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'07 OH SF Bill Walker (Kansas State Verbal)

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4/13/05
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]OJ Mayo and Bill Walker: High School Phenoms[/font]​
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</TD></TR><TR><TD width=486>[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]April 8, 2005[/font]</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Due to the massive amounts of coverage that DraftCity has been bringing you draft fans, we got a little behind in one of the exclusive stories that we promised to bring you, but here it is. While we were covering the EA Sports Roundball Classic in Chicago on March 21st, we happened to get to see two of the top high school players in the nation, regardless of age, go through an extensive workout in front of only 10 or so people. Being from Ohio, I was immediately able to recongnize star sophomore prospects O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker the second they walked in the gym. For those of you who don’t know, both Mayo and Walker are consensus top 5 prospects in the class of 2007… Mayo the consensus #1.

Mayo, a 6’5 204 lb. PG, is regarded by some as the best player in the country, no matter the grade. He doesn’t really have any noticeable flaws. None. He has a very good handle, can stroke it from NBA three point range, and can create for others. O.J. plays during the high school season for Cincinnati North College Hill and over the summer for the D-1 Greyhounds AAU team. He plays against the top competition in the nation during the summer, as he has been playing at 17-U AAU level since he was in 8th grade. Due to the fact that Ohio does not allow middle school players to play high school basketball, Mayo played varsity basketball at Rose Hill Christian in Kentucky, where he averaged 21.8 points as a 7th grader and 20.5 points as an 8th grader. He then transferred to North College Hill and scored 30.9 points per game as a freshman and averaged 27.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 3.5 steals a game this past season. He plays like a man amongst boys. He can do absolutely anything he wants when he is on the floor. He has the looks and maturity of a grown man. In my opinion, he is hands down the best player in the country, regardless of age.

Bill Walker, a 6’7 WG/WF, is O.J.’s best friend and teammate on both the high school and AAU level. He partakes in daily workouts with O.J. during the high school season and the AAU season. During the high school season, the duo participates in daily three hour workouts. During the AAU season, those daily workouts range from three to six hours. Walker is unquestionably one of the top leapers in the country and possesses a deadly three point shot. The Vince Carter (Early Toronto and current New Jersey days) comparisons are inevitable, and I am hard-pressed to disagree with them. What makes Bill even more lethal is that he has a chiseled 220 pound physique that gives him the ability to outmuscle any player on the high school level if he chooses to post up. Barring an age limit being put in place, Bill and O.J. are definitely at the top of the list of draft prospects for the 2007 draft.

Now that I’ve given you guys a little bit of background information about these two, I’ll tell you what the workout was like. The intensity of the workout was unparalleled. Walker and Mayo went for approximately an hour and a half non-stop and at full speed through a series of NBA drills. These drills included reading screens, full court dribbling drills leading right into jump shots, mid range jump shots, and attacking the basket. Just about the only knock on Bill Walker coming into this year was that he wasn’t quite the strongest ball handler…boy, has that changed. Bill was extremely fluid going up and down the floor at full speed in the ball handling drills. He was able to change directions and speeds very easily while keeping his head up and the ball low and tight. Bill began to shoot NBA three pointers off of these drills with absolute ease. At one time, we counted that Bill made 7 straight NBA three pointers in a row after dribbling full speed up the floor with a defender on him. Walker then showed off his midrange game, in which he has an absolutely astonishing lift on his shot, making it impossible for any defender to block. Walker then started attacking the basket, where he used his giant strides to get to the basket in the blink of an eye. He finished every one of his takes to the rim with an explosive dunk, where he was at least a foot above the rim on each and every one of them.

O.J. was going through the workout even though he had sprained his ankle in the high school state championship just two days earlier, showing his great toughness. In the full court ball handling drills that lead to NBA three pointers, O.J. handled the ball as if it was on a string and showed unlimited range. At one point, we counted him hitting 9 straight three pointers from NBA range (following which he missed one… and then proceeded to hit 5 more in a row). Mayo did not have the usual (great) lift on his shot due to the ankle injury, but his mechanics were very impressive. Like Walker, O.J. showed a great midrange jumper with very quick release and good form. When it came to exploding to the basket, he was a bit limited because of the bum ankle, but he was still easily dunking the ball in all of the drills. We would see in a few minutes that even with a bad ankle, Mayo could still leap higher then the majority of college players.

At the conclusion of their workout, O.J. and Bill decided to have an impromptu dunk contest. Bill started off getting loose by easily touching the top of the square on the backboard. He then started off by throwing the ball off of the backboard and doing a reverse windmill dunk. This dunk would have easily gotten a perfect score in the NBA dunk contest. He then continued with a flurry of windmill, 360, and between the legs dunks that would have definitely given Josh Smith a run for his money. As for O.J., even though he was suffering from an ankle injury, he was still able to throw the ball off of the shot clock and dunk it (a la Gerald Green in the 2005 McDonald’s dunk contest). He followed that with a flurry of windmill dunks and dunked 2 balls at the same time, reminiscent of the dunk Amir Johnson did in the McDonald’s dunk contest.

