Juke Skywalker - The Kemba Walker Thread II

Post #41 » by **BigSlam** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:07 am

Kemba's ability to finish on the drive and his pull up foul line jumper is becoming elite.

Once he starts getting some love from the refs next season (please, please, please - the kid deserves it) he is going to be really impressive.

LamarMatic7 · Post #42 » by **LamarMatic7** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:13 pm

BigSlam wrote:Once he starts getting some love from the refs next season (please, please, please - the kid deserves it) he is going to be really impressive.

Don't you guys think that Kemba barks at the refs too often though? He usually has a reason to do so, however, he does it way too often, basically every time there's some kind of contact from the defender on his drives to the basket.

SWedd523 · Post #43 » by **SWedd523** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 1:47 pm

LamarMatic7 wrote:Don't you guys think that Kemba barks at the refs too often though? He usually has a reason to do so, however, he does it way too often, basically every time there's some kind of contact from the defender on his drives to the basket.

I'm not a fan of him shouting "Ay!" Every time he drives to the rim, but he does get his fair share of clobbering without his fair share of calls.

LamarMatic7 · Post #44 » by **LamarMatic7** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:18 pm

another thought - don't you guys think that he makes an awful lot of tough circus shots around the rim? during the span of these many 20+ point games he has been very lucky with some of the shots that have fallen, in my opinion. I hope that he's just one of those small guys who will make such buckets and he can keep this up for the whole season...

I uploaded a highlight reel of his performance against the Heat, by the way. So if you haven't checked out the youtube thread, there are three new videos of Kemba.

JT2006 · Post #45 » by **JT2006** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:58 pm

LamarMatic7 wrote:another thought - don't you guys think that he makes an awful lot of tough circus shots around the rim? during the span of these many 20+ point games he has been very lucky with some of the shots that have fallen, in my opinion. I hope that he's just one of those small guys who will make such buckets and he can keep this up for the whole season...

I uploaded a highlight reel of his performance against the Heat, by the way. So if you haven't checked out the youtube thread, there are three new videos of Kemba.

he did it last season as well, he's clearly one of the better inside scoring guards in the league, that's his best attribute offensively by far, second to that is his stepback/ball handling

JT2006 · Post #46 » by **JT2006** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:04 pm

Also about Kemba complaining to the referees, I don't see nearly as often as you do with Wade and the goons who complain all the time. He certainly never gets T'd up for complaining.

Elden Payton · Post #47 » by **Elden Payton** » Tue Jan 1, 2013 3:00 am

GOAT....that is all.

RichBoy923 · Post #48 » by **RichBoy923** » Tue Jan 1, 2013 3:12 am

JT2006 wrote:
LamarMatic7 wrote:another thought - don't you guys think that he makes an awful lot of tough circus shots around the rim? during the span of these many 20+ point games he has been very lucky with some of the shots that have fallen, in my opinion. I hope that he's just one of those small guys who will make such buckets and he can keep this up for the whole season...

I uploaded a highlight reel of his performance against the Heat, by the way. So if you haven't checked out the youtube thread, there are three new videos of Kemba.

he did it last season as well, he's clearly one of the better inside scoring guards in the league, that's his best attribute offensively by far, second to that is his stepback/ball handling

True but this year he seems to be finishing much better at the rim especially the more difficult ones. With contact and all, he has made it seem so easy. Although every time he goes up I still hold my breath.

