Nickeil Alexander-Walker checked into the game late in the first quarter and immediately made his presence felt on the FIBA court. He showed exactly what many Minnesota Timberwolves fans and people in the organization had hoped. Alexander-Walker remained confident, aggressive, and full of the energy that gives him the potential to fill a much-needed role in the Wolves roster. In Canada’s first FIBA performance, Alexander-Walker flashed all of his potential to make a giant leap in the 2023 season.
Alexander-Walker’s performance in FIBA replicated how he played for the Wolves last season. From the second Alexander-Walker checked in, he took the task of guarding Team France’s primary ball handler, picking them up every possession at half-court and hounding them to give up the ball.
In one of these pressures in the first quarter, France’s PG Elie Okobo hooked his arm around Alexander-Walker in frustration, thus committing an offensive foul. Wolves fans who watched Alexander-Walker guarding fellow Team Canada’s Jamal Murray in the playoffs will be happy to see Alexander-Walker bringing that same level of aggression and effort in a lower-stakes game.
Another positive carryover from the playoffs to FIBA was the confidence in Alexander-Walker’s three-point shot. His first shot of the game, seen below, was a trailing open three after his teammate blocked Luguentz Dort’s shot. Alexander-Walker looked confident. His jump shot appeared faster and more compact, suggesting he has spent time working on his form thus far in the offseason and with Team Canada.
A few possessions later, Alexander-Walker rose again from three after a pick-and-roll defender decided to go under the screen. Although the second shot was a miss, the aggressiveness and confidence to shoot that shot is a step in the right direction for the guard. It’s also something the Wolves have missed since they traded D’Angelo Russell at the deadline last season. With Jaylen Nowell departing this offseason, the Wolves will be even more in need of a guard who can create their own shot.
That could be a role that Alexander-Walker can fill if he continues to show an increased ability to shoot on open attempts. Alexander-Walker’s increased willingness to shoot is a positive and significant change. In fact, he finished the game shooting 4 of 8 from three and 12 total points in his 20 minutes of play. That’s in stark contrast to his willingness and ability to shoot thus far in his career.
Over his NBA career in a similar 19 minutes of play, Alexander-Walker has only averaged 3.9 three-point attempts and has converted them at 34 percent, below league average. He also increased his volume and percentage during Minnesota’s five-game playoff run, where he averaged 5 three-point attempts and shot 40%. His carryover in confidence and willingness to shoot the three is definitely encouraging.
There were more positive signs in his play in Alexander-Walker’s second shift midway through the third quarter. He applied the same velcro-like coverage, latching onto France’s lead ball handler on defense. The increase in pressure wreaked havoc on France’s backcourt. There were numerous times when Alexander-Walker blew up pick-and-rolls by shadowing his matchup over the screen and using his length to force awkward passes.
Alexander-Walker was also trusted to initiate Canada’s offense. In the play below, he navigates around a double screen and makes the correct read, giving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a solid driving lane for two points. That provided glimpses of what he could provide in a backup point guard role for the Wolves. If Alexander-Walker can take on a lead ball-handling role, it could be one way he could coexist with Anthony Edwards.
In the next play, he has a dribble-handoff action with Dwight Powell, drawing the defender to the corner with him. He then makes a nice move baseline and makes a pass that Powell could not corral on the roll. It’s also something that Wolves fans can extrapolate to a backup lead ball handler roll with Naz Reid. The pick-and-roll with Reid has become a staple in the second unit due to his aggression and footwork.
Similarly, Alexander-Walker chose to dump the ball to Powell during a pick-and-fade situation minutes later. In the play below, he again shows flashes of what he could look like with Reid and his ability at times to run the offense successfully.
If Alexander-Walker is displaying that he is comfortable in this role within the rotation, it would be another encouraging sign for his potential breakout.
In Alexander-Walker’s last stint of playing time in the fourth quarter, he again showed his newfound confidence with his shot. Below, Alexander-Walker takes a dribble-handoff from Powell. Alexander-Walker then side-dribbles once and drains a three from the wing. It’s a positive sign of confidence, as he missed similar shots earlier in the game.
With the good comes the bad, and Alexander-Walker admittedly had two incidents where he threw a wild pass. Canada recovered one of them, and the other he threw directly to a French defender on a sloppy baseline drive. He’ll have to considerably work on his carelessness with the ball to wrestle the backup point guard role away from veteran Wolves guard Jordan McLaughlin or newcomer Shake Milton. Chris Finch typically does not tolerate reckless decisions from a backup point guard.
The Wolves typically give the backup guard possessions to players with exceptional assist-to-turnover ratios and can set a tempo for the second unit. So far in his career, Alexander-Walker has had a 1.75 assist-to-turnover ratio. When looking at current backup McLaughlin, he still posted an impressive 4.25 even in an injury-marred season.
If he had played more minutes in 2023, he would have put himself at seventh in the league behind Wolves starting guard Mike Conley at 4.3. Ironically, former Wolves backups Tyus Jones (5.3) and Patrick Beverley (3.3) ranked in the top 15 among all qualified guards in this statistic.
If Alexander-Walker wishes to take on this crucial role, he must learn to take care of the ball. Even in a stand-out performance in Canada’s win, he had two assists and two turnovers.
To finish on a positive note, below Alexander-Walker shows exactly what he could be capable of for the Wolves this season. On offense, he steps into a three-point shot to put Canada up twenty, looking comfortable and confident. Following this immediately on defense, he has an end-of-the-quarter steal.
If this version of Alexander-Walker shows up for the Wolves this season, everybody will be saying “N.A.W, YEAH”!
