Moving for senior year, Jalek Felton sets sights on a championship

Jalek Felton has achieved many things playing during high school basketball, but one thing that’s eluded him is a championship.

Felton said he hopes to change that during his senior season at Gray Collegiate, where he’ll join one of the most talented rosters in the Midlands and South Carolina.

This is the first year Gray can participate in the postseason after a two-year waiting period.

“It is one of the reasons I stayed in South Carolina,” Felton said. “I promised I was going to get one. This is the year right here. I am a better player than before and I got better guys around me. This is the challenge I am taking on this season.”

Felton, a North Carolina commitment, played four years at Mullins before making the move to the Midlands.

Felton knew Gray coach Dion Bethea, who’s the nephew of former Mullins coach Mark Gerald. Felton played for Gerald his first two years at Mullins before the coach died in 2014, after a long battle with cancer. Felton said if Gerald hadn’t passed away, he probably would’ve remained at Mullins.

At Gray Collegiate, Felton said he gets that extra push he needed – on the court and in the classroom – to get him prepared for next season at UNC. Felton has been working with a peer tutor, and Bethea has been impressed with the progress he’s made in the classroom.

On the court, Felton’s teamed with Juwan Gary, ranked as No. 12 sophomore in the country by ESPN, and other talented players including Khalil Robinson and Tommy Bruner. Gray Collegiate will play a strong schedule with games in Chicago, Washington D.C., Delaware and in the Chick-fil-A Classic at Richland Northeast in December.

“He has shown a lot of leadership. I kind of felt early on he was trying to get to know everybody,” Bethea said. “The kids are listening to him and he is dictating everything we have asked him. The thing I’m impressed with is his academic progress. He is locked in and making sure he is getting that work done.”

Felton had a busy and productive summer. He attended the Under Armour All-America and NBA Top 100 camps, and also was one of 20 players picked for Steph Curry’s SC 30 camp. It was the third year in a row Felton attended the invite-only camp run by the two-time NBA MVP.

Felton also worked with his uncle Raymond, a point guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. Jalek said his uncle has always pushed him from their days of playing pickup games. This summer, Raymond was preparing his nephew for what it’ll be like when he gets to college.

Felton used to go with his uncle to UNC and watch him play pickup games with other former Tar Heels. This summer, it was Jalek’s turn to play in those games with the likes of NBA players Ty Lawson, Marvin Williams, Tyler Hansborough and former star Rasheed Wallace.

Felton said he was tentative at first, but got confident as the summer progressed.

“No matter whenever I go to the gym now, I never feel out of place,” Felton said. “I see those guys have a national championship banner up there, and it makes me want to compete even harder because that is something I want.”

Felton, a five-star recruit, capped his summer at the Under Armour Elite 24 in Brooklyn, N.Y., last month. He won the 3-point contest and shared MVP honors following his 16-point, 4-assist effort.

“To remain consistently in the top-25 rankings for as long as he has, it is not easy thing to do. He is always good off the dribble and a creative scorer,” Rivals lead basketball recruiting analyst Eric Bossi said. “This summer he found that fire and played even harder. He can be as good as he wants to be.

“But I think getting out of his comfort zone and playing at Gray with that type of schedule will allow him to be sharp and get him ready for college.”

Felton said there are still many areas of his game he wants to improve before he arrives at Chapel Hill, with the biggest coming on the defensive end.

“I want to become a lockdown defender going to UNC, because there it is all defense and it leads to offense,” Felton said. “I am going to take that role and guard the best offensive player every night.”

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Moving for senior year, Jalek Felton sets sights on a championship."