While I had seen these two play before in person a few times and was fully aware of their talents, I had never seen anything like this in my life. These two looked like pro prospects, and they were only sophomores in high school. Both I and Prerak Shah (the other DraftCity staff member in attendance) agreed that Mayo and Walker were more impressive than ANY of the players playing in the Roundball Classic. Only Gerald Green even came close. This should tell you how immensely talented these two sophomores are. Whether they are able to come out in the 2007 NBA draft right out of high school, or if they have to go to college for two years, you will hear the names of O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker very, very early on draft night.

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OJ Mayo:

DraftCity: What are your personal thoughts on the possible 20 year old age requirement that the NBA is considering imposing?

Mayo: Well, it’s good for collegiate basketball as far as keeping all of the good players going to college and making it more exciting.

DraftCity: Well if it were to be imposed, how would it effect your personal plans for after high school?

Mayo: It really wouldn’t effect my plans at all because all along I’ve planned on going to college and seeing where I go from there.

DraftCity: Who do you personally think should enter the NBA draft out of this year’s high school class?

Mayo: Gerald Green

DraftCity: There’s talk of Andray Blatche, Brandon Rush, and Monta Ellis entering the draft. Do you think they’re ready?

Mayo: I don’t know if they’re ready, but I think Gerald Green is the man of the 05 class.

DraftCity: I don’t know if you heard, but the vertical jump tester wasn’t even high enough for him. It’s 11’6 and he still got his hand over it.

Mayo: Yeah, I heard about that. That’s crazy.

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Bill Walker:

DraftCity: What are your personal thoughts on the potential 20 year old age limit that the NBA is considering imposing?

Bill: It is what it is. What do I gotta do? It’s right for the vets. I mean, they want to keep their jobs, and this will let them keep their jobs.

DraftCity: Well if the age limit is imposed, you and O.J. are going to have to go to college. What colleges were you guys looking at?

Bill: We’re just looking at conferences right now.[/font]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
It is amazing just how talented these two sophmores are...its sick.
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I don't know how old Walker is, but Mayo might be 20 before he graduates. This is huge because the NBA's going to pass that new rule.

That being said, I'd like OJ to play one year at tOSU to bring Bill in to play at least two. :biggrin:
 
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BuckeyeFromHecK said:
Theres a kid at my school who plays on the same AAU team as Bill Walker, Keenan Ellis, and OJ Mayo, and from what ive heard, he says Bill Walker is out of this world good, meaning better then OJ....just something to think about.
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I've read a few accounts of these two on the court, and I don't think it's fair to say that Walker is better than OJ. However, just about every account of those who've seen Walker play say that he is an "out of this world" athlete and dunker. Not exactly the same as being a better basketball player, mind you. It does sound like his hops are something else.
 
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According to some reports, he is an excellent athlete who gets most of his scoring from dunks and rebounding. He is simply not as good a basketball player as O.J. Mayo. Walker needs to work on his shooting and ball handling if he wants to be considered up there with O.J.


Just my humble opinion.:)
 
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Walker does need to work on his shooting, but I have seen him play numerous times, and he's a better then average mid range to outside shooter. His athleticism reminds me a lot of Vince Carter, and the scary thing is, he is only a sophomore. From the games I have seen him play, it does look like he would rather dunk it then shoot, but that could be due to lack of competition and boredom. With North College Hill only playing half of their conference schedule and tougher opponents on the schedule next year, I feel this might change. Against Ironton in the state finals when the game was tight, he was taking a lot of outside shots, evidence that maybe with a little competition his overall game will be shown.
 
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Greg Oden

</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top>Spiece Tourney Tips Tonight
By Evan Daniels Basketball Recruiting Editor
Date: Apr 28, 2005

Wake Forest recruits Greg Oden and Mike Conley are sure to be in attendance this weekend in Fort Wayne, as well as a lot of young talent. DeaconSports.com will have full extensive coverage.
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The Spiece Run N Slam in Fort Wayne is one of many stops on the AAU circuit that will be filled with all kinds of talent. While Boo Williams and Kingwood were loaded from top to bottom with talent, the Spiece Run N Slam isn’t going to be any different.

Among the top AAU teams in the country in attendance this weekend will be 64 senior division teams including the host team Spiece Indy Heat, The Family, Michigan Hurricanes, Illinois Wolves, Illinois Fire, D-I Greyhounds, Blessed IJN and many, many more.

