Charlotte Hornets: Revisiting Kemba Walker’s Breakout Season
Charlotte Hornets point guard Kemba Walker had the best performance of his career last season. What made the difference? Walker finally had a good supporting cast around him.
Charlotte Hornets point guard Kemba Walker had the best season of his career in 2015-16. His offensive exploits helped lead “Buzz City” to a 48-win season and a playoff berth despite a season filled with injuries to other key contributors.
What made Walker improve so rapidly? That’s tough to say. It could be the natural progression a player goes through as he ages in the NBA. It could be that Walker committed himself in the offseason to being a more efficient scorer.
I think Walker is reaching his ceiling as player because Charlotte is finally surrounding him with other talented players. The burden to score is not all on him.
Walker has always been a good scorer. That was apparent from the day he stepped into the NBA after three years at UCONN. His rookie season he averaged 12.1 points per game on a Charlotte Bobcats team that finished 7-59.
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The next season he bumped that scoring average up to 17.7 points per game. Again Charlotte finished with a disappointing 21-61 record. For his career Walker has averaged 17.3 points per game, but until last season he hadn’t had much team success.
Losing became the theme of the early period of Walker’s NBA career. The other theme was inefficient shooting percentages. Walker would put up gaudy scoring averages, but would do so shooting a poor percentage from the field.
The first four seasons of his career he posted field goal percentages of 36.6 percent, 42.3 percent, 39.3 percent, and 38.5 percent. He also struggled from three-point range, shooting 30.5 percent, 32.2 percent, 33.3 percent, and 30.4 percent in those same four seasons.
The rough shooting numbers weren’t entirely his fault. Charlotte didn’t surround Walker with much talent early in his career. The best offensive player he played with until Al Jefferson arrived in 2013-14 was Gerald Henderson.
No disrespect to Henderson, but if he’s your second-best offensive player then you’re not winning very many basketball games.
From 2011-12 to 2014-15 Charlotte had offensive ratings ranking 30th (95.2), 28th (101.5), 24th (103.6), and 28th (100.1). They could have built a 200-house subdivision with all those bricks.
In those offenses a Kemba Walker mid-range jumper or three-pointer was the best option, or in many cases, a bailout option after their stagnant offense was unable to produce a decent look.
2015-16 was different. Walker finally had some help and his numbers jumped considerably. He averaged a career-high 20.9 points per game on a career-best 42.7 percent from the floor and 37.1 percent from three-point range.
With the burden of being the only competent scoring option off of his shoulders Walker is reaching his full potential. Charlotte’s front office deserves some of the credit.
The Hornets brought in Jeremy Lin to be a scorer and playmaker off the bench, Al Jefferson was back for his third season in Charlotte, Marvin Williams tapped into his potential as a three-point shooting stretch-4, Courtney Lee was acquired at the trade deadline to serve as another quality outside shooter and, most importantly, the Hornets traded for Nicolas Batum before the season.
Batum came to Charlotte after seven seasons as a role player with the Portland Trailblazers. In Charlotte he became the team’s primary playmaker and second leading scorer.
The Frenchman’s creative passes, off-balance three-pointers, and overall offensive competence were a welcome sight in Charlotte after years of watching a low-scoring, plodding offenses.
Batum led the Hornets in assist rate at 26.9 percent (with a team-leading 5.8 assists per game), scored 14.9 points per game and shot a respectable 34.8 percent from outside to give Charlotte a fourth floor-stretcher in their starting five.
The impact Batum had on Kemba Walker may have been the most important thing he brought to Charlotte. With Batum on the court, Walker was a completely different player. Batum’s role as a playmaker allowed Walker to focus on the thing he does best; scoring.
Batum’s passing and shooting were also instrumental in Charlotte’s new-look offense. Rather than relying on Al Jefferson post-ups, Steve Clifford’s team moved quickly into the pace-and-space era by making 873 three-pointers, fourth-most in the NBA.
Walker’s 37.1 percent from three-point range was the best of his career by a wide margin and his 182 made three-pointers led the team. According to nbawowy.com Walker shot 41.1 percent from three-point range with Batum on the court compared to 28.6 percent without him.
The Batum effect was real and significant.
In an article by Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer Walker commented on how helpful having Batum in Charlotte has been for him. Batum relished the role of removing Walker’s burden.
"“He’s been perfect for me,” Walker says of Batum, “as well as for what we try to do here. Ever since I’ve been here I’ve been the guy having to make all the plays basically. I haven’t had a lot of much space to do it. And it’s been pretty tough.”“When I came here,” says Batum, whom the Hornets acquired in a trade last June, “I told the coaches: ‘Just let me help him make plays. Because if you let me do that, Kemba is going to take off. If he gets less pressure, we score more, and he will be more effective than he ever was before.’”"
Lineups featuring both Batum and Walker were plus 5.3 points per 100 possessions, second best on the team. If the Hornets are going to have a repeat of last season’s success they’ll need the dynamic duo of Batum and Walker to be healthy and productive.
Batum signed a five-year $120 million contract with Charlotte this offseason and Walker is under contract through the 2018-19 season. Charlotte fans hope last season was just the beginning of a special partnership.
Kemba Walker finally has a good team around him. Last season’s trip to the playoffs should be the first of many if the Hornets continue to add and develop talent in a sustainable way.
That trip ended in heartbreak as the Hornets dropped their first-5ound series in seven games to the Miami Heat.
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Next on Walker’s checklist? Winning a playoff series and maybe even making an All-Star Game appearance. I wouldn’t bet against him.