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In his first two seasons with the Toronto Raptors, Ja’Kobe Walter has put up solid numbers. His rookie campaign saw him average 8.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game in 20 minutes of action. He followed that up with a sophomore season averaging 7.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game in similar floor time.
It’s easy to panic when looking at the slight decrease, but in reality, the slight drop isn’t concerning at all. The opposite actually. Despite a marginal decline, there was actually a drastic increase in his efficiency. His field goal percentage climbed from 40.5% his rookie year to 44.6% his sophomore season. Considering exclusively long range shots, that goes from 34.9% to 40.9%.
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He was actually making more of the shots he was taking, even though he wasn’t taking as many.
And this is where Ja’Kobe’s biggest value to the team lies. He may not get a ton of shots every night, but he will make the ones he does get.
October vs. April
Early on in the season, some fans were raising concerns over the decrease in the offensive abilities of Walter, amongst some of the other young Raptors. To some extent, the numbers were worrying. Shooting below 29% from long range on barely 2 points per game, the start of the season looked rough for Ja’Kobe. He showed some gradual improvement, but prior to the All-Star break, he was scoring 5 points per game and only 35% from long range.
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There was a steady improvement upon returning though, and by April, he was shooting 50% from 3-point range and scoring almost 10 points a game. His post-season was solid too, as he managed two 20-point appearances in the seven playoff games the Raptors had.
This shows the continuous effort and development not only throughout the season, but also holistically as a player.
It has to be everyone’s hope that he will continue on this trajectory.
The 3-Point Shooter
Floor spacing is a commodity in the NBA that teams will pay top dollar for. It’s not a positional skill anymore either, with even centers developing an outside shot.
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This is an area that Toronto has struggled in the last few years. They’ve…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/preview-ja-kobe-could-raptors-120000910.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-21 12:00:00
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