KembaWalker · Post #49 » by **KembaWalker** » Tue Jan 1, 2013 3:20 am

hes great at getting in and finishing when hes got the step or on the break. what kills his %s is the times when he drives in and creates a bunch of a contact but the refs won't reward him for something like that.

i feel bad for him in the sense that its easy to see why its a recurring problem for him because the refs are treat him so damn inconsistently. its basically a 50/50 gamble with equal contact whether or or not he gets the whistle.

its funny cuz they let him get so many FTs off his pumpfake shot (becoming his signature move really) where he initiates all the contact but when he gets crushed on drives they swallow it every time. dumb

Kembastockton · Post #50 » by **Kembastockton** » Thu Jan 3, 2013 1:27 am

Yeah, it always makes me mad as well when he gets killed in the lane, and the refs blow the call. However that is par for the course. He has to keep doing what he's doing until our team starts to win. Then he will be recognized as a star, and he will start getting those calls. I hope Kdub is a patient kid, because it will get better for him sooner or later. :nod:

-Ian- · Post #51 » by **-Ian-** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:46 am

Kemba Walker keeps his head up as leader of lowly Bobcats

TORONTO -- "In this league, what we're doing, it can crack your molars," Charlotte Bobcats head coach Mike Dunlap said Friday.

What the Bobcats are doing is playing young guys. A lot. Trading Gerald Wallace at 2011's trade deadline and Stephen Jackson on draft day four months later, Charlotte committed to a rebuild and invested in failure. There has been no shortage there -- after going 7-59 in an atrocious, abbreviated 2011-2012 season, the Bobcats are 9-26 this year. They've lost 21 of their last 23. That all sounds alarming, but it shouldn't be shocking. Consider that four of their five starters hadn't played an NBA minute 13 months ago.

Dunlap knows this is a process and said he's seen progress. He's hoping this group will learn from losses, grow tougher together and follow its leader. That leader is Kemba Walker.

Walker won 32 games and an NCAA championship as a junior at the University of Connecticut. He won the Bob Cousy Award and was the MVP of the Big East Tournament and MOP of the NCAA Tournament, accolades attributed to not just his super speed and hellacious handle, but to his dogged desire and determination. He wanted the ball, he wanted the pressure and, more often that not, he came through. It resulted in Charlotte selecting him No. 9 in the 2011 draft.

He has won 21 games since then, including Summer League and preseason.

"It happens. Everyone goes through it," said Walker. Though in reality, almost no one goes through that much of it. "It's just about staying within yourself, staying with your teammates and just getting better throughout the whole process. I hate losing, but at the same time you just gotta get better."

As well as loads of losses, Walker endured endless questions about how tough it must be for him after winning with the New York Gauchos AAU club, Harlem's Rice High and UConn. He had to keep showing up, keep learning, keep trying to please his coach and keep his head up.

"I think I handled it really well, actually," Walker said.

While Walker's rookie year -- with averages of 12.1 points and 4.4 assists in 27 minutes a game, shooting 36.6 percent -- was marked by not just defeats but inconsistency, this season he's seemed steadier with the ball and with his role. Under head coach Paul Silas last year, he had a triple-double and nine 20-plus-point games. He also had 12 sub-20-minute games. He started 25 games. In 41 games, he backed up D.J. Augustin. When Silas spoke of him, he praised his coachability, his toughness and his potential, but he tried to rein in his scoring instincts at the point guard spot.

When Dunlap took over this past off-season, he decided there would be no debate as to Walker's place on the team. It started at Summer League, with Dunlap calling him his quarterback and asking him to use his voice and his fearlessness, then carry it into the season.

Walker remembers his first conversation with his coach clearly. "He just told me he wanted me to get back to my old self," he said. "He told me to be aggressive. He wanted me to become the leader of this team. He just wants me to be one of the best."

Though Walker was obviously one of the best on the collegiate level in his final season as a Husky, it wasn't like that when he first stepped on campus. Charlotte forward Jeff Adrien was a senior at UConn when Walker was a freshman, the former the leader and the latter a backup. Adrien remembers Walker talking about Gonzaga's Jeremy Pargo as a tough match-up -- the same Pargo who earned a DNP-CD when the Bobcats met the Cleveland Cavaliers just over a week ago.

