Jamaree Lamar Strickland is a force inside who is the No. 2 player in the NorCalPreps 2012 boys basketball ranking. T-Rex ( nicknamed by his teammates) started playing organized basketball only four years ago. As a sophomore for the McClymonds High Warriors of the Oakland Athletic League (OAL), his team finished 13-15 with a first round playoff loss to Castlemont 68-53. Strickland averaged 6 points per game.
At 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds, Strickland considers himself to be a power player because he says, "I like to do the dirty work inside the paint." With his height and size, this Warrior considers his post game to be his best basketball skill because he has various moves to use depending on the defender. Unfortunately, he had a minor setback this past April as he had ACL/MCL injuries.
During this summer, Strickland has been going through physical therapy to rehab his knee. 2008 McClymonds alum, Frank Mook Otis, had a similar injury. According to Strickland, Otis was able to rehab his knee and come back stronger than before. Hence, Strickland is using Otis' experience as motivation and reason for optimism.
McClymonds High Coach Brandon Brooks says, "Coming off of a major injury, he probably will play with caution until he can get confidence in his knee. But once he gets confidence in his knee, we hope he's going to be the beast that's going to take us back to the state championship."
When healthy, he likes to work on his dribbling and passing to make him a more complete player. Hence, he compares his game to former Michigan State Spartan Zach Randolph who is also a versatile big man. Coach Brooks says, "Jamaree's strength is that he is a great low post presence who has a nice mid range jump shot and his footwork is improving where he can take you off the dribble and finish with a nice jump hook or a strong dunk. His defense has been improving because he has been working on his foot speed. Hopefully, this is going to make him more of a defensive presence in the future."
Strickland's individual goal for his junior year is to get healthy while he leads his Warriors to a state title. Due to this spring injury, he was unable to play with his summer team, the Drew Gooden Soldiers. Next summer, this Warrior plans to play for the Soldiers.
Despite his injury and only being a junior, T-Rex is someone who many major conference programs want to showcase. He has been contacted by Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Fresno State, Missouri, Oregon, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, UNC, UNLV, Utah, Texas El Paso, Villanova, Washington, and Washington State. At this early stage, he has Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Missouri, Oklahoma, UNC, Washington, Washington State, and Villanova as his favorites because he grew up watching these programs and likes their style of play.
Academically, Strickland has a 3.10 GPA and has not taken the SAT test yet. He would like to be in Sports Medicine if professional basketball does not pan out. His favorite subjects include English and Science.
Strickland has used personal family tragedies to motivate himself to be a better basketball player and more importantly a better person. As a result, he waxes poetic about life as he enjoys to rap about non-violent causes. Coach Brooks says, "Off the court, he is a very smart kid who really enjoys science and math and finds relaxation in rapping. I heard a couple of his songs and he has a future in rapping if he pursues it."
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