I’ve been saying this for a season and a half now..tdub wrote: ↑Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:44 pmThis is the first time I’ve heard this take. Walker is a good one-on-one scorer, but in my opinion doesn’t bring a net positive to the team effort when he’s on the floor. I was there in person tonight and it really stands out live just how little he moves and how much he stands or walks. I’m thinking his lack of minutes in the second half might have been a message being sent to him by Logie. I hope that is the case, as I think there is a TON of talent in the kid, he just needs to work a lot harder on the rest of the game that doesn’t have the ball in his hands.
Walker is not a “good” basketball player by my definition. He’s an incredible scorer of the basketball. He lacks in everything else and that’s a testament to his lack of work ethic.
When the Cats are on offense he doesn’t move off the ball, he doesn’t set good screens, he doesn’t look to get offensive boards. On defense it’s the same thing. He’s a lazy defender and gets his rebounds by relying on players like Sam, Brian, Bryce, etc. to do the dirty work and box their guys out and cherry pick their efforts.
The most frustrating part is that when he wants to, he can do all of those things I just noted in spades. For his size, his footwork is incredible and it allows him to guard guards on the outside and shut them down for the most part.
The issue is you never see that out of him because he either isn’t 1) focused enough to play that high-intensity of defense, or that 2) he’s so tired he physically cannot perform to the level his team needs him to perform.
I’m so tough on him here because I can see the type of basketball player he can become. I’m positive that the coaches can see it as well or else he wouldn’t be there. It’s just a matter of getting him to maximize his talents, which he isn’t doing currently.
