The Impressive Passing Skills of Houston’s Jarace Walker

A breakdown of the Houston freshman big man and his ability to distribute the basketball.

There is a lot to like about the 6-foot-8 freshman forward for the Houston Cougars, Jarace Walker, but the passing for a prospect at his size reallys stands out. Walker’s passing acumen was enough to land him at No. 5 on Derek Parker's list of the top five passers in the 2023 NBA Draft class.

The passing skill immediately jumps out on film and the thing that really stands out is that he is able to do it in a variety of ways and situations.

There are examples of Walker getting teammates an open look from a set play where he catches the ball in the post and makes a one handed baseline pass for a hammer 3-pointer. He also has impressive possessions catching the ball at the top of the key to read the defense and anticipate the open cut by a teammate.

Walker flashed his ability when facing up, standing still, posting up, and even on the move. Of particular note is a behind the back feed to a cutting teammate while running full speed in transition.

It is also important to note how unselfish Walker is. At times, it would have actually been nice to see him a little more aggressive to score the ball himself but you can not be a great passer if you are not willing to get your teammates involved when the opportunity presents itself.

If there is a criticism and area for growth with the passing, it is definitely the accuracy of his passes. His willingness and ability to throw one handed passes off the bounce is valuable but he must be able to control the direction of those passes a little bit better.

This level of passing for a 6-foot-8 forward is great to talk about but will it actually provide value to the Cougars offense in 2022-2023 and eventually on an NBA floor? Combined with the other offensive tools the forward possesses, it absolutely should.

Walker is such an awesome defensive rebounder that he will frequently be presented with grab and go opportunities to break down the defense in transition and find transition running teammates.

His best half-court skill is on the catch and drive where his passing again will be a useful tool when secondary defenders come over to help and take away his own scoring opportunities.

While not being used a lot in short roll’s with IMG Academy, Walker could also prove to be a very valuable short roll passer. It will be very interesting to see if this is a play type that Coach Sampson and the Cougars choose to utilize him in more.

Jarace Walker is an impressive prospect for next summer's NBA Draft with skills that should have NBA talent evaluators excited and his passing very well could be near the top of that list.

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