Player: Carl Jones

Height: 5’11(with shoes) Pg

Weight: 150

Class: 2009

AAU Team: Ohio Basketball Club

High School: Garfield Heights High School

When you look up the work dynamite in the dictionary you will see a picture of Carl Jones holding a basketball. Carl "Tay-Tay" Jones might be only 5’10ish with a pair of kicks on and throw in the cushioned NBA socks, but he plays like he’s 6’10. Just ask Dashonte Riley of Michigan’s The Family. Carl, who runs with Mike Duncan’s OBC, put on a point guard clinic this past weekend at the King James Tournament. He showed his crafty ability to penetrate and finish in the lane, along with his sweet stroke from the outside and solid pull-up game. I also noticed for the first time in the last three years that he is becoming more and more comfortable taking it to the rack and going up against the trees. Carl always brings his A game when the lights are on and he is a pure gym rat.

Carl does a great job beating his opponent off the dribble with his deceptive combo of inside-outs, spins, ball fakes, and more. One thing about Carl is that he has great body control and can usually finish at a high percentage. He also has great court vision whether it’s the natural/secondary break, off the dribble, or if penetrating to the cup for the kick-out/drop down. Carl loves to turn down a.k.a. slipping the screen, if it’s a weave or just using a 2-man game. Carl likes taking the ball out under for he can run off single and double screens for the open J. He also does a great job coming off flare screens and can shoot it deep/accurate with the best of them. He truly is one of the most skilled offensively players in the country.

As we all have weakness, Carl needs to add more muscle mass if he wants to play at the highest level on a daily basis. He needs to compete harder with his on the ball defense and intensity levels. He sometimes has the tendency to lose track of his man by watching the ball, but it’s not a big affair. The question will be how he fairs against a bigger point guard that will take him to the block or muscle him to the hoop. I feel he has the quickness and cat like skills to hold his own, but time will prevail.

Carl played like a high major scoring guard this weekend and if he can bring that same approach and leadership with his squad for the rest of the summer the sky is the limit for him. Every game this weekend Carl took his play up a notch and showed different stages of how good his really can be. I would have liked to seen him shoot the ball more from the outside, but why change what’s working for you if the other guy can’t stop it. He did a great job guarding and doing whatever he wanted against Rising Stars Gold Marcus Jordan during pool play, who some feel Jordan is a high-major role player. He also toyed with D1-Greyhounds guards all day long off the dribble and with the fast break. Carl played well in the opening round game verse M33M-GC-NY Elite, but against The Family Carl took over, scoring at least four or five straight possessions in the 2^nd half with a wide array of spin-floaters, pull-ups, 3’s and getting to the lane with ease. I did not keep track of his point total, but it was estimated that he dropped 30 in the 2^nd half. Carl had another huge game where he dropped 34 on Meanstreets to advance his team to the final four of the Diamond bracket. In the Semi-final shots were not falling from short-range and the 20 footers were going in and out as the Ohio Basketball Club was bowed out by the Rising Stars Gold, who they beat on Friday night.

Carl showed this weekend why he should be and is the best point guard in the state of Ohio, now he just needs the rest of the nation to see what they have been missing out on. He already has offers from most of the M.A.C. schools, along with Xavier, George Mason, Texas Tech, Iowa, Saint Joe’s, Butler and many others vastly moving in. With the swarm of attention to high-major talent Dashonte Riley, Carl just might have opened some eyes with stealing the show on Saturday night with those high profile programs. Don’t be shocked to see Carl playing in a high-major gym after his senior season. This kid has the chance to be really special.