Feel like watching a future NBA superstar live without ponying up the cash for an out-of-state trip? Chances are, you’ll catch at least one at central Arkansas’ Real Deal in the Rock basketball tournament this weekend. The three-day event has become one of the nation’s biggest travel ball tournaments since it was founded by Mike Conley, a former University of Arkansas track All-American, and Bill Ingram, coach of the Arkansas Hawks, in 2005.
Real Deal in the Rock has featured Amateur Athletic Union players who have gone on to be NCAA All-Americans and NBA All-Stars. One alumnus, Derrick Rose, has already won an NBA MVP honor and another, Kevin Durant, is a frontrunner to win this season’s.
Of all the stars who have played in this event, who has shined the brightest? In honor of the event’s 10th anniversary, let’s induct the first 10 players into what I’ll call the Real Deal Hall of Fame. Criteria: Either the player balled out at the event itself or, barring that, has at least gone on to dominate the world of basketball at large.
Kevin Durant
Oklahoma City Thunder
2005: DC Assault (Washington, D.C.)
Since putting together a historic freshman season at the University of Texas, Durant has honed his skills to become the most prolific scoring small forward in NBA history. The five-time NBA All-Star is averaging career highs of more than 32 points per game and dishing 5.5 assists per contest this season, and is the most daunting obstacle to LeBron James winning an unprecedented fourth MVP title in five years. Nearly a decade ago, though, Durant was an unheralded “tall, skinny kid,” Ingram says. “But by the end of the tournament, everybody knew who he was.”
Mike Conley Jr.
Memphis Grizzlies
2005: Spiece Indy Heat (Indiana)
Conley, a Fayetteville native and son of the tournament’s co-founder, led one of the most talented AAU teams ever to the event’s first under-17 championship game. There, Conley, along with Greg Oden, Eric Gordon and Josh McRoberts, lost 76-72 to Memphis Pump-N-Run. These days, Conley’s name is synonymous with Memphis, as he steers the Grizzlies towards another deep playoff run.
Derrick Rose
Chicago Bulls
2005 and 2006: Mean Street Express (Illinois)
Long before Rose was a big name who hardly ever plays, he was a no-name with mad game. As a rising junior playing for a squad coached by his older brother, “he was a kind of nobody,” Ingram says. That changed in a hurry, as Real Deal fans started gravitating toward the Chicago native with obscene bounce. It’s unsure if we’ll ever see that kind of athleticism from the three-time All-Star again. After tearing a knee ligament in November, he’s targeting a summer return date.
Kevin Love
Minnesota Timberwolves
2006: Oregon Select (Oregon)
Eight years ago, Love teamed with Kyle Singler and wowed onlookers. “He was just like he is now,” Ingram says. “He rebounded the ball well, he shot the ball well; [he was] more athletic than people thought.” But Oregon Select didn’t seriously contend for a Real Deal title then, and Love hasn’t found the going any easier in the NBA. Despite season averages of more than 25 points and 13 rebounds a game, he has failed to lift his Timberwolves from mediocrity.
Blake Griffin
Los Angeles Clippers
2006: Athletes First (Oklahoma)
Ingram says Griffin — easily among the top five most electrifying dunkers in NBA history — was just as exciting as a rising senior. He recalls a play in which Griffin dribbled the ball baseline against an opposing team featuring 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet. Thabeet went for the block but whiffed; Griffin dunked so hard he almost “broke his neck,” Ingram says. “It was like he threw him in the goal.”
Perhaps Griffin will have another shot at Thabeet in this spring’s playoffs. The four-time All-Star’s Clippers are vying with Thabeet’s Thunder for the Western Conference crown.
John Wall
Washington Wizards
2007: D-One Sports (North Carolina)
Back then, Wall was a wiry kid trying to overcome anger problems in the wake of his father’s early death from cancer. He was “a blur” on the court, but overall didn’t stack up to the likes of Rose or Conley, Ingram says. These days, Wall is more than stacking up to those two players. The one-time All-Star is averaging nearly 20 points and 9 rebounds while returning Washington to the playoffs.
Jrue Holiday
New Orleans Pelicans
2007: Double Pump (California)
Southern California contemporaries like James Harden and Russell Westbrook have become bigger names since, but in the spring of 2007, Holiday was rated as the area’s marquee underclassman guard. Holiday didn’t rack up gaudy stats, but he was a master of intangibles. His team won the Real Deal’s under 17 championship game that year. Holiday won an NBA All-Star berth in 2013 but has been sidelined the last few months with a tibia stress fracture.
Anthony Davis
New Orleans Pelicans
2010: MeanStreets (Illinois)
For the first part of Davis’ high school career, he was a guard who launched threes from the corner. A massive growth spurt during his junior year changed everything, though. The rest of the country started hearing about Davis in the spring of 2010, as he traveled, playing AAU ball for the first time in his prep career. And one of his first stops on this breakout tour was Little Rock.
The 21-year-old Davis is breaking out on a different level altogether these days, averaging almost 21 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks a game.
Le’Bryan Nash
Oklahoma State University Cowboys
2010: Dallas Mustangs (Texas)
Nash, a 6-7 forward, scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Dallas over the Franchize All Stars of Houston in that year’s under-17 championship game. He’s struggled with his accuracy in two seasons of college ball, but nonetheless averages 13.7 and 4.5 rebounds a game.
Jarnell Stokes
University of Tennessee Volunteers
2011: Memphis YOMCA (Tennessee)
The first-team All-SEC power forward been called a “fridge on wheels” by opponents at the college level. A compact fridge, this is not. As a rising senior, Stokes was a powerful 6-8 post player who conjured visions of Corliss Williamson in the Razorbacks fans who wanted him to sign with the University of Arkansas. One of his best tournaments was the Real Deal, where he followed up a 30-point game with an 18-point, 14-rebound effort in his team’s 43-41 victory over the New England Playaz in the under-17 championship game.
Evin Demirel's most recent blog is about the other Arkansan who will be inducted alongside Nolan Richardson into the 2014 Naismith Hall of Fame.