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Carr creates new image through daughter

06/07/2014, 3:15pm EDT
By Andrew Koob

Andrew Koob (@AndrewKoob)
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Aquille Carr doesn’t want to be known as the small guard from Baltimore with a popular mixtape.

He wants to be known as a point guard, a team player and, most of all, he wants to be known as a father.

Since Averi Carr, Aquille’s two year-old daughter, came into the world, he’s been trying to change his image, all for her sake.

“She helped me out with a lot,” Carr said at The Basketball Tournament on Friday. “When I see her, I just smile. When the day goes wrong, I see her and I can’t help but smile. She’s really my motivation so I don’t let anything get to me right now.”

Rewind to 2011, before Averi. Carr was a high school phenom for Patterson (Md.) High School. His mixtape hit YouTube in early 2011 and currently has over 5.7 million views. His second one, uploaded a year later, has 5.9 million. Carr had verbally accepted a scholarship offer to Seton Hall for the 2013-2014 season, but ultimately backed out to play overseas.

After a stint with Lottomatica Roma in Italy, Carr returned to the states to finish at Princeton Day Academy (Md.). The guard was selected in the third round of the NBA D-League draft by the Philadelphia 76ers affiliate, the Delaware 87ers, but was waived only three months later.

After all that he’s been through in the past four years, Carr is read to show his family and NBA teams that he’s a changed man and isn’t the self-described ‘“hot head” he was back then.

And it’s all because of Averi.

“I want everybody to see a different Aquille Carr. Not the one from Baltimore. He’s not young no more, he’s not a hot head,” he said. “I’ve got a daughter, whatever reflects on me reflects on my daughter. I will never let anybody look at my daughter some type of way so I’m going to be the best father I can be and the best person I can be, on the court and off the court.

“She make me want to be a grown man, really. Just off the court, staying out of trouble, keeping my nose clean and just playing basketball. She’s been to the D-League games and she really knows basketball now. Before her birthday, she used to come to my games and every time I’d get the ball, she’d start clapping. If I get subbed out, she’ll start clapping, she understands basketball and I know now that it’s more than a game. I’m playing for somebody.”

The biggest thing that Carr, listed at 5-foot-6, has been doing to change his image is putting himself in the gym as often as possible. Three times a day, the guard is preparing himself for the upcoming NBA Draft in the hopes of hearing his name called on June 26th. When he’s not in the gym, he’s been in a soup kitchen, feeding the homeless.

In terms of his on-court presence, Carr wants to change that as well. Always seen as the man in the mixtape, Carr wants to take his ego out of the equation and make sure he plays like the pure point guard that he’s been striving to be.

“I’m trying to be a point guard, a pure point guard," Carr said. "I don’t want anyone to say I’m a shoot-first point guard because that’s not a good thing to be. It’s hard changing my game up, but it’s really fundamental. If you don’t have the fundamentals of the game, then there’s nothing you can do in pro basketball. For me, it’s like taking ten steps back and not being the head of the league. Just trying to actively be a point guard like Isaiah Thomas, Chris Paul and watch them and see how they rotate around.

“They’re scrappy, so I’m just trying to model my game after them. I’m just working on finding myself. I’m not really worried about the draft, I’m not going to stress it. It is what it is, whatever God has in store for me is going to be in store.”

When Carr was with the 87ers, he had a chance to play alongside former UNC Tar Heel and current Los Angeles Laker Kendall Marshall. Marshall was with the team for only 17 days before the NBA came calling, but Carr credits him with teaching him what it means to be a true point guard.

“Kendall Marshall was a big help,” Carr said. “He was teaching me to do everything, he helped me out a lot. In the games, I would just learn and if he was out there I would just watch him get to his spots on the court and make everyone get in their sports to score baskets.”

The Basketball Tournament was the first time many have seen Carr in competition since being waived by the 87ers. The ultimate goal is the NBA, but Carr would like to play professionally in China if he couldn’t find a home amongst the 30 teams.

For Carr, it’s all about the process and, one day, attaining the dream that every basketball player has their sights set on.

“TBT is a great tournament, a lot of people are coming out to watch it so I’ll be able to showcase my talents. A lot of people haven’t seen me since January so, for me to come out and play basketball, show people that I can still do it, that I haven’t fallen off yet. I’m still working out three times a day and I’m still chasing my dream.

“I’m young but it ain’t over yet.”


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