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

Defense

Maybe it is because the Virginia Tech Hokies played zone defense so often, but I feel as though Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s defense is an extremely underrated aspect of his game.

One thing that I noticed was Alexander-Walker rarely fell victim to ball watching on defense. He consistently found work on defense and was an extremely good help defender.

Here is a clip of some of his help defense:

Here we saw Alexander-Walker playing the interior of a zone defense. Once his man evacuates the paint on a teammate’s drive, Alexander-Walker waits for the offensive player to try and use the rim to defend the shot. Well, the offensive player does use the rim to protect the shot from his man but Alexander-Walker is right there to send that shot away.

Of course, there will not be many chances for Alexander-Walker to provide help in the paint in the NBA. But that was more about showing off his basketball IQ. He read the play correctly and stopped what would have been easy points.

Here is Alexander-Walker helping on a drive:

On this play, Alexander-Walker is sitting in between the drive and the corner three-point shooter. Once the handler decides to put the ball down an additional time, Alexander-Walker digs on the drive and the handler loses the ball.

Many people will say that is exactly what is supposed to happen on this play. They would be correct. But not all players make this play. Alexander-Walker makes this play almost every time.

Many are not sure how to project Alexander-Walker as a one-on-one defender at the NBA level because they did not see enough of him in man to man situations.

They have a point, Alexander-Walker did not get many chances to show off his man defense in Blacksburg. But there are plays that show off his movement skills.

Like this clip right here:

In this clip, Nickeil Alexander-Walker beats Nassir Little to his spot. There is not a lot of craft from Little on this play, but Alexander-Walker made the right read. He should have been rewarded with a charge but the refs swallowed their whistles.

Here is a more extensive look at how well Alexander-Walker moves:

This play is great because it shows multiple good defensive efforts from Alexander-Walker.

First, Alexander-Walker shows off his lateral quickness by mirroring the ball handler. While he is mirroring the ball handler, Alexander-Walker shows off his ability to get skinny to avoid screens. He is consistently good at not being blown up by screens. Then he bites on the pump fake but does not get completely off the ground which allows him to recover.

Now comes my favorite part of Alexander-Walker’s game. This is something that shows up almost the entire time he is on the court.

Here are Alexander-Walker’s active hands at work:

Here, Alexander-Walker reads a weak shovel pass. But as you can see Alexander-Walker’s hands are flexed out and he is able to just snatch the ball from the ball handler.

Here is another use of his hands:

On this play, Cam Reddish gets lazy with the ball for one second. Alexander-Walker’s hands are already at his side and as soon as Reddish hangs a dribble in front of his body he has already lost the ball.

Alexander-Walker will not be defined as a plus athlete, but I think he is definitely a quick twitch player. He thinks the game so fast it allows him to be more functionally athletic than a lot of guys who are better raw athletes.

Alexander-Walker is able to make instant reads of plays and step into passing lanes for steals — he averaged 1.9 steals per game last year.

This guy is an extremely high IQ player on defense. He moves well, he has active hands and he displays good effort. I think projecting him as anything other than a plus defender is disrespectful.