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The new staff for the California Golden Bears still has work to do to fill out the roster for this season, let alone next season, but they are wasting no time in getting scholarship offers out to top notch 2018 prospects.
Jaedon LeDee, a class of 2018 wing from The Kinkaid School (TX), just picked up an offer from Cal-Berkeley.
— Pat Lawless (@PatLawless_) April 13, 2017
Jaedon LeDee is listed as a four-star prospect on 247Sports with offers from Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, Baylor, Kansas State, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest, among others.
The Houston (Tx.) product is listed at 6’8 and 213 pounds. He has a smooth jumper and is equally comfortable driving to the hoop as he is on the perimeter. He’s definitely willing to absorb contact to try and finish at the basket. LeDee is a great athlete, as he has an array of nifty moves he goes to when in traffic around the hoop.
Man seen this guy play.. amazing RT @TakeMyTalent: 6'8 Jaedon LeDee (2018/PF) @jae_ledee #takemytalent pic.twitter.com/Q7R5vCXCIq
— EL FOOSAY (@SheHatesJacoby) April 14, 2017
Jordan Brown isn’t the only 2018 big man on Cal’s radar, as fellow five-star prospect Nazreon Reid picked up a recent offer from Wyking Jones and the Bears.
2018 5-star PF/C Nazreon Reid tells me he picked up an offer from #Cal.
— Ben Parker (@slamdunk406) April 13, 2017
Also in on the sweepstakes for the Roselle (NJ) product are Kansas, St. John’s, Kentucky, Arizona, Louisville, Maryland, Missouri, Villanova, UConn, and Syracuse. Reid is a 6’10, 240 pound power forward, but his game certainly seems to fit with what most teams are looking for out of modern-day big men.
Reid can step out and reliably hit mid-range jumpers, while occasionally taking a three-pointer. He appears to be a decent dribbler for his size, too. A couple of times in his highlight videos I saw him take turn around step-back jumpers and drain them a hand in his face. His game reminds me a lot of Sacramento Kings forward Skal Labissiere. Skill-sets are similar, along with shot-selection.
Coach Jones and the staff offered another Texas product in Gerald Liddell from Cibolo. He’s a five-star prospect who’s listed at 6’7 and 180 pounds. Liddell has offers from Arizona, Baylor, Creighton, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, SMU, Tennessee, Texas, Florida State, SMU, and Oklahoma State.
California head coach Wyking Jones is the latest to offer Steele (TX) 2018 five-star Gerald Liddell (@gerald_liddell), per @PatLawless_…
— Chip Miller (@BLUEChip_Miller) April 14, 2017
Liddell is yet another player with the length and skill-set Jones is looking for to be able to implement his high-octane Louisville-esque style of play at Cal. Liddell has long arms and is athletic enough to cause havoc on the defensive end. He likes to run the floor and is an able finisher in the lane.
It’s good to see that the new staff is getting to work on trying to fill out the roster in the coming years, and that they’re being ambitious as far as who they are targeting.
Already Wyking Jones has started filling in the new roster with four star commits like Jacobi Gordon and Matt Bradley. Just a couple of players can make a huge difference.
What do you all think about these prospects?
Sound off below! Go Bears!