Post by jhb on May 12, 2021 7:02:09 GMT -5
Kemba Walker
PG
6'0"
184
PG
21
UConn
After putting together what many would call one of the more legendary runs to a National Title in NCAA Tournament history after a fantastic final season of college basketball, Walker now attempts to transition to TMBSL and remain the same kind of dominant force. The biggest thing scouts point out about Walker is his athleticism...he has amazing burst and seems to be moving like The Flash, simply in a higher gear than everyone moving in slow motion around him. He still manages to do all of this and do it under control, seemingly operating with the ball on a string around his hands. The biggest knock on Walker is that he's a three-year college player so there are concerns about how much more growth he has left in his game along with the fact that he'll be a very small point guard at the next level and there's concerns with how that size and length will play.
Offensively, Walker scores from everywhere on the court and ended his final season at 23.5 points per game. There aren't many people who can stay in front of him defensively, especially when he changes direction without seemingly ever decelerating. Walker is surprisingly strong for his size and frame and plays through contact well at high speeds and he's very creative with the ball in his hands. He's constantly in attack mode and operates more like a combo guard than a true point, as he's looking for a way to attack the basket before he's looking to create an opportunity for a teammate. One of the bigger knocks on him before he came into his final season at UConn is that he wasn't a consistent threat from deep, but that's been improving. He's got a clean shot mechanically, as evidenced by his mid-range shooting and his free throw ability, but he still takes so many high difficulty threes that he's not as efficient as he should be there. There's the potential to be a good catch and shoot three point guy at the next level, the problem is he so frequently operates with the ball in his hands that he's generally taking more pull-up threes off of screens. He uses those screens very well and is very good at exploiting them to create mid-range jump shots. He operates well within the paint when he gets there and has a variety of floaters and reverse layups to keep large big men from taking advantage of his small stature.
Defensively is where Walker will struggle. His quickness and fast hands mean he will get to a lot of steals but he may be a liability trying to defend the new breed of much larger, longer point guards he'll see in TMBSL. He's got the lateral quickness to stay in front of anyone, it'll just be a matter of being vertically challenged to give away space to shoot to his opponents. He's not much of a contributor on the boards either.