The Nets may have escaped the worst possible news on Cam Thomas — his ankle is “merely” sprained and expected to be re-examined in two weeks — but they’re still going to be without their most prolific scorer for a number of games.
In steps their most pleasantly-surprising one: Lonnie Walker IV.
“When [Thomas] went down, it was devastating to see one of us go down,” Brooklyn center Day’Ron Sharpe said. “But I think we just all, the collective group, just came and stepped up. Lonnie stepped up. He’s been doing his thing since the season started.
“Dennis [Smith Jr.] stepped up. [Trendon Watford] stepped up for us. I feel like our bench is deep, so guys go down, we’ve got guys who can step in and can still contribute to help us win.”
Walker has contributed more than the Nets or their fans had any right to expect, offering just enough defense to let his offensive skills play out.
He came into Friday’s In-Season Tournament game in Boston averaging 16.3 points on impressive .519/.432/.762 shooting splits. The scoring, shooting and 3-point marks are all on pace for career-highs, albeit early.
“Just genuinely understanding just the game, kind of slowing it down,” the 24-year-old Walker said. “I used to always play 100 percent going too fast without really analyzing the game. I watch a lot of film.
“Every time we play a new team, I’m watching their film, watching how they’re playing defense, what’s available, what are key points to attack? Just growing that IQ aspect of the game. But like I said, I’ve got a lot of trust in my game. I feel like I can score from a plethora of different places, and my teammates and my coaches are starting to instill a lot of confidence in myself as well.”
That basketball maturation for Walker hasn’t gone unnoticed by his teammates.
“It’s a feel thing. Rhythm thing. Timing thing. It’s gained with experience,” Cam Johnson said of Walker. “One thing that he’s been doing is just getting to his spots. You know he has that middie at the elbow that he loves to shoot. He’s been confident, and you could tell that his timing and rhythm on his 3s, on his drive and everything he’s doing is right where it needs to be.”
The Nets will need him to keep it there in the coming weeks.
A matter of trust
His scoring average was third-best on the Nets roster coming into Friday, behind only franchise centerpiece Mikal Bridges and leading scorer Thomas. But when the latter suffered a sprained ankle in Wednesday’s victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, coach Jacque Vaughn drew up plays for Walker, turning to their backup shooting guard for offense in the late stages of that contest.
Walker repaid that trust with a game-high 21 points in a come-from-behind win.
“Lonnie is playing extremely well and coming in being extremely aggressive,” Spencer Dinwiddie said.
Injury-riddled, the Nets have no choice but to count on Walker for legitimate minutes. That means they’re going to need him to hold up on the other end of the court.
Vaughn has been trying to mold Walker into a more complete player. He’s never had better than a minus-1.4 Defensive Box Plus-Minus (a statistic that roughly estimates a player’s value to a team’s defense when he is on the floor). But he carried a plus-3.7 into the weekend, growth that hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“Definitely, someone that, for me, I’ve seen him from afar. A great acquisition for us this offseason, and I’m just growing to trust him more and more,” Vaughn said. “We drew up after-timeout plays for him. We also ran pick-and-roll for him specifically at the end of the game. Just because a lot of times, he’s going to have a favorable matchup.
“And he’s making the right decisions, whether it’s the reads of getting to the rim, getting fouled scoring, off the bounce. He has the ability to do all that. Now, I’m going to keep addressing the defensive end: helping us rebound, coming to box out, being in the right position. So we’ll keep coaching; but he’s done a heck of a job.”
Walker had eight points on 0-of-2 shooting from deep when Thomas got hurt with 8:33 left in the third quarter on Wednesday. But from that point on, Walker poured in 13 points on 3-of-5 from behind the arc — including three 3-pointers in the three minutes immediately after Thomas got helped off the Barclays Center floor.
And after Vaughn started calling plays for Walker, putting the ball and the game largely in his hands in the fourth quarter, the sixth-year guard appreciated that faith.
“It means a lot to me,” Walker said. “I’ve really been trying to work and build that trust within the coaching staff and the players as well. So the fact that I got a couple plays out of timeouts and whatnot just shows my level of progress as far as trust within the coaches. With that opportunity comes responsibility, and playing the right way. Just because that play is for myself doesn’t mean it’s just for me.
“There’s one ball, but there’s four other players on the court. Same way my teammates trusted me, I’ve got to trust in them as well. So there’s times where I was coming off screens and [Ivica Zubac] was in a drop. You had Royce [O’Neale] top of the key 3, also I gave [Dorian Finney-Smith] a top of the key or right side corner 3. … So me coming off that screen, I saw him, he was open. Just making the right reads and keeping the game as simple as I can.”
Walker has been building that trust since Nets GM Sean Marks inked him to a team-friendly $2 million veteran minimum contract after the Lakers let him go this past summer.
That’s a steal considering Walker’s potential as a capable scorer, and clutch gene he displayed in last season’s playoffs.
“Just a lot of self-confidence,” Walker said. “I’ve got a lot of faith in the man above. With God, not too many things can stop you, not anything. Understanding my capabilities. I really put a lot of time and effort into the game. …
“What you put in is what you’re going to get out of it, and I think my work ethic is starting to show, just how hard I’ve been working on the court. Very composed, just a lot of growth, and truthfully, a lot of confidence from last year considering all the ups-and-downs and the roller-coaster and then being able to play in the playoffs and play how I did, it carried over to this season.”
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When one door closes, another one opens
In L.A. Walker started the first 32 games last season, averaging 14.7 points on .455/.389/.875 shooting in 29.8 minutes. Walker was third on the Lakers in scoring, behind only LeBron James and Anthony Davis and ahead of Russell Westbrook.
But after missing a month (14 games) with knee tendinitis, Walker returned to see his playing time undercut by the emergence of Austin Reaves and the trades for Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt.
Taking nine DNPs and averaging just 14.3 minutes the rest of the season, Walker got just 28 minutes through the Lakers’ first eight playoff games. He had to be patient and bide his time to get back in the rotation; but that time came in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals against Golden State, when he had a dozen points in a Lakers rout. In Game 4, he had all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter of a win.
That’s the ability the Nets saw in him, and were banking on when they snapped him up for a veteran minimum.
(For what it’s worth, Reaves ended up getting a $54 million contract, but Walker is scoring more in 10 fewer minutes, shooting 10 percent better from the floor and is actually younger).
With Thomas out, that signing seems prescient — an insurance policy that’s paying off.