RACE FOR THE RING
The Top 5 Private Schools powered by Champion Energy
Aug 23, 2019, 7:24 pm
Here is the best of the best in the private school realm.
Originally Appeared on VYPE
Here is the best of the best in the private school realm.
Kinkaid tops the group hands down. Back-to-back years the Falcons have reigned supreme in SPC 4A, winning yet another crown in 2018. But can they do it again? Episcopal will have something to say about that. In TAPPS, there are a multitude of teams that will make noise again.
Fans should be on the look-out for Baytown Christian, which won the TAPPS 6-man Division III State Championship a year ago and will be one to tangle with again in 2019. The other TAPPS state champion from Houston in 2018 was Katy St. John XXIII and we will see if either of these teams can go back-to-back.
The job Nathan Larned has done at Kinkaid is impressive. Back-to-back SPC 4A titles and it seems like he has the train rolling. Since 2010, Kinkaid has won six SPC titles, including three in the past four seasons. Heading into 2019, the Falcons will look different with quarterback Zach Daniel (1,660 yards,21 TDs) off to Hawaii and running back Josh Williams (1,238 yards rushing) at LSU. That is a tough duo to replace but look for Jordan Williams to step up. When big brother Josh got hurt during the season, Jordan stepped up big. In the SPC 4A Championship game, Jordan went off for more than 200 yards rushing, a 63-yard touchdown reception, threw a touchdown pass and had an interception. Yes, all in one game. On top of that, in the season opener last year for the Kinkaid basketball team he dropped 33 points. Jordan is a two-sport phenom and is only entering his sophomore year, already with a football offer from Houston and basketball offers from Baylor and Mississippi State. Yes, he is an all-around star. Other names to remember on this team include Matthew Bale, Victor Garza, Jordan Ricks and Duncan Shields. Ricks finished last year with 53 tackles and eight sacks. Garza (490 yards receiving) is a versatile athlete that you will see play receiver, defensive back and return kicks.
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Adding a player of Kevin Durant’s caliber was too valuable an opportunity for the Houston Rockets to pass up, even though it meant moving on from Jalen Green just four seasons after they drafted him second overall.
Durant was officially acquired from Phoenix on Sunday in a complicated seven-team transaction that sent Green and Dillon Brooks to the Suns and brought Clint Capela back to Houston from the Hawks.
General manager Rafael Stone is thrilled to add the future Hall of Famer, who will turn 37 in September, to a team which made a huge leap last season to earn the second seed in the Western Conference.
Asked Monday why he wanted to add Durant to the team, Stone smiled broadly before answering.
“He’s Kevin Durant,” Stone said. “He’s just — he’s really good. He’s super-efficient. He had a great year last year. He’s obviously not 30 anymore, but he hasn’t really fallen off and we just think he has a chance to really be impactful for us.”
But trading Green to get him was not an easy decision for Stone, Houston’s general manager since 2020.
“Jalen’s awesome, he did everything we asked,” Stone said. “He’s a wonderful combination of talent and work ethic along with being just a great human being. And any time that you have the privilege to work with someone who is talented and works really hard and is really nice, you should value it. And organizationally we’ve valued him tremendously, so yeah very hard.”
Green was criticized for his up-and-down play during the postseason when the Rockets were eliminated by the Warriors in seven games in the first round. But Green had improved in each of his four seasons in Houston, leading the team in scoring last season and playing all 82 games in both of the past two seasons.
Pressed for details about why Green's time was up in Houston, Stone wouldn't get into specifics.
“It’s the NBA and you can only do trades if a certain amount of money goes out and a certain amount comes in and there’s some positional overlap or at least overlap in terms of on ball presence,” he said. “And so that’s what the deal required.”
In Durant, the Rockets get a veteran of almost two decades who averaged 26.6 points and six rebounds a game last season and has a career average of 27.2 points and seven rebounds.
Houston loves the veteran experience and presence that Durant brings. Stone noted that the team had arranged for some of its players to work out with him in each of the past two offseasons.
“His work ethic is just awesome,” Stone said. “The speed at which he goes, not in a game … but the speed at which he practices and the intensity at which he practices is something that has made him great over the years and it started when he was very young. So of all the things that I hope rubs off, that’s the main one I think is that practice makes perfect. And I think one of the reasons he’s had such an excellent career is because of the intensity with which he works day in day out.”
Durant is a 15-time All-Star and four-time scoring champion, who was the Finals MVP twice. The former Texas Longhorn is one of eight players in NBA history to score at least 30,000 points and he won NBA titles in 2017 and 2018 with the Warriors.
Now he’ll join a team chasing its first NBA title since winning back-to-back championships in 1994-95.
“Everything has to play out, but we do — we like the fit,” Stone said. “We think it works well. We think he will add to us and we think we will help him.”