After one chaotic offseason, Kemba Walker made his long-anticipated debut for the New York Knicks in their season opener against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
Walker did not have a vintage scoring outing against his former team; he recorded 10 points on 38 percent shooting. He did, however, have a hefty amount of on-ball responsibilities during the game, which included notching a team-high 70 passes completed.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau came away from the 138-134 double-overtime win over Boston pleased with Walker's debut with the team. In speaking after the win, Thibodeau touched on how Walker performed during his time on the court with the team's starters, where he hinted at just how the veteran point guard may be utilized this season.
“Thought Kemba had some really good moments for us,” Thibodeau said.
“I think Kemba, the more he plays with that group, the more he's going to get into rhythm also. He's got great instincts in the pick-and-roll and I think we can take advantage of that even more than we're doing right now. So we'll continue to work on that.”
In his final season with the Celtics, Walker recorded a keen 9.0 possessions per game average in pick-and-roll (man) plays. He posted a 0.92 points per possession figure and shot 39 percent in such on-court situations.
During his run with the Charlotte Hornets, Walker was notably one of the more proficient point guards in all the NBA in pick-and-roll plays. For one, he recorded a points per possession figure of at least 1.0 in such plays over his final two seasons in Charlotte, which ranked among the best in the league.
There are several capable players on the Knicks for Walker to tag along with in pick-and-roll situations, and Thibodeau sure will look to exploit his potential in this area of play over this season.
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