The tournament will feature many of the top players in the class of 2006, but features a strong contingent of players from the class of 2007, including 8 of Scout.com’s top 20. There are also several top 2007 stars in attendance including:
O.J. Mayo- D-I Greyhounds
Billy Walker- D-I Greyhounds
Keenan Ellis- D-I Greyhounds
Derrick Rose- Meanstreets Express
Eric Gordon- Spiece Indy Heat
Cole Aldrich- Minnesota Magic
Darquavis Tucker- Michigan Hurricanes
Alex Legion- Michigan Hurricanes
For more on the tournament and the participants stay tuned or check out their Official Site


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Looks like a talented group of players will be on display.​
 
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DraftCity recap of Spiece tourney
The first interesting story was that of the connection between O.J. Mayo, Bill Walker, and Reebok. I found it quite odd that there were two Reebok employees at nearly every one of the talented duo’s games. What was even odder was that both Mayo and Walker left the team’s bench during the middle of one of their games to do a Reebok photo shoot. Granted it was a blowout win, but I still found that disconcerting. Reebok sponsors both their AAU team (D-1 Greyhounds) and their high school team (Cincinnati North College Hill). It was also interesting that Mayo and Walker had different Reebok shoes the ones their team was issued. To top things off, one of the Reebok employees that I mentioned before handed Mayo a brand new Reebok headband to wear against the Spiece Indy Heat and looked extremely disappointed when Mayo took it off midway through the game. While I am not saying that there are any illegal activities going on between Reebok and the two, I just thought this was a pretty interesting story for basketball fans.

Mayo and Walker were not the only super talented duo on the same AAU team. Greg Oden and Daequan Cook each had their own stories over the weekend. First of all, there was a rumor going on amongst virtually every single scout on hand that Oden and teammate Mike Conley would join Daequan Cook and commit to Ohio State University. I first heard this rumor as soon as Cook committed to OSU, and now its looking like it actually might happen. Oden and Conley both have visits to Ohio State lined up for this Friday, May 6th. I had the chance to speak with Cook personally and ask him about the rumors of him transferring to Oak Hill Academy and that his grades were sub par. He let it be known on the record that he will not be transferring and that his grades were not an issue at the moment.

...

Bill Walker
6’6, 220 lbs.; SG/SF; 2007
AAU team- D-1 Greyhounds HS-Cincinnati North College Hill (OH)
Win over D.T.A- 16 points
Win over Cincinnati Cowboys- 12 points, 7 rebounds
Win over Blessed IJN- 29 points, 16 rebounds, 10 dunks (Sat entire 4th quarter)
Win over King James Shooting Stars- 19 points, 8 rebounds (sat entire 4th quarter)
Loss to Spiece Indy Heat- 12 points, 8 rebounds

Even though his numbers may not exactly show it, Bill Walker may have had the best tournament of any player at Spiece. Walker’s performance left some scouts proclaiming that he was the number one player in the nation. While I don’t necessarily agree with that comment, I do agree that he certainly did boost his stock at the Pump N Run.

Offensively, Bill is a wing player’s worst nightmare to guard. Possessing a lethal first step and a rapidly improving three point shot, Bill is able to virtually do anything he wants when on the floor. Combine that with his absolutely amazing strength and the ability to outleap virtually any player in the nation, you see why many compare him to Vince Carter. Walker’s chiseled physique allows him to post any player he wants, and his quickness allows him to beat taller players off the dribble. The knock on Walker is that he isn’t a good ball handler at the moment, but he is improving each and every day. This time last year, Bill had the handle of a post player, while he now has a solid enough handle to play on the wing, but not good enough to play on the wing in college or the NBA quite yet.

Defensively, Walker does a great job boxing out and using his world class leaping ability to grab rebounds. Opposing players do not dare post Bill, as they will not gain any post position whatsoever due to his great strength. The North College Hill wing also has superb lateral quickness, allowing him to keep up with smaller perimeter players. His main weakness is that he always goes for the spectacular blocked shot, allowing him to easily pick up fouls on opponents pump fakes. With the superior training that Bill receives, I’m sure that he’ll be able to fix this bad habit.

Like Mayo, Walker also has a tendency to jaw at officials and opposing players. While this can be very negative at times, Bill seems to use it in a positive matter. For example, against Blessed IJN, Bill and another player began talking trash to each other. Bill then responded by taking his already intense game to a totally higher level, dunking on the next two possessions.

With improvement on his ball handling skills, Bill Walker could be the ideal NBA wing prospect: a player with the ability to score from the outside, post up smaller defenders, rebound, and defend. With the incredible work ethic that both he and Mayo possess, I am confident that will happen. Both Bill and O.J. have stated that they will be going to college, but I feel that if the 20 year old age rule is not imposed, we will be hearing both of their names called on the night of the 2007 draft…..within the first few picks.
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