Christian Carden 6'5 190 2022 Varina High School, Richmond VA
Christian is an outstanding athlete with a strong, physical frame, a relentless motor, and great versatility. He has equipped himself physically and athletically with an impressive combination of power and quickness that allows him to make plays on both ends of the floor. He offers strength, length, energy and a blue-collar type approach. Christian runs the floor exceptionally well showing good speed and establishes a good early position creating a lot of easy baskets in transition and putting a lot of pressure on the defense. He battles for position inside and is able to get touches in the paint where he is near-automatic finishing with strong takes and a nice touch. He makes great cuts, has very good hands making difficult catches in traffic and is able to finish even from tough angles at a good rate. He also has the ability to finish with either hand at the rim and is able to play through contact.
Christian uses his powerful frame and quick feet to beat defenders and get to his spots where he has the ability to face up and attack off the bounce or hit the catch and shoot jumper with good efficiency in the mid-range. He is very good scoring on the move and hits the pull up jumper at a very good rate. His shot mechanics are sound and he has three-point range although most of his touches are inside 20 feet because he is so effective getting higher percentage shots and making plays around the rim. He has a capable handle and uses long, powerful strides when attacking the basket where is so strong many guards cannot contain penetration and he's quick enough to beat bigger defenders. He demonstrates great instincts off the ball finding seams in the defense and gets to the openings for quick and easy finishes. Christian is a fantastic rebounder especially on the offensive end where he converts so many second-chance opportunities for his team. He beats defenders for rebounding angles using great reads and his combination of strength and quickness. He is a powerful leaper who gets off the floor quickly, also has an extremely quick second jump, just as powerful as his first jump and he demonstrates great timing for rebounds. His coaches not only rave about his work ethic but speak of how coachable he is and refer to him as a 'glue guy'. They describe him as having 'cat-like instincts' around the basket. Christian capably defends all five positions! He has excellent footwork and quickness and contains the dribble nicely. His competitiveness, agility and sound footwork make him a reliable defender containing the dribble and his physicality, size and workmanlike effort make him a reliable paint protector. He is active and instinctive off the ball in passing lanes. He has the quickness to help and recover nicely and never seems to be out of position and of course, he pounds the glass relentlessly. Christian's relentless energy and effort really set the tone for his team defensively.
Christian had a breakout year in 2019-2020 earning All-Region honors while helping to lead a young Varina team to the regional championship game. He has established himself as one of the state's top sophomores and should pick up a lot of attention from coaches at both the D1 and D2 level. A perennial honor roll student working toward an Advanced Diploma, Christian has enrolled in Broadcasting and Journalism for fall 2020 at the Advanced Career Education Center in Richmond. A high character and a well-spoken young man he is highly regarded on and off the court for his work ethic. His athletic roots are quite impressive! His Mom, Cindy Alisa Carden played volleyball at the collegiate level at ECU and at Elon and his grandfather played football both at Wake Forest and Elon! Both Christian's grandparents have college coaching backgrounds as well! He is a goal-oriented and driven young man with a solid support system and all the physical, mental and fundamental tools that should translate to success at the next level!