Explaining Pascal Siakam's advice for Jarace Walker, via film

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By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

In August, near to when Jarace Walker was finally cleared for action after sustaining an ankle injury in the Eastern Conference Finals, Pascal Siakam invited the soon-to-be third-year player to his home in Orlando, where the All-Star forward could be seen via his social media offering up hands-on advice about when and how to attack off the catch.

"Don't put it down first like this," Siakam said, while demonstrating how to be more efficient as a driver. "You're wasting your dribble, especially with how fast we wanna play."

When asked about the details of that interaction at training camp, Walker emphasized the importance of being conscious about not squandering any motion before he even gets the ball, telling reporters: "If I'm on the wing, just being ready. If I get it, I'm catching and going."

Technically speaking, what Siakam demonstrated and what Walker described is commonly known as a stampede catch, which occurs when a player, typically positioned at the wing or around the slot, is already in motion toward the basket as they catch a pass and get a head start to seamlessly drive to the hoop instead of stopping to look at the rim, perhaps with a neutral dribble, before attacking a closeout or into open space.

In the past, especially when the ball was passed from slot-to-slot, non-shooters were taught that technique to cut the stunt and surge into 4-on-3 situations when their defender took extra steps away from the ball or as means to more easily access the lane and potentially collapse the defense when dared to shoot. Here, with his defender too low and wide, T.J. McConnell can be seen curl filling behind the pick-and-roll with the stampede catch, or go-and-catch, to create his advantage and angle into the paint.

Now, what was popularized by non-shooters is becoming more prevalent league-wide as a result of the value of paint touches and field-goal attempts at the rim, especially when also resulting in fouls. Just look at this points per shot breakdown for the NBA at-large last season, when filtered by area of the floor.

• Rim: 1.39 points per shot

• Paint (non-restricted area): 0.96

• Mid-range: 0.85

• Above the break threes, including deep threes: 1.06

• Corner threes: 1.16

Likewise, the league as a whole scored 1.125 points per chance on threes out of possessions when the ball touched the paint, compared to 1.095 when the ball didn't touch the paint.

"For me, what I feel like you need to get better at is attacking here," Siakam told Walker in his clip posted to social media, while pointing at the paint. "Fight to get here first."

In putting words to action, here's a visual of Siakam generating a paint touch after decisively stampeding the catch into a zone before the defense could react to the flight of the ball.

This isn't the same coverage, but look at the difference in approach from Walker at the wing when the Bucks are in the process of executing an off-ball, kick-out switch after switching the ball-screen to maintain size on the roller. Rather than curling into the pass like McConnell to create his angle and go by his defender as they're moving toward him or manufacturing a head start, as Siakam did, he stops himself and automatically puts the ball on the floor without getting anywhere.

Per Cleaning the Glass, Walker ranked in the 24th percentile among forwards in shooting accuracy at the rim, as well as the 33rd percentile in shot frequency at the rim. As a 6-foot-7 small forward, he also nearly attempted as many runners in the half-court (35) as layups (41). Part of the reason why his physicality doesn't always seem to match his chiseled physique is because he has a tendency to play on his toes, resulting in awkward take-off points.

As such, part of the solution to mitigating some of those balance issues and playing with more "force," as is oftentimes used as a buzzword with regard to Walker, may not be as connected to how his drive ends; but rather, in reference to the advice he received from Siakam, the manner by which he powers himself forward, using the pass to manufacture an advantage, before the drive even begins.

After spending a large chunk of the offseason rehabbing his ankle injury, Walker had to progress at rapid speed to get himself back up to speed from a conditioning standpoint. Now that he's ready to step back onto the court, the steps he takes in starting a stampede with the go-and-catch should be telling as to how far he goes, both as a driver and in driving the destiny of his own growth.