Jabari Walker

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Blazers: Jabari Walker stats, highlights from NBA Summer League
1 day ago
 

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Tempering expectations here, is Walker just Caleb Swanigan 2018 2.0? Summer League success is one thing... translating that to Regular Season success is a vastly different thing.
 
chris_in_pdx said:
Tempering expectations here, is Walker just Caleb Swanigan 2018 2.0? Summer League success is one thing... translating that to Regular Season success is a vastly different thing.
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Nah. Biggie looked very slow, even in SL. I never had high hopes for him (god rest his soul).

There’s a few clips of Jabari defending guards. I don’t see him struggling like Swanigan did.
 
chris_in_pdx said:
Tempering expectations here, is Walker just Caleb Swanigan 2018 2.0? Summer League success is one thing... translating that to Regular Season success is a vastly different thing.
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No, I don't think so. Not saying Walker will be a star, but he is closer to a prototypical PF in today's NBA than Swanigan was at either C or PF.
Swanigan was more of a tweener. He could never guard the perimeter. Walker IMO can guard PFs and SFs. Again not saying he will be a star, just that you could put him in the rotation right away and feel confident he would not get abused.
 
chris_in_pdx said:
Tempering expectations here, is Walker just Caleb Swanigan 2018 2.0? Summer League success is one thing... translating that to Regular Season success is a vastly different thing.
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Absolutely not. Players like Caleb, who can dominate at college but have clear mobility disadvantages, can sometimes look good in unstructured SL environments. If there's a player currently killing it in SL who I would nominate as being the next Caleb, it would be Kenneth Lofton Jr. (and I say this as somebody who wishes we'd drafted him as well). He's kicking ass in SL but I doubt he's playable in real NBA settings (without losing a ton of weight).

What's SO impressive about Walker is the electric effect he has when he comes in. In all three games we've literally looked like the worst team in SL for the first quarter, and then they bring in Jabari and he settles everything. And it's not by flashy one-on-one stuff (that's another way success in SL can be deceptive: scrubs are getting the green light and getting shots that they're absolutely not going to get as the 13th man on their teams) but by simple, easily replicable-in-a-real-game stuff like moving the ball, rebounding, playing defense and hitting open shots. He's playing like an elite role-player rather than the gunner on a bad team.
 
illmatic99 said:
this might set the market for jabari.

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This is just the standard Dort/Brunson contract. Where the first 3 years are team control and the 4th is also team control, but allows the player to become an UFA if they make it through all 4 years, as opposed to RFA if the 4th year is declined.
 
chris_in_pdx said:
Tempering expectations here, is Walker just Caleb Swanigan 2018 2.0? Summer League success is one thing... translating that to Regular Season success is a vastly different thing.
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I don’t think so. Swanigan’s summer league stats weren’t very efficient. 43% FG, 28% 3PT. To me Walkers numbers aren’t even what stands out. It’s his ability to switch onto smaller players and his instincts. The setting almost doesn’t even matter when it comes to those things.

btw swanigan was also in the best shape of his life during the draft process/first summer league. Had he maintained that body he might’ve been a better nba player. But even in his first preseason he looked significantly bigger/slower.
 
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Chandler was drafted btw. More I watch less I know what these teams were thinking.
 
Blazers Twitter is really hyped right now, i have not watched a minute of SL, is the hype justified? I saw something like Jabari is the wing Dame always needed of Littles post that Blazers did a robbery drafting at 57
 
Labinot41 said:
Blazers Twitter is really hyped right now, i have not watched a minute of SL, is the hype justified? I saw something like Jabari is the wing Dame always needed of Littles post that Blazers did a robbery drafting at 57
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Ha, I like Walker, but yeah the "Jabari is the wing Dame always needed" ......may be a stretch.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
Ha, I like Walker, but yeah the "Jabari is the wing Dame always needed" ......may be a stretch.
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Yeah, I think it's important to remember that the concerns about him are if he's athletic enough to defend in space or will he be relegated to post defense. He's done a really good job of that so far. That being said, this is SL and while it's a step up from college ball it's not indicative of the speed at the NBA level.

So, I've been impressed by what I've seen, he definitely has great feet, makes open shots, gives great effort and has a high BBIQ... it's just if his athleticism will make him a spot minutes guy or a rotational player in the league. When people make the Zbo comparison I think it's a good one but Zach got out of the league right about when it became imperative for four of your players to be able to cover the perimeter.
 
Scalma said:
Chandler was drafted btw. More I watch less I know what these teams were thinking.
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He has such natural hip movement and instincts. Most players in that Tweet you posted would turn their outside hip towards the ball, trying to cut off the ball handler. If they get around your hip when you do that, you're cooked. In this example he actually turns his hip the opposite way, leaving no path for Chandler to continue his dribble. Impressive stuff from a 19 year old.
 
blazerkor said:
Yeah, I think it's important to remember that the concerns about him are if he's athletic enough to defend in space or will he be relegated to post defense. He's done a really good job of that so far. That being said, this is SL and while it's a step up from college ball it's not indicative of the speed at the NBA level.

So, I've been impressed by what I've seen, he definitely has great feet, makes open shots, gives great effort and has a high BBIQ... it's just if his athleticism will make him a spot minutes guy or a rotational player in the league. When people make the Zbo comparison I think it's a good one but Zach got out of the league right about when it became imperative for four of your players to be able to cover the perimeter.
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More specifically, I think screen navigation is critical to being a good on ball perimeter defender. There just isn't enough of a sample size with him guarding the ball handler in the PnR to know how good he will be in that area yet. Everything else has been excellent so far including switching onto quicker guards, help defense, secondary rim protection, and of course rebounding. If he shows an ability to get through screens quickly too, look out.
 
He's not Superman, but the Blazers don't need him to be.

They need some added length and size inside, a guy that won't get posted up easily but can still challenge when switched onto a guard on the perimeter. They need a guy who finishes defensive possessions by boxing out and getting the boards so as not to give the other team extra possessions. They need a guy who can finish on cuts to the basket and can make a couple of wide-open 3s.

We have a lot of guys who can score. We need guys who can pick up some slack on the other end, hit the boards and aren't complete lost causes on offense.

Jabari Walker seems to check all those boxes and might even be a little more, which is tremendous.
 
doesn't make sense to cut didi immediately unless we have plans to bring someone else on. we will get no cap savings, only a roster spot. we can always cut him later if we want to use his spot for someone else, or hell maybe even tack on his contract with Keon/Winslow/etc in a trade to remove his salary altogether
 
DDolla said:
Now waive Didi please
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Didi is guaranteed. There is absolutely no reason to waive the guy unless we thought someone would pick him up from the waiver wire and I don't think any of us are under that delusion. Didi is a body on the bench and in practice. I'm really interested in who our second two way will be and am really hoping it's a big.
 
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