Sunday, Apr 5, 2009
Posted on Sun, Apr. 05, 2009
Ellis takes spot among nation's elite
BY JONATHAN LONG
The Wichita Eagle
Perry Ellis refuses to let his youth define him on the basketball court. He allows his game to do that.
Ellis, a 6-foot-8 freshman at Heights, solidified himself as arguably the best high school player as a freshman. Now, he is out to show the country that he's not next -- he's now.
Ellis, a member of the Nike-sponsored Kansas Players AAU organization, was one of 20 post players in the country invited to the Amare Stoudemire Skills Academy. The camp takes place in Phoenix from June 28-July 1.
"I'm very excited," Ellis said. "I really want to keep getting better. I know people will talk about me if I do bad, so I just have to keep working hard."
Working hard isn't new for Ellis. He spends an hour before school each morning working on his game, and is continuing to work with a weight trainer who has helped him gain 27 pounds since September.
"Perry works hard every day," Heights coach Joe Auer said. "He's got daily goals for improvement and that's part of why he is where he is."
The Stoudemire camp is part of the Nike Summer Series that features four position camps -- Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, and Deron Williams host others. The 80 combined participants will travel to Akron, Ohio to participate in the LeBron James Skills Academy. The top 30 players from there will be selected to represent Nike's USA teams against International teams at the Nike Global Challenge. Two freshmen participated in the 2008 Summer Series.
"This process is highly selective, because we take the best 20 players regardless of shoe affiliation and class," Raphael Chillious, Business Manager for Nike Elite Youth Basketball said. "To be selected is pretty monumental. The overall selection process isn't finished, but he'll be one of a handful of freshman at the most."
The soft-spoken 15-year-old Ellis has become used to being the young kid on the block. Though Ellis first turned heads nationally two years ago as a rising eight-grader, nothing compared to the exposure that he received this past season. Whether it was constant media requests or inquiries from strangers, young and old, about him choosing a college there wasn't much Ellis or his family could do to escape the attention.
"Sometimes you just have to say no to things. And I did," Will Ellis, Perry's dad said. "I felt he needed to get some games under his belt. Honestly, I wanted him to sneak up on everybody."
The opportunity to sneak up on people on the basketball court disappeared his eighth grade year. Already hovering over most Brooks Middle School students at 6-foot-1, 140 pounds in the seventh-grade, he added five inches and 35 pounds his eight-grade year.
His first glimpse of the national spotlight came after a stellar showing at an Adidas Camp in 2007. His performances at the 2008 Reebok Breakout Underclass Camp, 2008 Reebok All-American Camp, and the AAU 14 and under nationals started to turn the heads of college coaches.
Kansas coach Bill Self attended Ellis' first high school game and later offered him a scholarship. Memphis followed. While college is very important to Ellis, it's not something that he spends a lot of time thinking about. Most of his time away from basketball and the books is reserved for X-Box 360.
"People ask me about college, but that's still a long way away," Ellis said
For now the Gatorade Player of the Year -- the first freshman in the state to receive the honor -- has his eyes set on improving his game in hopes of defending the Class 6A championship. With those improvements will come more accolades and attention. Both are things Ellis believes he's getting better at handling.
"I'm getting used to answering questions," Ellis said. "I've always played basketball, I haven't always got this much attention."
Jonathan Long covers high school sports. Reach him at 316-268-6296 or at
jlong@wichitaeagle.com.
