bobbybutler wrote:
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evolution of a player
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kemba-Walker-5152/
January 2008(high school)
"As far as being a scoring threat goes, Walker has two issues facing him. First is his size; his 6’2” listing is probably a bit generous, and we did see that he struggled at times to finish in traffic against bigger, longer players. The other major concern is Walker’s perimeter shooting. He only attempted one three-point field goal during the game, despite having plenty of open looks; and it seems that Walker doesn’t have a tremendous amount of confidence from this range. He showed some nice potential shooting off the dribble from mid-range and has nice touch, but his release point was somewhat inconsistent, which hampered his shots from falling on a regular basis."
"Clearly the appeal in Walker’s game is his playmaking ability. His ability to get into the lane and create open shots for teammates is very impressive, and his court vision is fantastic. Walker did everything from drive and kick to open teammates for perimeter shots on the weak side, to penetrating the lane and drawing defenders leaving teammates open for uncontested lay ups. Walker was only able to record two assists in this particular contest, because of a lot of missed opportunities by Rice on the offensive end."
"On the defensive end there is plenty to like about Walker. He is a tough defender, and though he gets beat occasionally by fast perimeter players off the dribble, he does a great job of recovering quickly. He seems to have a knack of knowing where to be and generally seems to anticipate well. One cause for concern again is his height, which could allow taller guards to shoot over him at the next level."
March 2009(freshman)
"Many times throughout the season when UConn was beginning to unravel, coach Calhoun would put Walker at the point and slide A.J. Price over to the shooting guard spot, showing his confidence in his young playmaker."
"Walker’s offensive game primarily centers around his ability to get to the rim. Comfortable going both left and right, he possesses a devastating change of direction dribble that can collapse a defense in a heartbeat. His relatively slender frame does not deter him from finishing at the rim amongst the trees, even though he stands only a hair over six feet tall. The kid is simply fearless when going to the rim, while also maintaining the poise to run an offense and not forcing the issue. And in the cases that he is not able to score, he shows absolutely gorgeous court vision, especially in terms of drop off passes to big men."
"The main problem with Walker’s offensive game centers around his ability to shoot the ball. While he is not an awful shooter, most defenders opt to play off of him and make them beat him with his jumper."
"Walker really excels on the defensive end, playing tough on the ball defense and also great team defense. When not pressuring the ball, he did a very nice job of rotating and even tried taking a few charges against bigger Pitt players. Not only was it clear that Walker has the physical ability to defend, but he also understands HOW to defend, which makes him even more appealing as a prospect."
February 2010(sophomore)
"On the offensive end, Walker has really become a much more reliable outside shooter this season, namely spotting up from behind the three-point arc. Walker has great mechanics, boasting a high and quick release with a smooth, consistent motion. He’s very effective with his shot both catching and shooting and pulling up in space, while he uses his excellent quickness and craftiness with the ball to create separation pretty consistently. He’s only making about one three per game, but he’s doing a lot of damage pulling up from inside the arc, while he’s also shown proficiency with pull-up jumpers and runners in the painted area."
"As a point guard, Walker has a lot of good tools, excelling in the pick-and-roll game and showing good court vision in general, capable of making tough passes to cutters in the lane. He does a pretty good job of moving the ball around the floor and finding open shooters, keeping his head up for the most part when initiating the offense. That said, Walker definitely shows some tunnel vision when he decides to attack the basket, usually being dead set on scoring in those situations. He doesn’t show much prowess in the drive-and-dish game, and his decision-making in general has been erratic at times this season, being pretty turnover prone with the ball, both in forcing passes into tough situations and forcing his dribble-drive game."
"Defensively, Walker plays aggressive, focused perimeter defense, getting into a good stance and moving his feet well to stay in front of his man. He sticks with his man well off the ball and doesn’t give up on plays, while also doing a good job in the passing lanes, pulling in 2.1 steals per game. Walker’s size is certainly an issue on this end of the court, however, as opponents can shoot over him and he doesn’t have the greatest strength, something that is problematic when getting through screens."
November 2010(junior)
"Walker wasn't known as a great shooter coming out of high school, but he has put an unbelievable amount of time into improving his mechanics and increasing his range over the past few years. He's absolutely deadly now – both with his feet set and off the bounce. The fact that he can find the space to get his shot off whenever he pleases makes him that much more difficult to guard, particularly at this level. It's also made his shot fake (a frequent part of his arsenal) more credible, which has, in turn, made him an even more effective threat slashing to the basket."
"The Rice High School product was known as an unselfish playmaker earlier in his career. While his stats this season may lead some to the impression that he has gone away from that, his increased production stems from necessity more than anything. UConn cannot survive without Walker scoring in bunches."
"Digging deeper into his film, there are still plenty of instances where Walker's outstanding court vision and creative passing shine through. He's capable of threading the needle to teammates rolling to the basket with bullet passes, finding open shooters on the wing, and making fundamentally-sound entry passes into the post for high percentage looks around the rim."
"Defense is the part of Walker's game that will raise the biggest question marks from NBA evaluators – not because of his actual defensive ability, but rather his size. Standing somewhere around six-feet and change, Walker will always carry the “undersized” label, even though his height rarely affects him on the offensive end. He'll match up against bigger, stronger, longer point guards in the NBA, which could make things more difficult. To his credit, though, he shows excellent lateral quickness, terrific instincts in the passing lanes and the type of toughness you come to expect from a New York City guard. Nevertheless, there is a bias amongst certain NBA-types against shorter point guards, which must be taken into account."
