wear and tear shouldn't really be a problem at that age..
At that age wear and tear can be a huge problem. Knee problems are pretty common for kids in growth spurts. Osgood-Schlatter, SLJ and torn ligaments are all pretty common in youth sports. Most good youth coaches will be very cautious about developing speed and jumping to avoid doing permanent damage to growing joints. At that age, skill development should take precedent over developing explosive speed and power.
At that age there is such a disparity in physical maturity among players, that it is really hard to tell who is going to be a good college level player. If he hit puberty early and is essentially done growing, then unless he develops a great jumpshot, he isn't going to be anything special.
If he still has some growing left, develops a repetiore beyond dunking on people who are 8 inches shorter and stays healthy, then he could end up being impressive as an older player.