Defensive versatility makes Jarace Walker draft candidate for Pacers at No. 7
CHICAGO – Jarace Walker doesn't remember a lot about the details of the game – it was summer travel ball after all – but he remembers how it changed his way of thinking.
Walker, now a likely lottery pick after one year at Houston, was in sixth grade and his travel team was playing high-scoring wing Emoni Bates, who already had a reputation as one of the best players in his class. Walker doesn't remember what Bates scored in that game, but he knows he made Bates' life difficult, and it was at that point that he got a sense of just how good of a defender he could be.
"I felt like I did a good job on him way back then," Walker said Wednesday at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. "I didn't hear about him until we were about to play him. It was AAU so it was just game-by-game. I didn't really look at the schedule that young. But that's when I started to take pride in it. I heard about him a little bit before the game, watched a little bit of highlights of him, pretty good player. But that game, just being able to hold him down and take tough shots, that's when I really started to take pride in my defense."
Now, defense is the reason why Walker has a good chance of being taken in the top 10 of the NBA Draft on June 22 and in particular why he seems to be a good fit for the Pacers at No. 7. They desperately need a power forward with size who can rebound, they need to improve drastically on defense and Walker would seem to fit that bill. They finished 29th in points allowed last season and 30th in defensive rebound percentage.
Walker is a long, explosive athlete with a defensive mindset, which is something the Pacers could desperately use after starting 6-5 wing Aaron Nesmith at power forward this season. Nesmith performed admirably and will be part of the Pacers plans going forward, but he was clearly undersized. Walker was listed at 6-8, 240 pounds this season. He measured 6-6 1/2 at the Combine with no shoes, but he also posted a 7-2 1/2 wingspan. He weighed in at 248.6 pounds but even with that weight, he posted a 38-inch vertical which was among the highest of the players who tested.
He has all of the physical tools an NBA talent evaluator could want in a defensive player. His size and wingspan allow him to take on centers, and he's totally comfortable switching on to perimeter players. He averaged 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals per game in his lone season at Houston, helping the Cougars finish second in the nation in scoring defense, fifth in adjusted defensive efficiency and second in effective field goal percentage defense, according to KenPom.com.
"It's kind of just come with effort," Walker said. "Effort, talking, being able to move my feet. At my size, I think that's kind of impressive. Defense was always something I focused on, but the versatility just came. Switches by accident. I'm staying in front of guards. Just things like that. Until people started realizing I could do it at a high level."
Houston had excellent defenders elsewhere on the court, so Walker didn't always take on the toughest assignment, but he was always willing to take it on.
"Whenever there's a matchup 1 through 5, if he's cooking it and I'm in the game, I'm going to do what I can to get a stop," Walker said.
That makes Walker extremely valuable in today's game. The collective offensive skill level is off the charts, so slowing teams down even a little requires exceptional, switchable defenders, and it puts an even bigger premium on bigger players who can pickup guards as teams so frequently use ball screens and other actions to force switches.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson prepared him well for all the scenarios he could be used at the next level.
"Certain traps, hedging ball screens, switches, weak-side help, just a variety of ways," Walker said. "There's a lot of things he viewed me as a defender so he put me in multiple positions where I could show what I can do. I feel like that's important and I feel like I have a high IQ on the floor so being put in those positions is where I thrive."
Still, even Walker knows he has to add to his offensive game and he's already worked on doing that. He averaged 11.2 points per game as a freshman shooting 46.5% from the floor. He was at his best around the rim making 67% of his shots there, but he also shot 40.3% from the floor on two-point jumpers according to hoop-math.com and made 35 of 101 3-point attempts, which he said was better than he'd ever shot the 3-ball in his whole life.
"I like my ball-handling and my mid-range game a lot," Walker said. "I feel like those are the two things I've been doing for the longest, but just expanding my range, showing different scouts and GMs just how well I shoot the 3-ball. I feel like that can really take my game to the next level."
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Houston's Jarace Walker a potential draft target for Pacers
