Derek Kramer

The Pacers ‘can’t lose’ picking between Jarace Walker and Taylor Hendricks

The NBA Draft is today. The wait is finally over but the fun has already begun. The Indiana Pacers, who now own four picks in the draft after swapping their 29th and 32nd selections for a future first-round pick in 2024 and the 40th pick from the Nuggets yesterday, will be in for an exciting night that may (perhaps likely will) feature even more trades as Kevin Pritchard and the front office have neither the roster space or the desire for that many rookies to join the Pacers as they look to make the playoffs next season.

The 7th overall selection may be the only pick that they both start and finish the night with and there have been two prospects that have long been seen as great fits and possibly (depending on your opinion of them compared to others) the best pick available: Jarace Walker and Taylor Hendricks.

Both forwards played in the same conference while wearing #25, made All-AAC second team with Walker at Houston and Hendricks at UCF as freshmen, and then both left for the NBA Draft as exciting defensive prospects who had solo workouts on the same day for the Indiana Pacers. Their games have different skill sets that make them enticing and both have areas where they need to improve that prevent them from being complete no-brainers.

“The Pacers really can’t miss whether they select me or Jarace,” Hendricks said after his draft workout with Indiana. “Jarace is a really good player so I’m excited to see where he ends up. Going against him was pretty fun because of the hype around us. I think we’re both really good defensive prospects with really good athletic ability.”

Personally, I have gone back and forth with who I believe the Pacers should select so I’m going to bounce between these two talented young players with where my mouth salivates at the idea of them in a Pacers uniform and where my pessimistic brain sees the potential pitfalls that may prevent a seamless fit and transition to the NBA.

Plus Skill: Taylor Hendricks protecting the rim and defensive prowess

Perhaps the thing that I buy the most in terms of translating to the league between both of these guys is the elite level of weakside rim protection that Hendricks would provide. His timing and ability to react on dunk attempts and shots in the paint both in half court and in transition are elite.

Imagining a defense that features both Myles Turner and Hendricks as a possible final line of defense at the rim is making Quinn Buckner dream of smothered chickens as we speak. Hendricks isn’t the type that is hunting blocks either and goes up with verticality on the regular. 

One way that his defense at the rim is different than Walker’s is how often the blocks of the UCF forward come well above the rim. Looking at this picture of Hendricks meet a shot at the summit, it was hard not to think of our first introduction to Myles Turner as a Pacer in Summer League play.

While Hendricks played more center than expected in the games that I watched, he has quick enough feet to keep multiple players in front of him on the perimeter which should allow for a snug fit on defense next to Turner as the big forward that the Pacers have long been missing.

UCF would often use him at the top of a zone look as a disruptor on defense with his long arms and he’s capable when switching onto smaller guards and forcing jump shots, even blocking some step-back attempts that came his way. He’s attentive off the ball and makes timely rotations especially near the rim. While he likely won’t be needed as a five, he gives the Pacers another option as a small-ball center in certain situations as well as his post-defense also holds up well.

Plus Skill: Jarace Walker’s playmaking and feel

While Walker’s defense is also one of his strengths, what I want to start with for the Houston forward is his fantastic feel for the game and some unreal passing and playmaking that he would show flashes of at the college level.

With the pass just a little too far behind him to finish the lob, he instantly turns it into a touch pass to an open man at the 3-point line. It’s this kind of play that made the Nuggets offense so fun to watch and combining his passing with Tyrese Haliburton’s wizardry sounds like a recipe for some beautiful ball movement and helpless defenders. 

Walker’s playmaking out of the short roll–which would come in handy whenever teams decided to double or trap Haliburton–resulted in both highlight plays and/or smart decision making on every opportunity that came Walker’s way. While he only averaged 1.8 assists per game, it certainly felt like his role on offense was holding that number back more than anything.

He picks teams apart from the free-throw line against zone defenses. The Pacers often would use Andrew Nembhard in this type of role against the zone last season and adding a third high-feel passer to a potential lineup to go with great play finishers like Bennedict Mathurin and Myles Turner sounds so very nice. While it is fair to wonder how much his playmaking would pop alongside Haliburton, he could also take some of the playmaking burden away from the Pacers star point guard and give them more options when he’s out of the lineup as well.

Concern: Taylor Hendricks lack of self-creation and feel

Now that I’ve hyped both prospects up, it’s time to bring them back to the Earth a bit. While Walker is a potential high-feel playmaking dynamo, it’s harder to see Hendricks making an impact on the offensive outside of finishing plays set up by Haliburton. Hendricks doesn’t have much self-creation to this stage in his career with a very limited handle and is mostly a floor spacer at this stage.

While Hendricks can make the simple pass, he’s not going to break down a defense like Walker does with regularity with his vision. His spatial awareness shows some warts at times when he’s not spaced to the 3-point line. It would really pop up on occasion when he was struggling with his jumper and in response would try to get more involved inside by standing somewhat aimlessly near the block. He would end up being in the way of teammate drives to the basket more than he would be getting his own touches closer to the rim to try and get going. 

