Heritage Christian's Justin Rochelin: Sacrificial Assassin
Seeing Justin "JR" Rochelin ball out for Heritage Christian vs. Thousand Oaks recently, dude has to be one of the state's top freshmen. Because of his skill set, it's easy to see this 6-3 guard is loaded with potential.
Why do I see this youngin' taking over games in a year?
With his long arms and ideal basketball body, J-Rochelin is a go-getter with that happy-go-lucky demeanor, joyous in tone, cold blooded in ambition.
I've been lucky to have a lot of time to talk to JR, get in his head and enjoy his convos explaining his goal to be a be an "assassin" on the court. JR has confidence in his mission be a top 5 player in his class. His goal be on the front cover of ESPN someday.
All these dreams, he humbly realizes, must be backed up by a strong work ethic. He says, "I'm determined to put in the work, get my individual skills up there to help our team, be that communicator to teammates. We have a chance to be really good this year."
For JR's Heritage Christian team, it looks to find itself with a roster loaded with freshmen and sophomores.
For this team to beat an elite squad like Sierra Canyon, which Dillon DePina of HC as a freshman last year almost beat the Marvin Bagley led SC in the playoffs, Justin needs to be that baby-face killa, basketball shooter, freshman instigator: now you know.
JR is 100, that is, he's all in to help contribute and see his prep team accomplish great things at HC. I've never talked to someone so gleeful yet so serious about winning. He oozes enthusiasm, it's easy to see he's a great kid.
It's refreshing to see a freshman with manners, yet so driven to beat the comp. With Justin, it's like seeing a happy go lucky kid going to an Easter egg hunt with a smile on his face and totally has plans to grab every egg in the hunt.
That's the kind of teammate I'd want to roll with. JR reminds me of Lil Wayne's line, "All I require, is what I desire." This dude is a youngin' who desires a lot in his prep career.
Justin has a great hoop pedigree he wants to live up to.
His pops Charles Rochelin is proudly from Canada, balled with Reggie Miller and Pooh Richardson at UCLA in the late 80's, and gave his boy this dope advice, "Handle yourself like a pro. Whatever you do in life, prepare yourself to perform at the highest level possible, whatever you choose to do in this world."
That's what's up, that encouragement has motivated J-Rochelin to come out like Ezio from Assassins Creed. But CIF hoop is no video game. He must prove himself game by game fosho.
Justin's fam has already lined him up with dual citizenship to play for the Canadian national team. So balling alongside guys like RJ Barrett and Andrew Wiggins is a big future goal and the opportunity will be there when his game is ready.
Justin knows that to much is given, much is expected. He has to get "sacrificial." What? Justin finds inspiration from the rapper Drake, who has a song called "Sacrifices”.
Justin sees Aubrey's words speak to him and feels that his Canadian brother left him a blueprint to follow inside this song's lyrics that will power him to be that "sacrificial assassin" on the court:
"Like a kiss from a rose I could be the one to seal your whole fate
I got my 23s laced
It's a marathon, not a sprint, but I still gotta win the race, yeah
And I'm convinced
I made sacrifices, I been ballin' ever since.”
In 4th grade Justin was balling for the West Valley Bulls against his brodie Hercy Miller. Whether playing vs. friend or foe he realized something important while fixing to give Miller’s team 5 treys in a row.
That's when he knew that shooting would make him an assassin. Ever since then, all he's wanted to do is dash out those dagger 3's forevermore in games.
As a lil g, Justin watched his 6-8 upper case G dad Charles ball up super comp at Crossroads high on weekends. Blessed hoopers like Lamond Murray and so many dope ballers would roll through.
Justin asked former NBA player Cuttino Mobley for advice and Cuttino told him, "It's not about the start, it's about the finish. Stay the course to realize your dream."
Those experiences made him realize he needed to forget what a PS4 was. Relaxation time, what is that?
To achieve his goals of playing at a place like Duke and get to be as good as his idol Austin Rivers, he'll need to make OVO sized sacrifices. Young blood is determined to play for a great college like his pops, play pro ball in Europe like his dad, or maybe in time ball in the L.
It's like Drake says in the song Back to Back. Only Justin turns it around: it’s twitter fingers turn to trigger fingers for Justin. No time to tweet, just make time for more jump shots at the rim, that's the goal of this baby face assassin.
J-Rochelin is excited to keep play playing for the successful Compton Magic AAU team this upcoming summer. He wants to be as good as UCLA bound Jules Bernard. JR loves the idea of moving up to the hyper successful older squad and achieving with a Magic team that went 32-3 last season.
He intends to unpack his clean jumper, attach a scope to it, fire off when the green dot is lined up. He also intends to keep working with NBA level trainer Eddie Cruz, hoping their sessions will refine his skills in games.
The colleges JR hopes to choose from and ball at are: Duke, Kentucky, Oregon, UCLA, Michigan, Florida State, and Miami.
That's an impressive list but he is a fast progressing talent that says his goal is to be a pass first guard that values 2-way defensive players. He credits head coach Paul Tate as a big reason he chose Heritage Christian because he worked with the Holiday brothers, Jrue and Justin.
JR is a serious student with a 3.7 gpa and picked Heritage Christian also for its high academics. His choice to study in college? Justin wants to be a business major.
I appreciate a youngster that genuinely believes in himself for the right reasons. He gives the glory in this mantra from the Bible at Philippians 4:13, "I can do all this through him who gives me strength."
Catch a game and watch Drake’s lyrics in Sacrifices come to life. See dude ball up for yourself, watch him lace up his 23's, know this baby face assassin is down as a freshman to run the marathon all the way to his senior year and beyond.
Be convinced that he's sacrificed to put himself in this position. What position does he prefer to shoot from on the court you ask?
He's launching treys from the garden area of the floor, because like a kiss from a rose, he could be the one to seal your whole fate.