How Ja’Kobe Walter Can Become A Draft STEAL For The Raptors

How Ja’Kobe Walter Can Become A Draft STEAL For The Raptors

After being selected 19th overall in the 2024 draft, Jacobe Walter showcased promise in his rookie season for the Raptors. But we’re expecting more from the player in year two. So, here’s what he’s going to have to do to really lock down his role for the upcoming season. Let’s get into it. Welcome back everybody. This is Amateur Sports. It’s a YouTube channel that is completely dedicated to giving you Toronto Raptors content. Smash that like button if you enjoy along the way. Subscribe for more content just like it. Today’s video is all about Jacobe Walter going into his second season because I’m pretty excited about the possibilities of what he can achieve on the court because in his rookie season there were flashes for sure. Jacobe Walter showcased that he is a skillful player, a talented player, a smart player, but there still needs to be some fine-tuning to his game to really lock down his role for the upcoming season. Now, I think he provides a unique skill set that is going to be utilized and it’s going to give him a spot in the rotation, but it’s a pretty competitive pool of players coming off the bench for the Raptors. Assuming the starting five, and I’m very much going to assume this is the starting five, is Emanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Scotty Barnes, Brandon Ingram, and Yakob Purle. Trying to piece together who’s going to be coming off the bench is a little bit tricky. You have Jamal Shed as your backup point guard. If you want to go to the big spots, you either have Jonathan Mobo or Sandro Mamu Kellishly. But as far as like the wing positions, you probably want to have Colin Murray Boas in rotation, your recent ninth overall pick. Grady Dick should be in rotation. But then you also want Ojabaji in rotation, and that’s already 10 players. You still want Jacobe Walter in rotation. That’s 11. Jameson Battle looked really good in his rookie season. You might want him in rotation. That’s 12 players. Like, there’s talented players on this Raptors bench. It’s going to be difficult for all of them to get the minutes. So, what is Jacobe Walter going to have to do to get those minutes and take those minutes away from other players? Because this is, like I said, an interesting skill set. A player who is a solid defender who has a pretty good record in shooting from threes, but there’s more he can give. Here is how he is going to do it. So, I think the biggest thing I’d like to see for the player and and when I say this, the rest of the video I think will be impacted by this one thing improving. And it was also something that was kind of brought up before he was selected by the Raptors in the 2024 draft, 19th overall, and that is his strength. He has a frame that can absolutely fill out. He’s got pretty good size for the position, but at the moment, he’s a little bit constricted to playing as the one position as a shooting guard. Would like to get to a point where he’s strong enough to be able to play up as a bit of a small forward. And you know, these positions don’t really mean a lot on the offensive end, but they mean a little bit more on the defensive end. So, he can play up in those positions. This is going to make a lot of his game come easier. It’s just filling out the frame. And often times, you really can see this with players going into their second season, but it was something that was brought up before his rookie season, and it’s something that we do need to bring up now. Get in the gym, whatever needs to be done. the strength aspect is going to do a lot for his game because let’s look at these statistics for the player. Like what Jacobe Walter brought in his college season, which is why why the Raptors selected him where they did was decent for Baylor, but it wasn’t extraordinary. What really gave Jacobe Walter the potential to get drafted in the lottery was the potential and especially the potential he showed before he played his college season for Baylor where he averaged 14.5 points per game, four and a half rebounds, a steel, not super efficient. This was the problem and it’s still a bit of a problem in the NBA. We’ll talk about that in just a second. Field goal percentage down at 37.6, three-point percentage at 36. That was nice to see like what you were taking here for a shooting guard was a player who had the mold of a future 3 and D player in the NBA. Somebody who could shoot threes well, somebody who could defend well. That is what you were getting out of Jacobe Walter. And sure, there were flashes of that in the NBA, but we can get more out of this guy. Like this was a player that I absolutely thought had lottery pick potential in the 2024 NBA draft. Ended up having him mocked 19th to the Raptors. And you know, there wasn’t much right about the mock draft I did for that draft, but that was correct. And I just saw a reality in which he slipped out of the lottery. Then there was that pack of teams like Miami, Philadelphia, and the Lakers who were in the range before the Raptors who were looking for more polished products to add to their team. I saw the way in which he could fall the 19th, and it was great that he did. I was super happy with this selection. And there again, there was promise in this rookie season where he produced 8.6 6 points per game per 36 reminiscent of those college numbers at 14 and a half points or so 14.7 in the NBA. 3.