You are here: Home / blog / #NaismithWatch: 2014-15 Season – Male

#NaismithWatch: 2014-15 Season – Male

February 27, 2015 by
The Naismith Awards are presented to the nation's premier players and chosen by the nation's top analysts / coaches / journalists. Graphic by Naismith Awards

The Naismith Awards are presented to the nation’s premier players and chosen by the nation’s top analysts / coaches / journalists.
Graphic by Naismith Awards

The Naismith Awards were founded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to recognize accomplished athletes, coaches, officials and contributors to high school and college basketball. Named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, the creator of the game of basketball, the first Naismith trophy was awarded in 1969 to UCLA’s Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Each year the club’s board publishes the “Naismith Watch” list that is made up of the top 50 players to watch in men’s and women’s college basketball. The organization also releases a list of 30 mid-season Naismith candidates. At the end of the season the Naismith Trophy is awarded to the player of the year in men’s and women’s college basketball. A national voting academy of leading basketball coaches, administrators and journalists votes based on player performance throughout the season. In 1987, to honor the nation’s best boy’s and girl’s high school basketball players, the Naismith Trophy Boy’s High School Player of the Year was established.

Past HS Winners Include:

1988 – Alonzo Mourning – Indian River HS – Chesapeake, VA
1991 – Chris Webber – Detroit Country Day – Beverly Hills, MI
1992 – Jason Kidd – St. Joseph Notre Dame – Alameda, CA
1996 – Kobe Bryant – Lower Merion High – Ardmore, PA
1997 – Shane Battier – Detroit Country Day – Beverly Hills, MI
2003 – LeBron James – St. Vincent-St. Mary – Akron, OH
2004 – Dwight Howard – Southwest Atlanta Christian – Atlanta, GA
2005 – Louis Williams – South Gwinnett – Snellville, GA
2007 – Kevin Love – Lake Oswego – Lake Oswego, OR
2013 – Andrew Wiggins – Huntington Prep – Huntington, WVA
2015 – Ben Simmons – Montverde Academy – Montverde, FL

Our PeachStateBasketball.com staff is represented on the following committees:

1) Men’s College Player of the Year Voting Academy: Brandon Clay
2) Boy’s HS Player of the Year & All-American Teams Board of Selectors: Brandon Clay, Jonathan Hemingway & Keil Moore

You can find our thoughts on who is in the discussion for these awards all season here:

Social Media Hashtag: #NaismithWatch

Brandon-Clay-Bio-2Brandon Clay is the Executive Camp Director of the Elite Basketball Academy and the owner of Brandon Clay Scouting. Clay is also the owner of Peach State Basketball, Inc., and serves on the Naismith Trophy Men’s / Women’s College Player of the Year Academy and the HS Boys / Girls All-American Team Board of Selectors. He is also the Director of Scouting for the OTRHoopsReport.com National Scouting Report. Clay has been involved in the community since 2001. You can reach him at [email protected]

Related Posts

Filed Under: blog, Boys Grassroots Coverage, Peach State Media Tagged With: , , , ,