The year Walker was drafted, Donovan Mitc of the Jazz was asked which drafted player would be as good as he turned out to be. He said, Walker.
Fascinating, didn't know that. Yeah, let's get that usage rate up, Lonnie. I'd love him to be something like, 25, but again, I don't know if this is the year we'll be able to see it consistently from Lonnie, simply because of the personnel around him. I think we're now a year away from Lonnie's true breakout season. We'll see...
I liked that he was fighting better through screens these last couple of games, but there's a lot to be desired still. I think a part of the "problem" as well, is Pop's fixation with putting Lonnie on the other team's best offensive player (he was regularly checking SGA yesterday, for example). A baffling move to me, since Keldon is the obvious choice as far as man-to-man; but I can see the angle that Pop wants Lonnie to be great on both ends, and kind of "throws him into the fire" by putting him on that defensive task. We should see improvements over time, but it's not too pretty right now.
Watching his highlights he kinda reminds me of a Short Sean Elliott - As far as his development I think he is on point he was brought in at a young age with the understanding that he had a lot of things he had to work on. I am just glad that he is doing what comes easy for him which is getting baskets he will be instant offense....I really would like for him to be the first our second main offensive threat for the Second Unit like Manu.
The only thing that he needs to really work on is his defense if he wants to be considered a Good player he needs to do much better ie. fighting over screens. I do think he is trying and he is doing better, but he will never be Keldon or Vassell he gives you what they can't though which is instant baskets hence I think they complete each other.
Lonnie is a terrible defender. He's Bryn Forbes level bad. His defensive rating is worse than Aldridge's
Are the coaches trying to turn IV into Matt Bonner? Sort of joking but he plays like him in the sense of desperately trying to avoid mistakes on defense while never fouling, while focusing on three pointers. Obviously, this could all be his own doing. But I really want him to do well. And he isn’t confident trying to stretch his game it feels like.
Eh, like I'm not defending this overall quality of defense, but comparing his DRtg to that of a big isn't really illuminating.
I could've mentioned 13 other players off our roster to compare it to
I am going to give him one more year if he doesn’t show some pretty substantial improvements then I’ll be in the “Trade Walker Camp”. Still have hope he will be like DJ, Luka, and the light bulb suddenly turns on.
Just saying that DRtg is particular is a relatively useless stat when talking about perimeter defenders. Like LMA doesn't look good, but he's clustered with basically everyone on the team in that 109-113 range. I think what would be more helpful would be to point out how awful Walker's on-offs are.
I am hoping whatever we do during free agency, we turn a lot of our scoring offense over to Lonnie. I feel like he could thrive in a volume scorer role and we desperately need someone to do that for us going forward.
The thing is next year these guys got to get minutes and we got to be OK if our record sucks cause they going to be some growing pains. But you can't get better sitting on the bench and you can't learn from your mistakes if you never make any so it just play and try to get better every day
So he trained with one of the best defenders in the league and he learned all about that end. I guess by training they mean, lift some weights and shoot a few shots.
Nah, his ball-handling was massively improved this past season. He clearly got better in terms of anything away from the rim or even getting to the rim. Now he needs to get better at making decisions in the paint and more consistent all around.
His defensive issues is keeping up with the screen more than it's anything physical. That'll have to be worked with Pop or the next coach, not a player from another team.
AAU type baller with outstanding run and jump never had to learn the finer points cause all he did is out talent folks. Now when everyone is caught up with him he is lost and cannot out shine.
Poor defense is most outstanding attribute but also a general lack of feel for the game.
He may not be very smart.
LWIV should be better. Maybe he will get better.
Wish he would hurry up the team needs him to step up.
I'm rooting for him, and think he'll improve with DDR gone-- one of the ironies in light of the we-need-veterans-to-mentor-the-young-players philosophy-- but man, watching him closely, focusing on him, was a bit maddening this year: he did so little when the ball wasn't in his hands... very little movement, few to no picks, no boxing out when shots went up... it was far too reminiscent of a young Andrew Wiggins, and it shows in his advanced stats, which were pretty bad his first two seasons, and slightly worse this year. Per minute, his rebounds, steals, blocks, and assists were all down, as were his BPM and VORP. But if his effort, energy, & feel ever catch up to his athleticism, he has the potential to do some damage.
Last edited by R. DeMurre; 06-05-2021 at 11:48 AM.
Lonnie is still so young. He has all the physical tools, and the skillset is there. Over the next few years, the key will be developing more of a natural feel for the game and learning how to make decisions on the court, especially on the defensive end.
He will never become a good defender and yes you can work with one on one with someone else who already knows a thing or two about team defense, how to use your body, positioning.
Every time i watch him he's usually lost, doesn't know the concept of team defense and i'm pretty sure Pop has already spend time with him on this matter. You either have it or you don't.
People think defense is just effort but it's not, its way more than that, you need bball IQ there as well and he doesn't have it. Since he won't be a good defender he needs to be elite offensively to survive in the NBA and i don't see that at the moment.
I don't understand why people are super critical on him. He is still very young and only has played one season with consistent minutes given to him. Pop (or whoever the coach is next year) needs to allow him to play more without yanking him from every little error he makes. Either way this team is not going to be contending for a championship anytime soon, so might as well let him learn through mistakes.
Spot on.
He seems to be the next incarnation of Ben McLemore, a player who has huge hops and can shoot pretty well, but really offers nothing else. I can absolutely see his career arc going the same way: journeyman. Advanced stats hate both of them, pretty much across the board.
That's my fear also. It's pretty rare to see a player with advanced stats that poor three years in a row who suddenly turns it around to become a big net positive guy.
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