The NBTC All-Star Game was a rather memorable one. (Photo Credit: Winston Baltasar, Sports5) High School All-Star Games should never be the main basis of a person with regards to his/her assessment of a player. It’s too different of a setting compared to an actual game, and of course, it’s too small of a sample size. Despite that, High School All-Star Games are still a decent enough medium to use when assessing players. Not only is it a stage that’s more accessible to many, but it’s also a good test of how players will manage to mesh with their equally talented peers in such a short amount of time. The NBTC held the Division 1 All-Star Game last March 16 at the Mall of Asia Arena. Encho Serrano of the North team was named All-Star MVP, but he wasn’t the sole player who impressed during that game. There were other prospects who were as good (or some were even better) as Serrano, yet they weren’t able to receive as much recognition as the Adamson Baby Falcons standout. ...

At the end of the day, we may call him one of the biggest what-ifs in Philippine Basketball. (Photo Credit: Spin.ph) The NBTC tournament this year has received quite some hype thanks to the reported involvement of Ron Harper Jr. (yes, the son of THAT Ron Harper). Sadly, Harper Jr. couldn't show up, so we had to look for someone to hype on elsewhere. The reality of it was, even when Harper was supposed to join the tournament, the guy who we were supposed to be hyping up was just lurking in the shadows. That player is none other than 6'9" forward, Kamaka Hepa. Kamaka Hepa is a 17 year old Fil-Am who plays for Jefferson High School. But since Hepa hailed from Alaska initially, he didn't receive much attention from the Filipino crowd. There were articles done on him by SLAM and SLAM Philippines, but those articles didn't create much traction for Hepa. So when news of him arriving in the country released, only some fans/analysts were excited for the prospec...