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, but the field goal percentage is again like the field goal percentage by itself leaves a bit to be desired. Just above 40%. Really nice three-point percentage at 34.9, but the true shooting percentage is down at 52.3. That’s a little bit worrying. Maybe not as much for a rookie, but like what is worrying for the player and this is why field goal percentage don’t really tell the whole story. It’s like it’s the two-point percentage and the efficiency in certain areas on the floor because Jacobe Walters two-point percentage in the NBA last season was just about 45%. Just above. That’s really low. That’s really low for a two-point percentage. And it kind of looks even worse when you look at his field goal percentage inside 3 ft. Like we’re talking right at the rim. Like you’ve got to be you got to be probably pretty comfortably above 60 in these areas. Chroy Walter shot 52.7% on shots inside three feet. So obviously this is Jakobe Walter, a shooting guard attacking much bigger bodies in the paint, attacking much better defenders sometimes in the paint, but going up against size. This is kind of the area of concern that needs to be amended because the shooting is there. There were certainly signs defensively last season. There was promise there, but it’s the finishing that is probably going to take his game to the next level. You know, as much as like obviously improving defense, improving shooting is big. I think that the strength element that I’ve talked about previously is going to help him tremendously with his ability to finish on the inside, but I think that has to be one of the best priorities and one of the biggest priorities for him in the offseason because he’s going to start to hopefully gain respect as a three-point shooter. Now, we need to get to the point where, okay, if he’s getting that respect, people are aggressively closing him out, that’s giving space for his teammates. How is he going to use his space? How is he going to attack those closeouts and be effective for the Raptors continuously when he’s not able to get those threes down consistently? Like the start of last season, Grady Dick, what was propelling him up was that he was getting such tremendous respect on the perimeter, but he was attacking the rim really well to start the season. That was really boosting his game and really doing a lot for the Raptors. Walter, I want to see similar. I want to see something along those lines. But I think the strength element again is just going to aid him tremendously with his finishing on the inside. Not only that, but we talk about the defensive end of the floor. I’ve already brought it up. Something else that is going to take him to the next level is the strength on defense to be able to match up with opponents better. He’s still like quite sticky on defense. It’s hard to shake him off. It’s hard to get rid of him. It’s hard to get by him. That’s all good, but I think still can be improved further and just, you know, continue to harp in it. Strength is going to do a lot to help him in that department. Those are the big things. Obviously, the three-point shooting, look, 35% is pretty good for a rookie, but let’s start to upgrade that volume and let’s start to upgrade that efficiency alongside upgrading that volume. Like, that is just what’s going to make Jacobe Walter a tremendous player. like as much as like attacking closeouts, scoring in in the inside is going to be good. Defense is good. What can take his game really to the biggest heights is just becoming a very good three-point shooter. Was pretty good in college at 36%. Honestly, 35% for a rookie in the NBA isn’t bad. That’s pretty good. If we can continue to build on this Jacobe Walter, this can be a really important player for the team. I always say there is always a need for defense and there is always a need for three-point shooting in the NBA. If Jacobe Walter can do both of those things effectively, plus add on that interior game on offense, he is going to be a great player for the team. If he’s doing all of this, that is a player absolutely who has locked down the rotation spot for the 2025 2026 season. If he starts to do this, look, I thought this was a player who very well could have been selected in the lottery in 2024. Instead, he falls all the way to 19th overall. It felt like a little bit of a steal to me when they selected him in that spot. As much as he played well in his rookie season, it wasn’t that of a player who I thought was an absolute steal at 19th overall. But if he starts to build on his game and the way I’m describing it, and I don’t think I’m being outlandish here. I think a lot of the things I’m I’m requesting here are pretty reasonable of the player. If he starts to do this more and more, will this 19th overall selection by the Raptors look like an absolute steal of a pick? Very excited for Jacobe Walter in year two. Summer league is just around the corner. Hopefully he plays a big part. I can’t wait. I’ll be streaming for three out of the four summer league games right here on Amateur Sports. Make sure you’re subscribed to the channel. Keep update with all the content and videos and live streams. Drop a like if you enjoyed this one and I will see you again next

Ja’Kobe Walter showcased much promise in his rookie season for the Toronto Raptors, but what will he have to do to take his game to the next level?

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0:00 – The battle for the Raptors’ rotation spots is extremely competitive
1:55 – The biggest improvement Ja’Kobe Walter needs in his game
3:05 – How Ja’Kobe Walter’s college production compares to the NBA
5:06 – The alarming numbers from his rookie season
6:58 – Can he get even better on defense?
7:26 – Taking his game to the next level

This is Amateur Hour Sports. On this channel, Jacob Gramegna analyzes and breaks down the latest on the Toronto Raptors NBA team from trade rumors to post-game reactions, analysis, and much more. By subscribing to this channel you will be there first to watch and enjoy 3-4 videos a week all focused on this team and on game days Jacob goes live on the channel for a watch party where he interacts with chat, answers your questions, and analyses the game as it happens with play by play and commentary. Join the Amateur Hour Army today by subscribing and consider becoming a member to give extra support to the channel and help create better content more often.

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