DeLaSalle's Tyrell Terry Soaks Up Pro-Am Experience
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The annual Pro Am Summer Basketball League is in its third year at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis.
It is a mixture of college, professional and occasional high school players, which is where Islander senior-to-be Tyrell Terry comes in. He is playing against the much older, and trying to prove he belongs.
Most of the competition in this summer league will be three to five years' his senior, and have him by 25 pounds.
"It's going to be a great experience. It's going to be my first game tonight, but it's going to be fun to see what it's like to play with guys at such high level, and some of them play professionally overseas and things like that, so I'm looking forward to it," Terry said.
It is what he needs to take another basketball step, as his career moves forward at a fast pace.
"It's perfect. The young man just committed to Stanford, you know, he's going to be going against some pros, some college kids, you know," said Pro Am director Jamar Diggs. "For a high schooler, you can't get any better experience than that, you know. He may not be able to go out there and score, you know, 40 points or whatever, but go out here and play with some pros or some guys who have already been where you want to go."
His game has been good enough to get noticed nationally, committing two weeks ago to Stanford University.
"It was kind of an easy decision for me. I've always been a guy who takes academics very seriously, and it was kind of a perfect place where academics are high, as well as the competition in the PAC 12," Terry said.
Ironically, fellow Islander Reid Travis helped get him to Stanford before he committed for his final year at Kentucky. He pointed the Cardinal coaches in his direction.
"He was actually the one who told the coaches about me, to start recruiting me and things like that," Terry said. "I've had conversations with him about what Stanford's like and things like that."
Terry is not big, but he is a skilled. He is a pure shooter who puts in the time in the summer.
"My week is comprised of about four or five 6 a.m. practices in the week, weight lifting, pro-am games and things like that," he said.
On his first night he holds his own, using his quickness and court awareness against the much-more mature competition to make some plays -- a good start.
"There's a mental piece, a physical piece and a skill piece to it. There's a lot that goes into it, the next level," Terry said. "And I'm just trying to develop myself at each one of those aspects. Hopefully I'll be ready for the next level."
He is playing in this summer league speed up his growth, because when you can do what he can do you have a big upside, and playing against the "big guys" helps move that along.
"They know a lot more than me about the game and what it takes, because a lot of them have a lot of experience. So I'm just going to try to soak in as much experience and information as I can while I play with them," Terry said.
