Pre-draft workouts are well underway and the 2018 NBA Draft is just around of the corner. The Utah Jazz will likely be very active in terms of hunting deals, and could look to move up in order to select Lonnie Walker IV.
Lonnie Walker is arguably the most interesting prospect in this entire draft. He has a big, athletic frame to go along with ridiculous speed and a crazy vertical. With quite a raw skill set, Walker has plenty of room to grow and fill his seemingly uncapped potential.
You might be reading this thinking that he’s way out of the Utah Jazz‘s draft range. He’s projected by most to fall in the mid-teens. So this may be true, but if last year is any indication, Dennis Lindsey is happy to trade up if he finds the right prospect.
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Walker is listed at 6’4.5″ with a 6’10” wingspan and he plays much bigger than he is. I’m actually skeptical about Walker’s height after seeing him standing next to Donte DiVincenzo, who is also listed at 6’4.5″. Looking at them side-by-side, one would assume Walker is considerably taller (even without the hair).
If you’re unfamiliar with Walker’s game, he’s an incredibly explosive athlete with solid shot mechanics and a knack for finishing tough shots around the rim. To put his athleticism into perspective, in last year’s draft combine, Donovan Mitchell completed the shuttle run in 3.07 seconds and the lane agility test in 11.53 seconds. Walker blitzed the shuttle run in 2.87 seconds and the lane agility test in 10.87 seconds. Walker was also third in the combine in the three quarter sprint, which shows how effective he can be running the floor.
In his freshman year as a Miami Hurricane, Walker averaged 11.5 points on 42 percent from the field and 35 percent from three, 2.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists after playing injured for the majority of the season.
His stats might not jump out at you, but if you watch him play for just a few minutes, it’s not hard to see why he could sneak into the lottery. Walker undeniably has a much higher ceiling than a lot of players that will be selected above him in the 2018 NBA Draft, making him an ‘upside pick’.
Every year, you hear discussions about whether teams are looking to fill a hole in their roster by targeting positions, or if they are better served to select the best available player. And you always hear that you should take the best available player, but from Utah’s standpoint, that can’t be the case.
The Jazz are poised to make a run at a championship in the next five years behind two franchise cornerstones in Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. The goal is to bring in talent that fits around that. So the ‘best available player’ method goes out the window. The Jazz are not going to use their first round pick to draft a center.
It’s quite likely that the Jazz are going to swing for the fences with a player that could potentially become the third major piece to the Jazz puzzle. Ideally, one that can take some of the offensive load off Donovan Mitchell without harming the system or defensive structure. Walker fits that mold to a tee.
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If Dennis Lindsey is looking for another young star to form the ‘Big 3’ with Mitchell and Gobert, Lonnie Walker may very well be the answer.
Statistics courtesy of NBA.com and Sports Reference.