Orlando Magic 2019 NBA Draft Preview: Nickeil Alexander-Walker is a high-IQ player with physical limitations

Other Strengths

Pick-and-roll potential

Nickeil Alexander-Walker saw a huge role change this season with the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Last year, Alexander-Walker was an ancillary player in Virginia Tech’s offense. This season he was a crucial cog for the Hokies as they relied on him as a ball handler quite often.

Alexander-Walker was most effective making plays out of the pick and roll.

Let’s start simple:

This play is a pretty simple one to make.

Alexander-Walker recognizes that the Purdue Boilermakers misplay the pick and roll which leaves his teammate wide open. Alexander-Walker makes the pass immediately and locates the pass right in the shooters pocket.

While this play is not flashy, it is indicative of how Alexander-Walker operates. He really loves to make the simple play. He almost always tries to make the easy play instead of the play that can end poorly.

Here is another example of quick and easy decision-making:

Here Alexander-Walkers reads the Duke Blue Devils’ defender cheating off his man. Kerry Blackshear cuts to the basket and Nickeil Alexander-Walker immediately finds him in stride with a strong pass.

Again, making the right play is something that should be valued.

Here is a more difficult read:

This clip is significantly more impressive than it initially seems.

First, we see Alexander-Walker use the screen to get some separation. He then uses his backside to keep the defender on his back which allows him to continue to pressure the defense. Then he uses an inside-out dribble to dispatch an additional defender in front of him.

After this Duke’s big man sinks from the wing into the paint, Alexander-Walkers reads this in literally one second and has the ball headed to the corner. The pass itself was pretty close to on target. This is an excellent play.

General Offensive craft

Another Alexander-Walker trait that is strong is his craft as an offensive player.

He is very similar to his cousin Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in this aspect. Neither has elite explosion nor the ability to consistently play above the rim, so they rely on ball handling and a variety of offensive moves to be effective while driving finishing.

This clip shows some of the craft I am referring to:

Here Alexander-Walker uses his off arm to clear out space. When he meets the defender at the rim, he shifts mid-air to avoid the contact and makes the shot.

Here we see Alexander-Walker work off the catch:

This is an area where Alexander-Walker can be deadly in the NBA.

If Alexander-Walker is able to keep up his shot defenders are going to have to close out hard on him. Alexander-Walker can create havoc in these situations.

Here, Alexander-Walker catches the ball, throws up a ball fake and makes a coordinated drive. He uses the hop step in front of a defender then pumps to get that defender in the air as well. He then throws up a nice little floater shot.

Here we see Alexander-Walker create a little off the dribble:

As you can see here Alexander-Walker is not able to create much space initially but he uses a momentum crossover. When the defender recovers on the crossover he counters with a spin the opposite direction (also taking the big man away from a possible contest) which creates a clean look off the glass.

Once again, Alexander-Walker cannot really blow by too many defenders. But he uses a hesitation dribble to freeze them for a second and give him the advantage to get by.

In order for Alexander-Walker to rise above his low ceiling label, he will he will need to continue to expand on this type of craft in his game.