There’s a first time for everything and at the 12U Nationals last summer it was a first time experience for Mike Melton, no not attending the nationals but actually watching a player dunk during a 12U AAU game. This player that accomplished this feat was Marsalis Johnson of the California based ARC Gorillas. Johnson trailed on the fast break and received a pass from his point guard and went up for a flush. This wasn’t the first time Johnson has thrown the ball down and it won’t be the last. The nationals was the tail end of Johnson’s dominance “ He destroyed the competition in every tourney we entered even averaging 20 points and 14 rebounds in the prestigious Presidents Day Tourney in Portland Oregon” said his AAU coach Lee Garson.
Johnson has all the polished moves as a potential big time post player. He has good foot work, excellent touch and even is strong with his offhand but there’s some other aspects that impress Garson the most “First of all his attitude is excellent he’s one of the most coachable kids I ever had and believe it or not he’s our fastest player baseline to baseline” Garson continued. Marsalis also continues to work hard to get better even against older players, “He has an older brother that plays high school ball right now and he’s always in the gym working with those guys trying to get better it will pay off at the end” Garson said.
Johnson is already on the road to success hopefully he continues to improve and reach his lofty goals. Right now I haven’t seen a post player in the Class of 2014 throughout the country that I would consider better. I don’t rank players nationally but if I did you could expect to see his name at the top.
