Basketball’s future stars on display this weekend at ‘Nike Hoop Summit’
KPTV | By Nick Krupke | April 6, 2023
From future number-one draft picks to NBA MVPs, tomorrow’s next great stars are on display this weekend in the Rose City.
Welcome to Jackson Shelstad’s neighborhood.
“It’s kind of surreal,” says West Linn H.S. senior Jackson Shelstad. “It is always a dream I had growing up to play on team USA and to play in my hometown in a huge game is really a cool experience. Not a lot of kids get that experience.”
The 6-foot-1 West Linn High senior has been named Gatorade Oregon basketball player of the year twice over and now the lion is roaring for the first time in red, white and blue.
“Just blessed to be able to play in front of NBA scouts like this but just to take the floor with these elite players as well and represent our country, it’s just a huge blessing.”
The University of Oregon commit will don the number eight in Saturday’s 24th annual Nike Hoop Summit in Rip City.
“I used to always come when I was younger a ton.”
Shelstad is joined on the 13-man USA roster by Bronny James, Lebron’s kid, who is undecided as to where he will attend college, national number one recruit, Isaiah Collier, is off to USC.
“It’s all next-level stuff.”
Jackson is the first Oregonian to make the hoop summit squad since good friend and current Boston Celtic, Payton Pritchard, repped ‘the Linn’ on this level in 2016.
“He always just tells me to play my game, don’t be afraid of anybody.”
The US squad battles the best 19-and-under international players around the world on Saturday night.
“This is a game that is really promoting basketball, promoting our city and our state and our country,” says Marshall Cho, Lake Oswego H.S. boys basketball head coach and world team assistant.
Marshall Cho is head coach from Shelstad’s three rivers league rival Lake Oswego.
“I was joking with him, I get one more chance to try to get a ‘w’ on him but this time around, on the world team,” says Cho.
The Lakers’ leader is an assistant on the world team that’s headed up by former Trail Blazers interim head coach, Kaleb Canales.
“Representing our state, the fact that I am a Korean American, that I have a dash in the middle, I really take pride in that and I hope that this is a game that helps me to build bridges between everybody else in the world and Portland, Oregon which I think is a really lowly big time basketball city,” says Cho.
The 44-year-old Canales is currently the associate head coach of the Mexican national team after starting his career as video coordinator in Portland.
“The fact that we bring that kind of immigrant work ethic to what we are doing but also getting the chance to work with him, he’s a 17-year NBA veteran and working with many players who are going to be future NBA players one day,” says Cho. “It’s been a tremendous learning opportunity and I couldn’t think of a better head coach to represent the world team this year.”
Lake Oswego will host the teams for their final practices on Friday.
The first-ever Hoop Summit women’s game will tip off the twin bill from the Moda Center on Saturday at 4:30 ahead of the men at 7 p.m.