Photo courtesy of Position Sports/Nike
By David Cordova
Preface:
This interview on Maxwell Lorca-Lloyd was originally featured on Gotham Hoops in the summer of 2015.
The Basketball Journey of Maxwell Lorca-Lloyd
In the past couple of years, the PSA Cardinals have made a big impact in New York City and around the country. In the last two years, they have had one player drafted into the NBA (Chris McCullough), two McDonald’s All-Americans (Cheick Diallo and Thomas Bryant) and countless players going Division I scholarships to schools such as Kansas, Syracuse, Indiana, St. Joseph’s, Morgan State and many others.
The future is indeed bright for this program. One of the shining lights of the program is Maxwell Lorca-Lloyd, a 6-8 forward from Brooklyn, NY, from the Class of 2019. He is a big man with a soft touch, but is also someone that is a formidable rebounder. The big mystery on Lorca-Lloyd is that he has only been playing basketball since the seventh grade. Although he is still developing, the young forward is bound to do wonders in the future.
Lorca-Lloyd has wowed many with his excellent play at events such as the Hoop Group Future All-American Camp and the Big Strick Classic this month. “Playing in those events really helped me get some exposure and they were fun to play in.” Lorca says. “At FAA, I feel that I really showed what I could do, but there’s more to come. At the Big Strick, I got to play against some of the top players from the East Coast that are in the classes of 2017 and 2018. It was a great experience.”
Great things are in store for Lorca-Lloyd, as his play has already resulted in three offers from Seton Hall, Penn State and St. Peter’s. He will also be playing high school ball at national powerhouse, Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts, also a top-notch academic school, under coach John Carroll. NMH was ranked No. 1 in the ultra competitive New England Prep Schools Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) last year.
When asked about why he chose to attend NMH, he replied, “Definitely the high academic status. There’s not too many schools with the combination of high academics and athletics. Education always comes first.”
As he continues to develop as a player, there is no doubt that Lorca-Lloyd will have a promising future in the game.
Prologue:
Lorca-Lloyd has gotten used to the NEPSAC life, as his freshman year at Northfield Mount Hermon was a learning experience. “It was a lot different than I expected. I’m more accustomed to the style of play and intensity of everything that’s going on. I’m more comfortable now and having more fun with it now.”
He also continued to play on the 15U circuit with the PSA Cardinals and also had a great experience internationally as he played on the U18 Chile National Team in the FIBA Americas tournament, in which he averaged 5.2 points and 4.8 rebounds in five games and was one of three Chilean-Americans on the team. On his international experience: “That was a great experience. Especially playing against Team USA, playing against Mohamed [Bamba] and Quade [Green], guys that play for PSA. I was able to learn a lot more about the game.
On his recruitment: “After the game in Chile, a lot more schools started calling, like Texas, Kentucky, Duke, Virginia and a lot of other schools.”
Now that he’s a sophomore at Northfield Mount Hermon, he plans on doing bigger things: “I feel a lot more confident going into this year than I did last year. I think what you can expect from me is a lot more rebounding, defense overall, to be able to guard more positions, to be more of a defensive specialist, block more shots. All of that stuff.”
Look out, NEPSAC, Mr. Lorca-Lloyd is ready for battle.
Highlights of Maxwell Lorca-Lloyd:
Courtesy of NERR-TV.
davesjoint.net 