When chased off the 3-point line, he’d struggle with attacking those closeouts and his finishing at the rim has been well documented with his slightly over 40% on attempted layups. I’m not overly concerned about his finishing as he uses his height and athleticism to dunk whenever he can but his touch definitely struggles any time he’s in traffic with a man between him and the rim.

I really shouldn’t be posting the positive highlights in the sell area but those type of dunks on the first two plays including a rare dribble move to beat Walker to the basket are why I’m not overly concerned about the layup percentage. 

The good news even with his lack of self creation is that playing with Haliburton would mean that he wouldn’t need to do much of it but that puts a lot of pressure on Bennedict Mathurin developing more as a secondary playmaker and Andrew Nembhard stepping up to try and lighten the load of Tyrese so the Pacers offense has more options when teams try to get the ball out of their star guard’s hands. 

Hendricks at this stage might not add to the beautiful symphony of passes in the offense put together by Haliburton but he would make for a third play finishing option alongside Turner and Mathurin for their guard to set up and I do have some concerns about Hendricks when it comes to his hands when corralling a pass (and sometimes rebounds).

Concern: Jarace Walker, scoring arsenal

At times when you’re watching Walker play, you start to question if he knows how huge he is. He’ll look like the Hulk on defense swatting away shots with force and anger but then be more Bruce Banner avoiding contact by primarily shooting floaters in the paint.

Over three straight games of my Walker watch, he made just four of 18 on 2-point attempts and I was starting to be down on his offensive skill set beyond his perimeter shooting because he so often would settle for this little push-shot floater than looks straight out of T.J. Warren’s bag but without the high efficiency. Thad Young and Brandon Clarke both have the awkward floater game down to a science but while Walker loves that shot, it doesn’t feel like it goes in nearly enough to justify its usage. Instead you’d love to see way more of him driving into contact and getting to the foul line more often than his 2.2 FTA per game.

I wonder if playing with NBA spacing alongside a shooting big like Myles Turner if we see him all the way to rim more often where he can finish dunks like this.

His shooting is his biggest question mark offensively. He showed positive signs over the first two-thirds of his freshman season with an above 40% mark from 3 on 52 attempts over 24 games but then he made just 26% over his final 12 games as he made just 13 of 49 attempts to end the season. So he started taking more but he made far less. From NBA range he made only 26% of his 3-pointers on the season and really struggled from the corners where he made only 5 of 22 attempts according to Zach Milner’s tracking. He shows a lot of flashes from mid-range and in the mid-post with a nice touch on fadeaways but you wonder how often Rick Carlisle is going to utilize him in that manner for that to translate with the Pacers. Free-throw shooting is often looked at as a sign of whether a prospect may be more and less likely to develop a 3-point shot and Walker made only 66% of his free throws.

His lack of shooting could cause issues offensively if teams start to ignore him on the perimeter like Hendricks would at times in games against him this season.

Taylor was very comfortable focusing on staying near the rim and was not concerned about Jarace in the corner.

Teams are highly likely to guard him with centers and then I’m getting Jalen Smith at the 4 flashbacks and many other centers trying to play power forward for the Pacers in recent memory. The good news is that even without a jumper he offers plenty of playmaking in the pick and roll and way more defense than any of the other Pacers recent attempts at bigs playing the four. This would however put Turner back into his roaming around the perimeter role that he grew to dislike while playing with Domas Sabonis over the years if Walker is the big that’s primarily involved in ball screens.

Plus Skill: Taylor Hendricks, jump shooter

Hendricks on the other hand will not be able to be ignored in the corner as the opposing team’s shot blocker mucks up the paint without paying for leaving him open beyond the arc. This is where Hendricks will make his mark on the offensive end early in his career as he made 40% of his triples from the corner and that’s likely where he will most often be used in the NBA. With shooting splits of 53.5/39.4/78.2 all signs point to his shooting translating to the league and not much time needs spent here. 

Plus Skill: Jarace Walker, team defender

Walker is a non-stop, high-motor, energy, effort, hustle machine on the defensive end that wreaked havoc on opposing offenses when trapping in the Houston scheme. He gets his hands in passing lanes, forces turnovers, and turns them into transition opportunities. He gobbles up rebounds with force and could help a Pacers squad that has long struggled in that area immediately. I only question his ability to defend quicker players but he moves his feet really well on the perimeter, never misses an assignment or rotation, and just always seems to be in the exact right spot.

Early in the season, he had some fantastic moments against likely top-3 pick Brandon Miller as he forced a turnover after one switch, got the ball out of his hands on another, and blocked a Miller drive as a weak-side rim protector. All of which help his case in defending wings at the next level and being a helpful team defender. 

It’s a good thing that I’m not a general manager because I would really struggle to pick between these two phenomenal prospects that would add some needed qualities—especially on the defensive side—to this Pacers team. The case could easily be made for either guy. Maybe you lean Walker because it’s harder to teach someone feel than it is to turn a player into a good shooter. Or perhaps you’re higher on Hendricks because he feels more versatile positionally on offense and his above-the-rim plays on defense feel like something hard to find in combination with good shooting. Either way, the Pacers will likely have at least one of these players available when they are on the click and maybe both. And that’s a good position to be in.

You’re right, taco commercial girl. Make it happen, KP. Bring both of these guys to Indiana somehow.

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