Meet “The Crime Stopper”

Aquille Carr is a 5’7″ (maybe) high school point guard. He’s nicknamed “the Crime Stopper” because during his games in a tough area of Baltimore, Carr’s must-see play was said to bring a halt to crime.

Today, in a less impressive feat, Carr was “the blog stopper” as far as I’m concerned. That is, I put blogging and all other pursuits aside to watch Carr play in a high school all-star game — the Capital Classic, whose alums include Moses Malone, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Amare Stoudamire, Carmelo Anthony, and Lebron James.

Carr didn’t disappoint. Playing for the Capital All Star team (Carr attended school in the Washington, D.C. area his senior year), Carr scored 29 points, many on an electrifying array of impossible-seeming layups against star players a foot or more taller. Nearly all of his forays to the basket produced a made layup, foul shots, or an assist. Carr also sprinkled in enough three pointers to keep defenders honest. And he played with a smile almost as dazzling as his game.

Thanks to Carr’s efforts (with plenty of help from Ishmail Wainwright, a 6’6″ forward who will attend Baylor next year), the undersized Capital All Stars nearly defeated an impressive U.S. All Star team. Although the game no longer attracts, say, the top 20 rated high school seniors, the U.S. team had an abundance of talent, including Stanford Robinson (headed to Indiana), Brandon Austin (Providence), B.J. Johnson (Syracuse), Kameron Williams (Ohio State), and Mike Young (Pittsburgh).

Carr, who had a brush with the law last year, is expected to play in Europe next year. One possible destination is Italy, where fans reportedly carried him off the court following a 45 point performance for the U.S. Junior team in 2011. Following the tournament, a team in Rome (for whom Brandon Jennings played right out of high school before joining the NBA) reportedly offered him a substantial contract.

Is the NBA in Carr’s future? Off of what I say today, I don’t see why not. In any case, I hope it is. Why should European fans have all the fun.

To see what I mean, you can check out his play on YouTube. The video below, from his sophomore year, has been viewed more than 5 million times. But I think I saw some even more impressive finishes today.

JOHN adds: Wow, 5′ 7″? That’s my size; or possibly, if you stretch it, 5′ 8″. So what I take away from this news story is that I could have been a basketball star, except that I had no talent. Zero. Is that better or worse? I’m not sure…

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