Walker came off the bench as a freshman behind A.J. Price and also shared backcourt minutes with Jerome Dyson (before his knee injury) and Craig Austrie. He averaged 8.9 points and 2.9 assists in 25 minutes per game. "In practice, against A.J. and Craig, he was just competitive. He definitely belonged there, he was able to compete with them, give those guys fits. And I know those guys gave him fits and he just got better from that ... It wasn't easy and everything Kemba did that freshman year was all earned and well-deserved," Adrien said.

Adrien saw an 18-year-old Walker break out and grow up in late March of that freshman year, checking in to score 23 points on nine shots, plus five assists and five rebounds in 23 minutes against Missouri. The performance took his team to the Final Four. Adrien said on that night, the zippy kid from the Bronx was a one-man press break.

"I remember that very clearly," Adrien said. "We just gave him the ball and he broke the press. He was throwing me passes from half-court, he broke the first line and he just dimed me from half. That was tremendous. That showed that eventually this kid's gonna be very good and if he keeps working at it, he's going to be good. And that's exactly what happened."

Adrien and Walker first met at the LeBron James Skills Academy when UConn was recruiting Walker. "He worked hard then and he even worked harder when he got to school and now you can tell all that hard work is showing," Adrien said.

Walker's stats have jumped up this year, thanks to a year of experience and a summer spent mostly in Charlotte. He lifted weights in the morning, then worked on the court with Bobcats assistants and returned to get some shots up at night.

The biggest knock on Walker coming out of college was his size and his perceived inability to finish over bigger, stronger players in the paint. Walker, listed at 6'1 and 184 pounds, has increased his efficiency this year by upping his attempts at the rim from 2.7 per game to 5.2 and converting them 54.4 percent of the time, up from 49.4 percent as a rookie. He's also shooting slightly better from deep and has decreased his turnover rate. He tops the team with 17.6 points and 5.9 assists per game.

Bobcats guard Ben Gordon grew up in Mount Vernon, New York and first became aware of Walker when he was at Rice. Another ex-Husky, he then followed his Connecticut career -- "I was always a fan of his," Gordon said. After playing against the rookie version of Walker three times as a Piston, he came to Charlotte this season and noticed a change.

"I think this year he's come out a lot more confident, a lot more focused," Gordon said. "He's just showing that maturation and that growth that he's had from Year one to Year two and I think he's just going to continue to get better because he has all of the tools to be a very good player in this league. And he's already just scratching the surface. I love playing with him."

The nine-year vet said he admires the way Walker approaches the game. Lofty praise from a pro's pro.

Adrien echoed Gordon. "His approach to the game is definitely beyond a second year," he said, noting that part of the reason for Walker's improvement is his attention to nutrition. Adrien knows this because he hired Walker's chef.

"It's been -- I don't want to say night and day, he was good last year too - but it's been big," Adrien said. "Finishing at the hoop against bigs this year has been tremendous for him and that's a big part of his game this year and he's improved on it. His jump shot is improving and him being a leader has improved tremendously too, from his freshman year when I played with him, quiet kid, to now. [He's] a vocal leader, team leader."

Dunlap said the thing he likes the most about his leader is his heart. "He plays incredibly hard and he cares a lot about winning," said the coach.

"He has charisma and the crowd gets behind him, as do his teammates," Dunlap continued. "And you can just feel it. And I like the fact that he's emotional and he shows it."

The challenge for Walker continues to be the same -- keep working, keep improving, don't get discouraged by defeats. Walker said he pictures a future with the Bobcats tasting playoff success. "I think everybody [here] does," he said. "Charlotte's a great city, we have great fans. I want to be able to grow my team. When that day finally comes, yeah, it will definitely be special."