From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...#ixzz1NBVmq9mO
http://www.draftexpress.com
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kemba-Walker-5152/
January 2008(high school)
"As far as being a scoring threat goes, Walker has two issues facing him. First is his size; his 6’2” listing is probably a bit generous, and we did see that he struggled at times to finish in traffic against bigger, longer players. The other major concern is Walker’s perimeter shooting. He only attempted one three-point field goal during the game, despite having plenty of open looks; and it seems that Walker doesn’t have a tremendous amount of confidence from this range. He showed some nice potential shooting off the dribble from mid-range and has nice touch, but his release point was somewhat inconsistent, which hampered his shots from falling on a regular basis."
"Clearly the appeal in Walker’s game is his playmaking ability. His ability to get into the lane and create open shots for teammates is very impressive, and his court vision is fantastic. Walker did everything from drive and kick to open teammates for perimeter shots on the weak side, to penetrating the lane and drawing defenders leaving teammates open for uncontested lay ups. Walker was only able to record two assists in this particular contest, because of a lot of missed opportunities by Rice on the offensive end."
"On the defensive end there is plenty to like about Walker. He is a tough defender, and though he gets beat occasionally by fast perimeter players off the dribble, he does a great job of recovering quickly. He seems to have a knack of knowing where to be and generally seems to anticipate well. One cause for concern again is his height, which could allow taller guards to shoot over him at the next level."
March 2009(freshman)
"Many times throughout the season when UConn was beginning to unravel, coach Calhoun would put Walker at the point and slide A.J. Price over to the shooting guard spot, showing his confidence in his young playmaker."
"Walker’s offensive game primarily centers around his ability to get to the rim. Comfortable going both left and right, he possesses a devastating change of direction dribble that can collapse a defense in a heartbeat. His relatively slender frame does not deter him from finishing at the rim amongst the trees, even though he stands only a hair over six feet tall. The kid is simply fearless when going to the rim, while also maintaining the poise to run an offense and not forcing the issue. And in the cases that he is not able to score, he shows absolutely gorgeous court vision, especially in terms of drop off passes to big men."
"The main problem with Walker’s offensive game centers around his ability to shoot the ball. While he is not an awful shooter, most defenders opt to play off of him and make them beat him with his jumper."
"Walker really excels on the defensive end, playing tough on the ball defense and also great team defense. When not pressuring the ball, he did a very nice job of rotating and even tried taking a few charges against bigger Pitt players. Not only was it clear that Walker has the physical ability to defend, but he also understands HOW to defend, which makes him even more appealing as a prospect."
February 2010(sophomore)
"On the offensive end, Walker has really become a much more reliable outside shooter this season, namely spotting up from behind the three-point arc. Walker has great mechanics, boasting a high and quick release with a smooth, consistent motion. He’s very effective with his shot both catching and shooting and pulling up in space, while he uses his excellent quickness and craftiness with the ball to create separation pretty consistently. He’s only making about one three per game, but he’s doing a lot of damage pulling up from inside the arc, while he’s also shown proficiency with pull-up jumpers and runners in the painted area."
"As a point guard, Walker has a lot of good tools, excelling in the pick-and-roll game and showing good court vision in general, capable of making tough passes to cutters in the lane. He does a pretty good job of moving the ball around the floor and finding open shooters, keeping his head up for the most part when initiating the offense. That said, Walker definitely shows some tunnel vision when he decides to attack the basket, usually being dead set on scoring in those situations. He doesn’t show much prowess in the drive-and-dish game, and his decision-making in general has been erratic at times this season, being pretty turnover prone with the ball, both in forcing passes into tough situations and forcing his dribble-drive game."
"Defensively, Walker plays aggressive, focused perimeter defense, getting into a good stance and moving his feet well to stay in front of his man. He sticks with his man well off the ball and doesn’t give up on plays, while also doing a good job in the passing lanes, pulling in 2.1 steals per game. Walker’s size is certainly an issue on this end of the court, however, as opponents can shoot over him and he doesn’t have the greatest strength, something that is problematic when getting through screens."
November 2010(junior)
"Walker wasn't known as a great shooter coming out of high school, but he has put an unbelievable amount of time into improving his mechanics and increasing his range over the past few years. He's absolutely deadly now – both with his feet set and off the bounce. The fact that he can find the space to get his shot off whenever he pleases makes him that much more difficult to guard, particularly at this level. It's also made his shot fake (a frequent part of his arsenal) more credible, which has, in turn, made him an even more effective threat slashing to the basket."
"The Rice High School product was known as an unselfish playmaker earlier in his career. While his stats this season may lead some to the impression that he has gone away from that, his increased production stems from necessity more than anything. UConn cannot survive without Walker scoring in bunches."
"Digging deeper into his film, there are still plenty of instances where Walker's outstanding court vision and creative passing shine through. He's capable of threading the needle to teammates rolling to the basket with bullet passes, finding open shooters on the wing, and making fundamentally-sound entry passes into the post for high percentage looks around the rim."
"Defense is the part of Walker's game that will raise the biggest question marks from NBA evaluators – not because of his actual defensive ability, but rather his size. Standing somewhere around six-feet and change, Walker will always carry the “undersized” label, even though his height rarely affects him on the offensive end. He'll match up against bigger, stronger, longer point guards in the NBA, which could make things more difficult. To his credit, though, he shows excellent lateral quickness, terrific instincts in the passing lanes and the type of toughness you come to expect from a New York City guard. Nevertheless, there is a bias amongst certain NBA-types against shorter point guards, which must be taken into account."
From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...#ixzz1NBVmq9mO
http://www.draftexpress.com
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