Believe me, you can often tell at a young age how good a child will be if nothing changes that will affect that child's growth.
I could tell when Tyler was not yet three that he was going to have a strong arm.He was constantly knocking out windows, lightbulbs, his cousins with hard plastic balls and even rocks. I had to throw away anything harder than a nerf ball, and my nephew and I walked around the yard and threw away every rock we found bigger than a quarter.
By age five he was spending the night in our two story treehouse and climbing in and out like a monkey. In the fourth grade he ran 82 laps around the gym floor in one PE period. Second place was his little sister Sally with 58.
In the fifth grade he would bike 8 miles to see his best friend, then return the same distance four or five hours later. It was six months before I realized the distance he was covering.
By sixth grade he was chop blocking my best highschool kids in the J-bird. He played center and it was his job to block the linebacker. Taking proper angles was easy for him. When we ran Spread he could make good decisions after one week of teaching him.
But I often was concerned that he would ever make it to high school. I probably am setting myself up for a CPS visit, but Tyler showed dangerous signs of rare bravery sometimes. In the second and third grade he would go to the rock pit and catch scorpions, put them in a jar and bring them home to show his mom--she freaked! By the sixth grade he was catching rattlesnakes--I freaked!! We spent lots of prayer on him.
So yes you can tell what kind of abilities, strengths and bravery a child has at a young age. If that child shows rare physical abilities and courage(some may argue stupidity) you can bet that he will use those same qualities on the field and court.
I would keep an eye on that kid of Dover's. He may be the next stud player. Aspermont may want to plan ahead and try to keep him there for the next several years. Believe it that one kid can make a huge difference at any level, but especially sixman.