After the Bobcats' latest loss, a less-than-special 21-point defeat in Toronto, a reporter asked Dunlap why the ball stuck on offense. He said something simple: "Well, that group out there is young, right?" Knowing how confident he and his players are in Walker, though, what he said about his team's youth before the game is likely more instructive:

"It's going to pay off."

catch20two · Post #52 » by **catch20two** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:09 am

One of the things that baffles me is how Kemba was so heavily criticized by the media for shooting only 37% from the field to the point that he was snubbed off both the 1st and 2nd All-Rookie Team, yet Bradley Beal can shoot 37% for a dismal Wizards team, receive Rookie of The Month honors, and get heralded as the next Ray Allen without a majority of people making any bones about it. I'm not really making a fuss about it because all in all I feel like critics and fans should give these young players time to grow into their roles but there's definitely a double standard. Kemba comes across as a very likable player from his smile, grit, effort, and heart but I think his collegiate success made it easy for critics to dislike him if they have an agenda to disprove his NBA potential.

JT2006 · Post #53 » by **JT2006** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:19 am

catch20two wrote:One of the things that baffles me is how Kemba was so heavily criticized by the media for shooting only 37% from the field to the point that he was snubbed off both the 1st and 2nd All-Rookie Team, yet Bradley Beal can shoot 37% for a dismal Wizards team, receive Rookie of The Month honors, and get heralded as the next Ray Allen without a majority of people making any bones about it. I'm not really making a fuss about it because all in all I feel like critics and fans should give these young players time to grow into their roles but there's definitely a double standard. Kemba comes across as a very likable player from his smile, grit, effort, and heart but I think his collegiate success made it easy for critics to dislike him if they have an agenda to disprove his NBA potential.

well beal shoots more jumpers, but I agree

KembaWalker · Post #54 » by **KembaWalker** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 12:13 pm

its because people already had the narrative played up in their mind about the type of player he'd be. So when Kemba has a rough year and shoots poorly its because he's a mini chucker SG career 6th man, when Beal does he's just "going through a rough stretch" same reason Rubio can get all of RealGM slurping him even when he's shooting 20%, but he gets 2 more assists and does a flash behind the back pass.

anyway, now that we actually have them both on our team and have seen them, I hope there aren't still people that see Kemba as Ben Gordon. That comparison was always so lazy and offbase, drove me nuts. They aren't anything close to similar

HornetJail · Post #55 » by **HornetJail** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:08 pm

KembaWalker wrote:anyway, now that we actually have them both on our team and have seen them, I hope there aren't still people that see Kemba as Ben Gordon. That comparison was always so lazy and offbase, drove me nuts. They aren't anything close to similar

They're few and far between these days. I've got to say I was not high on Kemba after last year's struggle and suggested some pretty stupid deals to get him out of here (most of you noticed lol), but this year Kemba's let his game do the talking and he's delivered this season. He has improved a ton this year. If there were "All-Improved Teams" like they have with the rookies and defensive players, Kemba would make that list for sure. Most people have noticed his drastic improvement by now.

James Gatz · Post #56 » by **James Gatz** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 8:04 pm

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... nute::none

Kemba is just two months older.

thesneakysneak · Post #57 » by **thesneakysneak** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 8:54 pm

That's really interesting. Walker last year was trashed by everyone and lillard is looking at roy contention. I wasn't aware lillard was that old either.

MasterIchiro · Post #58 » by **MasterIchiro** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:37 pm

35 pts against the Rockets. He has the makings of a franchise player imho. He's definitely the kind of player who dedicates himself to improvement and I think that stems from his competitive spirit and his thirst for winning. He's the lone untouchable on this team. He's the face of the franchise.

catch20two · Post #59 » by **catch20two** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:55 pm

Kemba is becoming dependable from beyond the arc. He's making great strides into becoming a franchise player. This is just his 2nd season and 1st season as the full-time starter following that lockout year. We are a scoring wing and at least two decent bigs away from contending for a playoff spot.

MasterIchiro · Post #60 » by **MasterIchiro** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:58 pm

catch20two wrote:Kemba is becoming dependable from beyond the arc. He's making great strides into becoming a franchise player. This is just his 2nd season and 1st season as the full-time starter following that lockout year. We are a scoring wing and at least two decent bigs away from contending for a playoff spot.

I concur. And I hope the wing is McLemore or Shabazz and the big men are Boozer and Cousins.