The Kemba Walker Thread

[BigSlam]

Kemba strikes me as a really cool dude. He also strikes me as a guy who knows what he wants and will go after if bringing other people along for the ride too. After losing Wallace and Jackson it's going to be great to have a kid like Kemba come in, a kid with a big personality, who can hopefully help lead the charge on the court and in the lockeroom.

Swaggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg.

[SamBone]

I say the next Ben Gordon/Jason Terry

[countryboi]

Kemba is jason terry right now and i am fine with that

[YamiRain]

Yea, how we all thought Felton, May, We're all winners.
Coming off an NCAA Championship :/

[BigSlam]

Kemba is jason terry right now and i am fine with that

But Kemba isn't a shooter?

At the moment I see him more as a TJ Ford (the Raps one) type player.

[nyhuskyfan]

There's a difference between being on a championship team, and almost single-handedly putting your team on your back and carrying them to a championship. The first means you were part of a great team, the second is a more direct reflection of your character and ability to lead. Trying to think of other players that carried teams to championships in my lifetime, and the list is short: Carmelo, Danny Manning, Glen Rice (he had help - but was on fire that whole tournament), Isiah Thomas. Maybe you could include Steve Alford, if you want a counter-argument. Now, winning a championship is sometimes a matter of a break or two (if Arizona's last-second three-pointer goes in, UConn loses in the Elite Eight), so if you want to think of players who carried their teams to much deeper runs than their supporting casts could have dreamed of on their own and came up just short - you'd have to include Stephen Curry, Dwyane Wade, Andre Miller, David Robinson, Larry Bird, and I'm sure a few others I'm missing. There may be some good counter-arguments there as well (Wally Szczerbiak springs to mind - although his team was knocked out in the Sweet 16).

Will that necessarily translate to the next level for Kemba? Maybe not - especially not without a little bit of help. But there's a certain character trait that he has that should make his potential intriguing, as much as someone's wingspan or vertical leap should.

[PacerRays07]

He's a proven winner and a proven clutch player. Hopefully he will be able to bring that into the NBA just like he did in college

[Fred Williamson]

badass suit

[Elden Payton]

badass suit

badass player

[HeartSouloma]

The one thing that I like about this kid is that he stay in college for 3 years((correct me if i'm wrong)), which is good for him to gain more exp at the point. Not many college players would stay in college for 4 years, but jump right into the NBA and look what happen. It's good to stay in college for 3 years if your a pro player. He might be a steal for you guys in the daft.

[Walt Cronkite]

Less excited about Walker than I was about Leonard or even Bismack, but I'm sure he'll win me over.

[ikidunot]

"I wanted to go to a team where I feel like I am going to fit in," Walker said. "That's definitely what the feeling is with the Charlotte Bobcats. Of course I wish I could have went higher, but who cares? I want Michael Jordan. … I'm happy that he's giving me this opportunity. This whole week, I've been hearing a lot of things about myself, but he's giving me a chance and I really appreciate it." "I've always had the talents, but hard work just took my talent to another level. I guess I deserve this. I deserve it and I'm extremely happy to have this opportunity."

"As far as sharing the ball with D.J., I have no problem," Walker said. "As long as we are playing well and we are winning, if I can do anything possible to help that team, I'm willing. I'm definitely more comfortable playing on the ball, but last year, having to score so much, I learned how to be off the ball."

Walker averaged 23.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.9 steals in his third and final season at UConn. He won the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's top point guard, surpassed 30 points a school-record 11 times and was the most outstanding player of the NCAA West Regional and Final Four.

http://articles.courant.com/2011-06-23/sports/hc-kemba-walker-nba-draft-0624-20110623_1_charlotte-bobcats-brandon-knight-mock-drafts

[Alan Ogg]

I think you guys may have done really well in this draft. I think Kemba will the best PG in the draft, and Biyombo might be exactly what people are hoping. Will be fun.

[Downtown]

I'd like to throw out a different comparison. I see Stephon Marbury in Walker. Not Marbury as a person, who kind of self destructed, but Marbury the player coming out of college. Marbury was a dynamic scorer his first few years in the league and also knew how to get teamates involved. That's how I view Walker if he can make the adjustment to the NBA from college.

[uconn1]

Kemba is an absolute beast and plain winner, as you can see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFnQXT68zL4

[fatlever]

"I wanted to go to a team where I feel like I am going to fit in," Walker said. "That's definitely what the feeling is with the Charlotte Bobcats. Of course I wish I could have went higher, but who cares? I want Michael Jordan. … I'm happy that he's giving me this opportunity. This whole week, I've been hearing a lot of things about myself, but he's giving me a chance and I really appreciate it." "I've always had the talents, but hard work just took my talent to another level. I guess I deserve this. I deserve it and I'm extremely happy to have this opportunity."

"As far as sharing the ball with D.J., I have no problem," Walker said. "As long as we are playing well and we are winning, if I can do anything possible to help that team, I'm willing. I'm definitely more comfortable playing on the ball, but last year, having to score so much, I learned how to be off the ball."

Walker averaged 23.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.9 steals in his third and final season at UConn. He won the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's top point guard, surpassed 30 points a school-record 11 times and was the most outstanding player of the NCAA West Regional and Final Four.

http://articles.courant.com/2011-06-23/sports/hc-kemba-walker-nba-draft-0624-20110623_1_charlotte-bobcats-brandon-knight-mock-drafts

i merged your post with the other kemba thread.

[Marino]

Kemba and Bitchsmack are going to be on 610 the fan in a couple minutes.

[PapeSowish]

I think its his sister and grandparents who live in NC somewhere. So he's a NYC kid with Carolina roots. Sounds like the perfect ingredients for the illest bball player.

[Paydro70]

I did think of you Battery when we made the pick, knew you would be excited.

I've been praying all week that he would fall to us. Other than Kyrie, I think this guy has a chance to be a special player. Good character, extremely hard working and very smart, perfect MJ type player. And now we can dump DJ! Yay! Sorry but I could not go through another season with DJ as our starting point guard with nobody here to challenge him.

Mark it down, I want to completely cosign. He's one of very few players in the NCAA who immediately jumped out as NBA-ready. He's probably not Chris Paul, but he's got deadly scoring ability and is an obvious leader on the floor.

I don't think he's going to end up starting over DJ this year (we'll probably see a lot of them playing together, actually), but it's probably only a matter of time until he is running the show. I'm really excited about this pick, I had sort of given up on drafting him but I'm glad someone in the front office recognized the opportunity we had. Woo!

[Kembastockton]

Paydro I would not be surprised at all if Kemba turned out long term to be better than Paul. Special K has a toughness that I just haven't seen in Chris. He may never be the playmaker that Chris is but a better rebounder, defender, and all around player he might be.