Re: crapshoot

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

The defensive scouting reports were interesting, Joe, but not as
contradictory as you might think. Antoine played at the front of Kentucky's
press and came up with a lot of steals. His weakness in the NBA is defending
power forwards man-to-man (of course, as this scouting report says, Walker
shouldn't even be a power forward; why are we still debating this???).
Pierce, while adept at cheating into the passing lanes for steals, really is
just an average NBA defender, so his scouting report was pretty accurate. If
anyone hasn't bothered to check out the scouting report on Toine, I've
pasted it below. Incredibly accurate, I think-both the good points and the
bad.

Mark


As stated previously, Antoine Walker (like several Kentucky players)
        has a well-diversified game with multiple skills, especially
        offensively.  Walker can flat out score, and gets his points from
        a variety of ways.  He is a dangerous mid-range shooter, and can
        also take the ball to the hole very well, and can finish in a
variety
        of ways (as shown by his drive past Erik Dampier this season, while
        switching to his left hand for the layup to avoid the shot block).
        While not a big-time leaper, Walker is an excellent finisher.
Walker
        has a tremendous inside game and takes the ball to the basket very
        strong, with no regard to who his defender is.  While this is quite
        effective most of the time, sometimes it's as if he thinks he's
        playing back in high school, and can sometimes can get him in
        trouble against a taller player.  If there's one kink in the armor
        of Walker's offensive game though, it's his outside shooting.  After
        a freshman season in which he showed some potential from deep, his
        sophomore season was very forgettable from 3-pt land.  He never
        showed the range nor consistency all season.  His form even looked
        funny, often times it looks like a flat, shotput-like missle hurled
        towards the basket.  It's certainly something that Walker will need
        to work on for the pros.

        To complement his scoring, Antoine Walker is also a nice passer and
        ball-handler.  He finished 2nd on the team in assists behind point
        guard Anthony Epps, and often times had some very special-looking
        passes to teamates for easy hoops.  Like teammate Walter McCarty,
        Walker is an excellent interior passer.  He also has a tremendous
        handle, and often after getting the defensive rebound, would take
        the ball up the court himself and set up a teammate for the score.
        Defensively, Walker can be a terror when motivated.  He often was
        the lead man in Kentucky's press, as he guarded the man out of
        bounds.  He has quick hands, which often leads to steals (where he
        finished tied for 2nd on the team) and instant fast breaks.  Walker
        also has some pretty nice rebounding skills, and led the team in
        that department last season.  He is capable of putting up double
        doubles at times.

        On a negative note however, Walker does seem to be more of a "me
        first" type of player.  His early declaration for the NBA draft
        somewhat reflected that (along with his family situation).  While he
        did fit into Pitino's team concept at UK, sometimes it did seem like
        Walker would sulk if things weren't working out for him, much like
        how former UK player Rodrick Rhodes would do.  Coming out of
        HS, Walker was known as a notorious trash talker, and while he never
        really showed that at UK, he does have a reputation.  This baggage
        really is rather minor, however, as the fact he did fit into the
        team concept at UK and didn't hinder at all (and in fact, was a
major
        player) in Kentucky's national championship run.

        While Walker played a lot of PF (and sometimes C) at Kentucky --
        mostly due to necessity -- his position is firmly at SF for the NBA.
        Sizewise and game-wise, it's a perfect fit.  Teams will be able to
        utilize his low-post game in their schemes to their advantage.  He
        may see some time at PF in an emergency.  If he improves his outside
        shot enough, Walker may very well end up seeing a lot of time at
        SG, considering his ball-handling skills.

        The fact that Antoine Walker left early for the draft during his
        Kentucky career didn't surprise UK fans -- the fact he did it after
        his sophomore year did.  But considering the fact that he's
projected
        as a lottery pick, who can blame him.  Antoine Walker will likely
        be the 2nd SF taken in the draft, after John Wallace.