He’s an absolute killer with ice in his veins. We all see it. The clutch shots. The mid range. The thing that has SHOCKED me is when he makes his mind up he’s going to the rim……it’s over. The explosion, the hops, the power, the aggression, the feather touch, the change in mid air ability to get the most effective angle. Not bad for someone Rick Pitino once called “slow and fat, but he can pass” during recruiting.
Yup. Rick Pitino. Didn’t take him long to figure out he had a beast. Sophomore year Walt was conference player of the year at Iona.
An incredible article on Walt and growing up in Highlands and Polk County youth sports…..on to Iona, and his transferring to UF. Includes Pitino’s assessment Coming Home: From Gael Force to Gator - Florida Gators
did Pitino actually say this? I followed Walt’s career at Iona… and Pitino LOVED him. He referred to Walt as the best freshman he has ever coached… an incredible comment, considering Rick’s resume.
He said it when he saw Walter’s tape before he offered him. Said he was a great passer though so he offered him. This was during COVID though so only got to recruit him via tape
From the 2023 article: “during workouts the last two-plus months the 6-foot-2, 195-pound combo guard has shown himself to be a crafty complement to sophomore standout Riley Kugel” Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Things…changed.
One thing I've noticed is that Clayton's strength, especially his legs, enables him to get off shots others can't. So many of those threes aren't even step backs, but literally at an angle going away from the wing toward the sideline. He almost exclusively uses a fadeaway mid ranger jumper at the elbow/in the lane, but the shot is never short. And his stuff at the rim is always explosive vertically to protect against against shotblockers. He didn't shoot as well in the paint yesterday as he has most of the season (only 1-6 against well over 50% on the year), but a Clayton scoring at all three levels is just impossible to defend--and also opens up passes to baseline cutters and bigs slipping to the rim. The other thing I saw against UConn was a confidence shooting against hard hedges that he simply did not have earlier in the season. On some of those shots (make or miss), he almost used the hedger to screen his defender by drifting the hedger's direction before he released. Never noticed that until now.
It’s not so much the strength on those fadeaways as it is to know the exact moment of strength to give as your fading away. Michael Jordan was known for it. Every nano second it’s another adjustment you have to shoot against on timing and power. He makes em a lot and allows him an uncontested shots from much taller forwards and centers. He bad.
Billy Donovan also was slow and fat when he started playing for Pitino at Providence. Not so when he helped lead Providence to the Final Four.
Clayton's shooting at the end of the UConn game reminded me of Clayton's amazing performance in bringing us back to tie Colorado at the end of last season's opening round game - before we ultimately lost on the last second Colorado push-off and jump shot. I've always got a lot of skepticism toward claims of "clutch" shooting, which statistics generally show as unfounded for many supposedly "clutch" players, but I do believe the phenomenon exists. I think it's just much more rare than most think. I'm defining "clutch" as more than just not choking in clutch moments, but as actually raising your game beyond your normal capabilities (such as your average shooting percentage) in clutch moments. And, I'm starting to wonder if maybe Clayton has that rare "clutch" gene.
A big part of that clutch "gene" comes from the confidence to take and make that shot when the game is on the line. Clayton clearly puts in the work. Work + confidence + ability + titanium balls = clutch gene
