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He leads the Australian National Basketball League in scoring, has won the player of the week award twice this season and Boomers coach Brian Goorjian rates him the best player in the league.
Not a bad list of accolades for a player who came here as a late replacement.
Power forward Carlos Powell has been a revelation for the New Zealand Breakers this season, scoring a prolific 27.4 points per game (before last night's match), including a match-winning 38-point haul against the West Sydney Razorbacks last week.
But none of this would have occurred had Rich Melzer not left the franchise in July to take up a contract with one of the NBA's elite teams, the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs have since released Melzer but Powell has become an instant hit.
As well as leading the league in scoring, the 23-year-old has all-round ability, sitting in the league's top 10 in rebounding and shot blocking.
Considering his numbers it's surprising Powell was handed a place in the all-star match in Adelaide last month only after Townsville Croc Jelani Gardner dropped out.
The person most surprised about the snub was Powell himself, who is still bemused that he was overlooked in all-star voting.
"To this day I can't believe that," he says.
"Guys were telling me, 'Carlos, you are the best player in the league, you should have been the first pick, you are playing the best right now'."
The Breakers were left in the lurch after Melzer signed with the Spurs, but coach Andrej Lemanis believes contacts he developed while in the United States this year ensured the club signed a quality import.
"There is always a risk factor when you bring out somebody new to the country and new to the league," Lemanis says.
"[But] I am absolutely rapt that Carlos is playing for us and not for somebody else.
"Another thing that is good about him is he is a good guy and he is prepared to fit into the team structure, which is a quality that not all imports have."
Younger than he looks, Powell is in only his second season as a professional since graduating from the University of South Carolina.
He arrived in Auckland following a stint at Portuguese club Sport Lisboa Benfica.
He was fourth in the Portuguese league in scoring, but he wanted to move on after a less-than-enjoyable season in Europe.
Not one to display the usual Kiwi modesty, Powell believes he has been just the player the Breakers needed and his instant success has not come as a surprise.
"I know I can play," he says. "I try to do everything great; that is me. I just want to be the best.
"I set high expectations for myself and I have to live up to them."
One of his expectations is to be a contender for MVP honours this season, although he is aware that Cairns forward Martin Cattalini is currently the Australian favourite.
And with a season-best 38 points, Powell has some work to do if he is to outdo Cattalini's mammoth 51-point effort against Brisbane last month. "If I get that hot," says Powell, "it is going to be a tough night for somebody.
"I just mix my game up the best way I can and if you can stop it, best of luck to you."
At the South Carolina Gamecocks, Powell would often play in front of 18,000 fans at the college's Colonial Centre, a world away from the Breakers' meagre average crowd of 1400.
Powell has found it difficult playing in front of such a small number of supporters, but he still enjoys getting the crowd involved.
"It is tough man, coming from a packed house where you can feel the floor vibrating to not knowing if somebody is going to show up at the game.
"[But] in order to have fun you have got to make the game exciting. Showboat a little bit, have fun, yell, scream, do whatever you have got to do to get them [the crowd] in it."
Powell has enjoyed thrilling fans this season, but he does not see himself staying in the ANBL beyond this campaign.
"I am going to get to the NBA, I know I am. When I get there I think a lot of people are going to be wondering where this guy was."
But for now Powell has his sights set on ensuring the Breakers qualify for the post-season for the first time.
"We are going to the playoffs. We are going to get in there, that is our main goal. This programme has been struggling lately, and Paulie [Paul Henare] and them deserve it.
"They deserve to be in the playoffs and making that push. And I think this is the team that can do it."
