From the Athletic Draft Guide:
STRENGTHS
Son of former NBA player Samaki Walker. Was not a wildly high-level recruit and chose Colorado over California and Saint
Mary’s. It was quickly realized that Walker was underrated, though. He earned All-Freshman honors in the Pac-12 in 2021, then
was first-team All-Pac-12 in 2022.
At 6-foot-8 with a 6-foot-11 wingspan and an 8-foot-9 standing reach, Walker has good size and length for the four position. Plays
with real twitch and light on his feet. Also has good functional strength. Was not very flexible as an athlete as a freshman but has
improved in a big way there.
I buy Walker as a shooter for the most part. Clean release with good touch as a teenager. Good shot prep. Ready to one-two step
into the shot. Gets a good base underneath him and sets to fire. Really good as a trailer when he can step into it. Made 35 percent
YEAR TEAM LEAGUE AGE GP PPG RPG APG TOPG BPG SPG FG% 3P% FT%
2020-21 Colorado NCAA (Pac-12) 18 26 7.6 4.3 0.5 1.1 0.5 0.5 52.6 52.3 77.8
2021-22 Colorado NCAA (Pac-12) 19 33 14.6 9.4 1.2 2.3 0.7 0.7 46.1 34.6 78.4
2022 NBA DRAFT GUIDE 96
of his 3s in 2021-22 but is up around 40 percent over the course of his entire collegiate career on the larger sample size, and he’s
always made free throws at a high clip. I don’t see him as much of a movement shooter. He’s a bit too stiff for that, and his shot
takes a long time to get off. But he should be able to make shots as a spot-up corner and wing shooter.
That might be enough given how good Walker is on defense. Improved drastically in space defensively as a sophomore. Has real
switchability now. Colorado used him regularly as a switch defender out of ball screens, and he had some real success with it.
Not the quickest guy in the world but has some real twitch and particularly flips his hips well. Stays active on his feet. Combines
that with real functional strength through his core that allows drivers to not go through his chest even at 215 pounds and allows
him to wall up on the block and play through contact while guys try to push him around.
Has good awareness with off-ball actions. Absolutely awesome on closeouts for his size. Covers ground very quickly while
staying balanced. Smart rotator over from the weak side as a rim protector. Blocks some shots, but even when he doesn’t get to
them, he contests and make the opposition’s life harder. Has real anticipation reads that end up being exceptional contests at
the basket.
WEAKNESSES
Outside of the jumper, I don’t see a ton that is all that translatable as an offensive player. The shot might be enough, but Walker
has a way to go at all three levels.
Not a good enough finisher for what his tools are. Made 52.8 percent of his shots at the rim this past season, a well below-average
number for someone this big. Can dunk out on the break or out of the dunker spot, but he’s a significant load-up athlete at the
rim. Has to jump off two feet. Doesn’t maintain his shooting touch through contact either. That’s a problem because he’s that
load up off two feet athlete. His leaping isn’t all that functional, and the result is that he ends up taking a lot of below-the-rim
attempts. Have very real worries Walker won’t be able to score around the basket all that well.
Doesn’t have any ability to be a scorer off the bounce. Doesn’t look comfortable driving and attacking. A very slow driver.
Doesn’t seem to have great control over the ball. Has no first step, no change of pace and no effective crossover game. You know
exactly what he’s going to do every time. His only counter is his spin move, which makes it easy on defenses to anticipate that
he’s either going to try to drive straight or try to spin back. Can’t get to the rim. Gets stuck in the midrange all the time. And
that’s a significant problem because he’s also not a great pull-up threat because the shot takes too long to get off. Gets blocked
more often than you’d hope as players recover into the play. Made six of his 23 pull-up attempts this past season. Extremely hard
for him to be efficient when that’s the case.
On top of it, instead of taking advantage of defenders collapsing on his spin often, he doesn’t see passing reads or see the court
well. Results often in turnovers. Misses open kickouts all the time because defenders collapsed on him knowing he wouldn’t
make the read. What we have here on offense right now is a pure spot-up guy. Walker isn’t a movement shooter, and he doesn’t
have many ways to score outside of hitting spot-up 3s or getting out on the break.
SUMMARY
What role can Walker fill on offense? That’s ultimately the big question. He’s a good shooter, but he’s streaky enough to where
he’s not a good enough shooter to not do anything else on that end and make it. Essentially, you have to buy into him being able
to add some further functional ability as a driver or finisher. He’s much more interesting if you felt like he could be a versatile
roll man off pick-and-rolls or pick-and-pops. Or if he could make short-roll passing reads. Or if he could functionally attack
closeouts to where he can either drive to kick or drive to score. He can’t do any of that right now. He’s still a teenager, so there
is some real time for him to add these skills. And his defensive versatility mixed with his size and potential to shoot it only off
the catch could give him enough time to figure the rest of it out. There’s a chance Walker is a useful forward defender who can
knock down shots at some point. But it’s very theoretical until he becomes more comfortable on offense. He’s on the borderline
of being a guarantee guy or a two-way for me.
