Charles Oakley pins future hopes on Charlotte Bobcats rookie Kemba Walker – NBA Update
Charles Oakley recently sat down for an interview and talked at length about various subjects, including Charlotte Bobcats rookie Kemba Walker.
As it turns out, Oakley is a big fan of Walker and believes the Bobcats could have a star of the future in their fold with him around.
Walker was a highly rated point guard coming into the NBA draft this year and the Charlotte Bobcats took him as the 9th overall pick. Walker is a talented player, with good court vision and distribution, something that
will stand him in good stead as a point guard in the long run.
Charles, who is an assistant with the Bobcats, certainly seems to have been impressed by the young playmaker and marked him as one for the future.
“I think getting Kemba (Walker) is a great asset.” Oakley said in an interview published by Hoopsworld.
Oakley remarked that Walker made a big impression on him during the NCAA tournament with Connecticut. Walker led the side to an NCAA championship and was named NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
“I like his swagger and what he did for Connecticut in the NCAA’s. He’s got a trail with him – he’s won 11 straight games.”
Oakley is himself a former All-Star power forward who played for the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks among other teams. He is particularly famous for his time with the Knicks and still has a certain affection for the city of
New York.
It came as no surprise then that the coach likes Walker, who hails from New York, and he went as far as to say that Kemba could have been the top pick in the Draft, such is his talent.
“He’s a kid out of New York and he’s got great swagger. I think he should have been the first pick in the draft. I think that highly of him, he should have gone number one.”
Oakley certainly believes that Kemba will be a big part of Charlotte’s future, a future he has been striving hard to make better and better. Since his arrival, Charles claims that he has worked tirelessly alongside Paul Silas to
improve the side and was confident that they can only go one way in the future,
“When Paul [Silas] took it over… and his son and myself, we made a change. We made it different. We tried to bring some toughness and make the guys more hungry.”
He also admitted though that more work still has to be done. There are no easy games in the NBA and one has to keep striving to stay at the top.
“It ain’t gonna be no walk in the park. We just got to keep that going; it’s a building process.”
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