury. The versatile Rabb, another key member of the U16 team and this country’s best senior forward prospect, suffered a severe foot injury in training camp and has hardly played in this competition, wearing a boot at the end of every game.
Guard Seventh Woods, a 6-2 prodigy from South Carolina who made the U.S. U16s last year as a 14-year old, had to miss the competition completely because he broke his wrist.
“I told the kids i read an article where international players practice six times a week and play one game,” U.S. developmental coach Don Showalter said. “Our players play six times a week and practice once. I always said our kids played too many games and should spend more time with skill development.
“I think the reason we have so many injuries in youth development is players get tired, then they don;t play with quite the energy and they get rolled ankles or some minor injuries.”
Interestingly, the one thing Showalter and invaluable talent coordinator B.J. Johnson have been able to do is identify young players who have a willingness to play hard all the time, regardless of the competition.”A lot of the high level guys can coast in high school or with their travel teams and still dominate games. Now, it’s a little different. We may be able to dominate games but we have to play hard even if it’s against our own competition. if one guy doesn’t want to play hard, there’s seven others on this roster who will be more than happy to take his place.”
The U.S. has seven players averaging in double figures. Against China, 6-9 senor center Henry Ellenson from Rice Lake High in Wisconsin came off the bench to score 21 points and grab 10 rebounds in just 15 minutes, making 10 of 12 field goal attempts. Diamond Stone, a 6-10, 264 pound center from Dominican High in Milwaukee, continued to dominate with 17 points and eight rebounds. Newman had 16 points and five assists. Giles and guard Terrence Ferguson also finished with double figures.
The U.S. has at least five of the top 10 players in this tournament and 10 of the top 20.
Giles is playing in large part for his father Harry, who was a two-sport star at Winston-Salem State in both football and basketball, where he played for the great “Big House” Gaines. He had a tryout with the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers but he got hurt. I kind of want to go out there and live the dream for him.”
Giles quickly bought into the idea of playing for USA Basketball. “It’s an honor,” he said. “Going out to the military bases representing the country. It’s amazing how many people who are older tahn you look up to you. You see soldiers who have kids older than you. We have a responsibility to them so we try to out out and play with a chip on our shoulder for them.
If Giles has learned anything about his injury, it is that he appreciates the sport he loves more than ever. :”I don”t rally take anything for granted anymore,” he said.
