Jabari Walker has found a way to make himself impossible to ignore.
On Sunday afternoon in Chicago, the 24-year-old came off the bench and helped flip the Sixers’ road win over the Bulls with nine points and 11 rebounds. The numbers mattered, but the bigger story was how quickly he changed the feel of the game.
After the Sixers’ worst start of the season, Walker checked in and played more than nine straight minutes, creating nine Sixers points in that stretch with four offensive rebounds and four points of his own. Philadelphia took the lead and never gave it back.
“He's continuing to do the same thing, starting with playing hard,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. “Five offensive rebounds and probably another five or six near-misses.
So it’s funny, when he’s in there and it’s such a harder defensive rebound for them, it slows transition. So those are impactful plays, too...
Very, very good minutes for him.”
Walker has become the Sixers’ best rebounder on either end of the floor, and Nurse’s point goes beyond the box score. Those extra possessions change the emotional temperature of a game.
At 6-foot-7 and listed at 237 pounds, Walker brings a level of strength that makes him hard to move, but his impact is not just about power. He sees rebounding as something more calculated than a simple hustle stat.
“You’ve got to have some sense of IQ, like to read the ball,” Walker said. “You can really break it down to, like, the science of it.
Think about who’s shooting, where they’re shooting from, the percentage of it going long, is it contested, maybe it’ll come off a little bit more wild when it’s contested, if it’s wide open, maybe it’ll bounce a little softer. Things like that.
Where’s your man at? Are you at the five or four?
If you’re at the five, maybe just worry about getting your man out of there first. If you’re at the four, you’ve got a guy that doesn’t crash, maybe you don’t have to look as hard.
You can go pursue a rebound. Just things like that.
There’s a game inside the game when it comes to that, and it’s fun.”
That feel for the game is part of why Walker has become so valuable. The rebounding is what keeps him on the floor, but the rest of his game is starting to catch up, too. That’s where the fifth-year leap comes in.
Walker arrived in Philadelphia last season after three years with the Portland Trail Blazers. He came in as a career 31.8 percent three-point shooter on low volume, and the Sixers’ internal metrics liked his shooting more than the raw numbers suggested.
Nurse kept pushing him to let it fly with confidence. Last season, though, a slow start knocked him off track.
His shot confidence faded, and he never really got it back.
This season, it looks different. Walker is 2-for-7 from deep in limited minutes, and both makes have come after misses - one on Sunday in Chicago and one last week in Charlotte. After the Charlotte play, Walker said, “A year ago, I don’t know if I would have shot that one again.”
That confidence has shown up everywhere, not just from the perimeter. With Ariel Hukporti out for the season and Joel Embiid, Adem Bona and Dominick Barlow also dealing with absences, Walker has spent far more time at center than power forward. It’s not his natural spot, and he’s not a perfect fit there, but Nurse has repeatedly said Walker “never plays bad.”
“Jabari was great, obviously,” Embiid said after Sunday’s win. “We don’t offensive rebound a lot. He came in, gave us a bunch of looks off rebounding.”
Walker said a full preseason of working at the five helped him understand the position better, and he believes it has sharpened his chemistry with Tyrese Maxey and LeBron James.
“Understanding the plays, understanding everybody’s tendencies. I’ve been a lot more comfortable with the ball in my hands and making plays, making those passes, building my chemistry with Tyrese.
Back-doors, we’ve gotten a couple of those this year,” Walker said. “And just the connection with Bron, talking to him while we’re in transition.
‘Bron, do you want me to set you a screen? Okay, come to me, go over there.’
And it’s just [flowing], it’s fast. I use my speed to my advantage.
I realize even at the five, I don’t have to play like a traditional five. So I think that’s what I’m kind of embracing.
Stepped outside to the three today, hoping that picks up over time and just being able to use that to my advantage, spacing and just being fast, being in the short roll, being a threat, being fast and just using what I have.”
His energy has been hard to miss. Walker screams after most of his hustle plays, and with Bona struggling through a preseason foot injury and a recent neck injury, those loud moments have stood out even more.
Nurse has kept repeating the same message about Walker’s reliability after nearly every appearance, and fans have noticed. Some have wondered why he hasn’t played more.
Walker said he noticed after a recent win that he picked up thousands of Instagram followers in a single night. For a team with plenty of new fans since James arrived, he’s used the opportunity to make himself someone the crowd can latch onto.
One hustle play at a time, that’s what’s happening.
“You know, it makes me happy, because I like to connect with the community, fan base,” Walker said. “I was new last year.
I don’t think they knew me, so I got off to a little bit of a rough start with them. You know, they’re going to let you hear it when they don’t know you.
But I think they just connect a lot with my passion and the way I play. So I’m glad to be able to earn their trust and respect.
Because that was on my mind a lot: I wanted to prove myself and make my name known, and I think the fans are starting to come around. Just fuels me to be better and continue to play with that passion.”
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