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Cabrini's Walton-Moss preparing for next step

07/13/2015, 6:30pm EDT

By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Down in Charlotte, N.C., Aaron Walton-Moss found out just what it means to be a professional basketball player.

The Camden native was down in the Queen City for a week last month to prepare for his basketball future with good friend Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a fellow South Jersey native and fourth-year pro with the Charlotte Bobcats.

And in doing so, Walton-Moss got a glimpse of why Kidd-Gilchrist has accomplished so much at just 21 years of age.

On one occasion, Kidd-Gilchrist took the two to Charlotte Arena at 1 AM for a solid two-hour session in the gym. And in the morning, it was right back to working on their games.

“He’s a very hard worker, so I can understand how he got there,” Walton-Moss said after a Delco Pro-Am game in late June. “He deserves everything that he got. I was always proud of him, and he was always telling me, ‘Aaron it’s going to come, just keep working hard and you’re going to get to where you want to get.’”

Obviously, Walton-Moss would like to get to where Kidd-Gilchrist is; that’s the dream of every young basketball player, even those who are 24 years old and just finishing up their college careers..

To say that Kidd-Gilchrist and Walton-Moss have taken different paths in their basketball careers would certainly be an understatement.

Both were first-team all-state in New Jersey in 2008-09, with Walton-Moss a senior at Camden and Kidd-Gilchrist a sophomore at St. Patrick’s.

That’s about where the similarities end. Kidd-Gilchrist went on to play one season at Kentucky, helping the Wildcats win the 2012 NCAA championship before declaring for the NBA Draft. He was picked second overall by the Charlotte Bobcats, for whom he’s started 191 games in his first three seasons in the league.

Walton-Moss didn’t go to college out of Camden. He didn’t have the grades to make the area Division I schools that were recruiting him, like La Salle and Temple, so he ended up working at places like Wal-Mart to support his daughter, Aryiana.

“For me to get here, where I’m at now, I felt like if I’d have just kept my head on straight and done everything on time at that moment, I could have already been somewhere,” he said. “Sometimes you’ve got to find out the hard way.”

He eventually found his way to Cabrini, as a freshman helping the Cavaliers to the 2012 Division III national championship game, where they fell short of the title by three points.

The following year, he averaged 15.2 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 5.0 apg as they made it back to the Elite 8.

But he wasn’t done: Walton-Moss won National Player of the Year honors as both a junior and a senior, collecting an astounding nine triple-doubles as a senior in a year in which he averaged 20.6 ppg, 11.7 rpg, 8.8 apg and 2.1 spg, though an overtime loss to Neumann in the CSAC final meant there would be no last NCAA opportunity.

As impressive an individual career as he had, his favorite part of his college experience came in that first season.

“Back-to-back years, the national championship year and the Elite 8 year, that was the farthest we’d been in the program,” he said. “Just to help the program get to where they’d never been, that was the biggest accomplishment. Player of the year, that was good, but that’s about working on yourself and I’m the type of guy that likes to see everybody enjoying the moment and having a good time.

“I was very blessed to win national player of the year back-to-back, but getting to that championship experience and the whole school coming down and everybody getting to come enjoy a weekend down in Salem, it was just a fun experience for everybody,” he continued.

Aside from working out with Kidd-Gilchrist, Walton-Moss got to experience another taste of NBA life, when he was invited to the Sixers’ facility for a pre-draft workout.

And while the NBA is still Walton-Moss’ ultimate goal, it doesn’t look like that opportunity will come right away. After going undrafted, Walton-Moss also was left off the NBA’s various summer league rosters, leaving him looking at starting his career abroad.

Opportunities in Spain and South America look most promising for his first destination.

He’s not worried; he’s started from the bottom before.

“Just trying to get me ready for the next level, wherever I end up,” he said. “Just thinking about what’s best for me and my family...getting ready for the next step in the story of my life.”

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Photo credit: Josh Verlin/City of Basketball Love