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Baylor's Scott Drew thinks Raptors landed a gem in Ja'Kobe Walter
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# Why Baylor coach Scott Drew thinks Raptors landed a gem in Ja'Kobe
Walter
'All the natural talent ability is there.'
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Published Jul 02, 2024 • Last updated 9 hours ago • 4 minute read
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Ja'Kobe Walter #4 of the Baylor Bears reacts to a play in the first
round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament against the Colgate
Raiders at FedExForum on March 22, 2024 in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo
by Justin Ford /Getty Images
## Article content
The Toronto Raptors landed a gem in Ja'Kobe Walter and judging him by
his NCAA stats would be a mistake, Walter's former coach says.
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Article content
Scott Drew, the long-time Baylor University bench boss, thinks that
once Walter gets some NBA experience under his belt he'll be an
excellent addition for the Raptors.
"Ja'Kobe, he's a pup. And what I mean by that is, physically, he's
going to continue to grow mature, but all the natural talent ability
is there," Drew told Postmedia in a recent phone interview. "He's
somebody that will be extremely coachable and and hardworking. So
whatever the concept is, offensive and defensively, he's going to fit
in whatever they need him to do he's going to do. And at the same
time, he's always going to be in the gym working on his craft," Drew
said. "He has the intangibles you can't coach, though, and that is the
desire to win, his competitiveness, being a great teammate. It's all
about winning. He could score four points or he could have 30, and if
the team wins, he's happy. If the team loses, he's frustrated and
wants to work harder to help them win," Drew said.
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Toronto was thrilled to see Walter on the board still when the time
came to make the 19th pick of the NBA draft last month. He had been a
five-star recruit, ranked No. 8 in the U.S. just a year earlier and a
McDonald's All-American and Nike Hoop Summit participant, but other
teams might have been scared off by his underwhelming numbers in his
lone year at Baylor. Walter shot 37.6% from the field, including 34%
on three-point attempts, with 6.3 of his 10.9 field goal attempts
coming from beyond the arc.
When asked about the disparity between Walter's rep as a deadly
shooter vs. his NCAA results, Drew made a few salient points. For one,
he noted, on average, Baylor faced the toughest defensive opponents of
any NCAA team, according to Ken Pomeroy's highly respected analytics.
"So out of 363 (teams) nobody faced a tougher (group of defenders)
than we did. And Ja'Kobe was our leading scorer for most of the year,
so he was the number one guy focused on the scouting report, so he
didn't get a lot of great looks, and that affected his shooting
percentage," Drew said.
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While it's true Walter will now be facing NBA defenders, he will no
longer be game-planned against, with the likes of Scottie Barnes,
Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett and Gradey Dick drawing the attention of
opponents.
Plus, there's the eye test. "In our shooting competition, shooting
games, he had the record last year, 41 threes in a row," Drew said.
"So, I mean, he's a tremendous shooter."
Walter also attempted 5.2 free throws a game, using a quick first step
and toughness to get to the line, so he's more than just a shooter.
Drew said all of the attention and responsibilities took a toll on him
and he'll also have to adjust to the NBA, but when he does, the upside
is sky high. "Normally freshmen hit the wall. Normally rookies hit the
wall. And when you work as hard as he does, you're gonna go through
some fatigue, but at the same time, that experience you gain allows
you, in year two, three and four, to know when to work, how hard to
work.
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"Part of being successful is being right off the court so he can be
right on the court. And he definitely is a high-character guy. Has his
priorities in line. He's gonna buy in and get better because of that
ability to be humble and hardworking."
Drew has coached Baylor since 2003, taking that once-struggling
program to an NIT title in 2013 and to the 2021 NCAA championship. So
he knows a thing or two about turning things around. He thinks Walter
can play a part in getting the Raptors back on the right path, even
though the early lumps might be tough to take. Walter was a high
school champion in Texas and went 24-11 at Baylor.
"I think he's not gonna be happy losing, and he's gonna work even
harder, which is what you want, and at the same time, he's gonna get
better from it," Drew said. "And sometimes we get better from failure
rather than success. So I mean those are the people that turn around a
program, though, the ones that are going to work hard be coachable and
not be satisfied with losing because you're young or inexperienced.
Doesn't guarantee they're going to win, but it's going to motivate
them to work even harder and buy in more, to do whatever they can to
win, and that's what every coach and organization would want."
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Toronto also traded for another star Drew pupil in guard Davion
Mitchell, the No. 9 selection of the 2021 NBA draft and a driving
force on the 2021 Bears title team. Drew thinks Mitchell will be both
a helpful familiar face for Walter (Walter has said watching Mitchell
play helped sell him on going to Baylor and they have hung out on
campus too when Mitchell came back for alumni gatherings) and another
strong addition for the Raptors who will not be outworked in the gym.
"First and foremost, Masai, the Raptors organization do a tremendous
job, and they really do their homework, and there's no surprise they
would end up with outstanding young men, extremely hard workers, great
teammates, like Davion and Ja'Kobe," Drew said. "And I know one thing
for sure: The gym lights are going to be on 24/7 guys with those guys
on the team."
It sounds like Drew will be keeping a close eye on the Raptors. As the
call ended, he signed off with: "We are the north, baby!"
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