Kermit Davis continues to add star power to Ole Miss basketball.
On Thursday, the Rebels landed a commitment from Conyers, Ga., four-star guard James White.
The decision to commit to Ole Miss, White said late Thursday, was based on the relationships he's built with the Rebels' staff.
Virtual relationships, that is.
"They text me and call me every day, stay in touch with my parents and we had a lot of Zoom calls," White said. "They wanted me really bad."
Specifically, White said, he built strong relationships with Davis and Ole Miss assistant coach Ronnie Hamilton.
"It’s very close," White said. "I feel like I’m already on the team. They FaceTime me, text me and treat me like I’m one of their kids."
White, a 6-foot-5 wing known for his ability to score quickly and in bunches, said the Rebels want him to do that when he gets to Oxford.
"They've told me they want me to score," White said. "They said I can make an impact right away."
"With White it is all about his upside as a scorer and potential to play multiple perimeter spots," Rivals.com basketball recruiting analyst Eric Bossi said. "He’s a microwave-type scorer who loves to create space for jumpers off the bounce.
"He has a ton of confidence in his game and is a pretty bouncy athlete as well. He’s got to get much stronger but doesn’t shy away from physicality."
White knows that, too. He said he models his game after Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George, and for him to build his physique to more closely resemble George's, he's got to get into the gym.
"I’m lifting a lot of weights, taking care of my body, playing very close attention," White said.
White could also play the role of recruiter soon. His cousin, Georgia Highlands College power forward Langston Wilson, is a top Ole Miss target as well.
"I’m going to try to get him to come," White said. "It's early in the process, so I don’t really know right now."
White knows of Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, but he doesn't know the five-star forward. Ole Miss coaches do, and the Rebels are emerging as a very real threat to land his services.
Huntley-Hatfield plays for Bobby Maze AAU, and that program has strong ties to Auburn coach Bruce Pearl and Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes. The Tigers and Demon Deacons are likely Ole Miss' main competition. Tennessee is in the mix as well.
Sources believe Huntley-Hatfield will likely reclassify to 2021, but a decision regarding his college choice isn't expected before January, at the earliest. Huntley-Hatfield is expected to release a top six on Twitter this weekend, as early as today.
The NBA's boycott will end this weekend. Of course it will.
The boycott, which began on Wednesday and will, in effect, run through Friday, was always an exercise in futility, a revelation of just how utterly out of touch many of the league's players are and were regarding the financial ramifications of not finishing the season.
The players met Thursday morning -- a day after the Milwaukee Bucks chose not to take the floor for their playoff game against the Orlando Magic -- and voted in favor of resuming the playoffs.
The Bucks' decision not to play Wednesday led to the postponement of all three playoff games that day. And Thursday afternoon the NBA announced that it would postpone the three playoff games scheduled to be played later that day: Denver-Utah, Boston-Toronto and Clippers-Dallas.
From ESPN.com:
The exact date of when the playoffs will resume, and what will happen next, is expected to be announced after Thursday afternoon's meeting, which also will include discussion of formulating the action plans to address racial injustice issues, sources told ESPN. Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Hornets and the only Black majority owner in the NBA, has become an important liaison between the owners and players, sources told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan.
Milwaukee chose not to take the court against the Magic after Sunday's shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot seven times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city about 40 miles south of Milwaukee. The decision also came four years to the day that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first chose to kneel for the national anthem during a preseason game in Green Bay, Wisconsin, against the Packers.
Players were openly frustrated and angry this week over seeing another video of a Black man being shot by police, despite all the time and effort they have spent speaking out against racial injustice and police brutality as part of their decision to return to play. After Monday's win over Orlando, Bucks guard George Hill spoke bluntly about how he was feeling.
"It's just sickening," Hill said when asked about the shooting of Blake. "It's heartless. It's a f---ed-up situation. Like I said, you're supposed to look at the police to protect and serve. Now, it's looked at harass or shoot. To almost take a guy's life. Thank God he's still alive.
"I know the cops are probably upset he's still alive, because I know they surely tried to kill him. But to almost take a man's life, especially in front of one's kids, that wasn't resisting, in his back at point-blank range, is a heartless and gutless situation. We need some justice for that."
Blake was shot as he attempted to enter the driver's side door of his vehicle with three of his children inside. Video of the shooting was distributed on social media.
When asked what the Bucks could do from inside the bubble, Hill didn't mince words, either.
"We can't do anything," he said. "First of all, we shouldn't have even came to this damn place, to be honest. I think coming just here took all the focal points off what the issues are. But we're here, so it is what it is. We can't do anything from right here, but I think definitely, when it's all settled, some things have to be done.
"I think this world has to change. I think our police department has to change. Us as society has to change. And, right now we're not seeing any of that. Lives are being taken, as we speak, day in and day out, and there's no consequence or accountability for it, and that's what has to change."
Had players decided not to finish the season, the league would have had to refund almost $1 billion to its television partners. The owners would have had no choice but to cancel the collective bargaining agreement, putting the 2020-21 season in dire jeopardy.
It's why Wednesday's actions were an exercise in frustrated futility. The players may have wanted to walk away from the bubble in Orlando, but it would have risked industry suicide in the process.
On Wednesday night, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul, the president of the NBAPA, called on the players to come away from the meeting with a unified front, with plans of action and with a clear understanding of the financial perils that might await the players and league if the season does not proceed to the finish, per an ESPN.com report.
Those effects could be "cataclysmic," in the words of one league executive, again quoting ESPN.com. NBPA executive director Michele Roberts and senior counsel Ron Klempner, both of whom were on site in Orlando for Wednesday's meeting, explained that if the players decide not to play the remainder of the season, they could lose 25-30 percent of their salary for next year. The league could also terminate the collective bargaining agreement and lock out the players while terms of a new CBA are negotiated under the economic and societal duress of the pandemic.
So the league marches on, but damage has been dead. The players are tired of the bubble, and many sports fans are tired of the constant politicizing. The basketball has been great. The ratings haven't. Now, with these tumultuous days in the background and a competition with the NFL and college football upcoming, those ratings could tank further. Owners can't be happy, setting the stage for some rough conversations in the coming months.
