Jarace Walker's Value Proposition to the Pacers Defense
Oxford dictionary defines versatility as "the ability to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities."
Jarace Walker is one of the most versatile defenders in the 2023 NBA Draft class, as he was utilized in a variety of ways during his freshman season.
The former Cougar freshman sent a message to NBA teams when he chose to play for coach Kelvin Sampson at Houston over schools like Ohio State and Alabama. It showed his willingness to learn and be put into an intensive, defense-first system.
Physical Profile
So, what made Walker so versatile this past season? First off, his impressive physical profile is unique. Walker compares physically to a combination of Toronto's O.G. Anunoby, Miami's Bam Adebayo, and Michael Beasley.
| Prospect Name | Height w/o Shoes | Weight (lbs) | Wingspan | Maximum Vertical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jarace Walker | 6'6.5" | 244 | 7'2.5" | 38" |
O.G. Anunoby | 6'6.25" | 232 | 7'2.25" | N/A |
Bam Adebayo | 6'8.75" | 243 | 7'2.75" | 38" |
Michael Beasley | 6'7" | 239 | 7'0.25" | 35" |
The physical profiles of Anunoby and Adebayo has helped them to make an impact defensively thus far in the NBA, as Anunoby was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team this past season. Adebayo has been named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team four times in his career.
In addition to his physical profile, there are four main ways in which Jarace Walker provides value defensively:
1. Versatility in a Variety of "Show" and "Aggressive Drop" Pick-and-Roll Coverages
There's three key components that helped Walker thrive in hedge coverages at Houston.
The first, as mentioned earlier, is his size. When approaching the ball-handler's pathway on hedges, Walker's 7-foot-2.5 wingspan was difficult to navigate and oftentimes led to immediate turnovers or a lack of progression for the opposing team's offense.
Secondly, in order for these approaches to be effective, Walker's foot speed had to be quick enough to prevent guards from quickly dribbling around him or splitting the hedge itself. Since ball-handlers were met with Walker on one side of them and a smartly-angled Houston guard Marcus Sasser on the other side, they were oftentimes left with no choice but to scramble or make an ineffective attempt at dribbling around Walker's hedge with an already-recovered Sasser waiting for them.
Lastly, the incoming rookie's ground coverage is the cherry on top of his pick-and-roll show coverage abilities. After approaching the ball-handler on hedges, Walker is often able to return back to the roller so quickly that the tagger hardly has to rotate. The same applies to pick-and-pop situations, where a third off-ball defender can stay relatively close to their man on their stunt-and-recover since Walker covers ground on his recovery with ease.
These same attributes are utilized by Walker in aggressive drop coverage, as he showed the foot speed to stay with most guards — at least for the period of time needed for his teammate to complete their rearview pursuit. His wingspan came into play again in these situations, leading to blocks at the rim and making up for any lack of foot speed needed against quicker guards.
2. On-Ball Defense
Walker has on-ball defensive ability that is highly coveted in today's NBA. While his on-ball defense isn't perfect, he projects to fill an archetype known as the strength-four.
First seen on TheBoxAndOne's substack, the strength-four is a type of player commonly being employed to combat the growing emergence of tall and skilled creators like Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant and Paul George.
As TheBoxAndOne puts it, think PJ Tucker, Jae Crowder or even Aaron Gordon on the Nuggets' championship team. According to Adam Spinella, there are five commonalities among strength-fours: size, strength, high defensive IQ, a minimum threshold of catch-and-shoot impact and a willingness to accept their role.
Let's walk through whether the versatile forward meets these five criteria below:
Size: This was mentioned in our physical profile section above, as Walker is around 6-foot-7 without shoes and has an approximate 7-foot-3 wingspan.
Strength: Weighing 244-pounds at the combine and the film to back up an ability to hold his ground in the post against wings when needed, Walker also fulfills this attribute. Johni Broome did give Walker some slight trouble in the post this past season, so continuing to improve his lower body strength couldn't hurt if the Pacers plan on utilizing him in this manner
High Defensive IQ: This will be discussed in sections three and four, but Walker's excellence as a team defender illustrates his high defensive IQ.
Workable Catch-And-Shoot Impact: As discussed in my first article of this series, which can be read here, Walker improved his shooting form throughout the season. While he only hit on 34.4% of his catch-and-shoot threes this past season, he's a significant enough threat in this area to not get played off the floor in the playoffs.
Accepting His Role: Despite being technically unpredictable, Walker showed a willingness to be utilized in a variety of situations defensively and be impactful in ways he thought was best for the team. Despite only averaging 11 points per game, Walker's 2.3 offensive rebounds per game (9.6 ORB%), 1.0 steal per game (2.2 STL%), and 1.3 blocks per game (6.3 BLK%) led him to being productive enough to meet my Productive Young Athlete query.
In addition to meeting the five criteria to fulfill the mold of this increasingly important archetype, Walker has the ability to guard most wings and bigs when necessary due to his blend of size, length, and active hands.
3. Off-Ball Rotations
While Walker is versatile in multiple strenuous pick-and-roll coverages and could project as a strength-four, perhaps his most intriguing value proposition is his off-ball defense. The first area of his off-ball defense that doesn't show up in the box score is his ability to recognize plays before they happen. Oftentimes he'll rotate before the player catching it has time to react, eliminating any clean attempt or advantage that may have been created momentarily. This occurs when he's a tagger in a pick-and-roll situation or is 2.9ing from the weak-side.
4. Weakside Rim Protection
Walker's final and most valuable way he provides versatility defensively is combining the above factors of size, length, and off-ball recognition into weak-side rim protection. It's in situations where the offense appears to have created a clear advantage that his ball-tracking, timing, and ability to cover ground come into play.
In the two clips below, Walker rotates from the left wing to emphatically block what would otherwise be two clean attempts at the rim.
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