Utah Jazz: 5 options for pick No. 21 in 2018 NBA Draft
By Mason McFee
4. Lonnie Walker IV
Every prospect comes with some risk, whether teams want to admit it or not. Most are willing to look past that if the prospect offers one thing: upside. Walker has it.
Standing at 6’5″ with a 6’10” wingspan, Walker measures eerily similar to impending restricted free agent Dante Exum (6’6″, 7’0″ wingspan). It remains to be seen whether the Jazz are going to retain their oft-injured backup, but with Ricky Rubio finally starting to find his offense, the emergence of Donovan Mitchell, and Ingles’ ability to be a secondary (or tertiary) ball-handler, the Jazz may decide Exum is expendable. If that ends up being the case, Walker could be a solid replacement.
As mentioned earlier, every prospect comes with some risks. Basketball is a game about getting buckets, and well, Walker gets them strangely:
Once Walker brings the ball to the top of his head, the release is swift and fluid – it’s the gather that is a bit funky. His body goes stiff likes he’s about to pencil dive into a swimming pool, and the rest of his body almost remains limp coming down.
Despite his odd shooting mechanics, he still was able to average 11.5 points per game. He’ll probably end up as a shooting guard at the next level, so his low assist average from this past season (1.9 per game) isn’t as much of a concern. If Snyder were to utilize him off-ball more than on, the Jazz could be adding a potent offensive weapon:
Walker doesn’t come without his warts. He showed flashes at Miami of being a catch-and-shoot player — both coming off screens and off of dribbles — but it’s those same types of shots that he can fall in love with too much. The good news is that those tendencies can be coached, and if Lonnie shows Snyder he can be, he can walk the walk next season.