How taking a risk in 2015 catapulted Kemba Walker to Hornets greatness

Change is always hard, even more so when what you have always done got you all the way to the NBA.

Kemba Walker knew in the summer of 2015 that his 3-point shot was a liability. He’d made just 30.5 percent the previous season – way short of what’s expected of elite point guards. That emboldened defenders to go under screens, cutting off Walker’s greatest strength, his explosive first step to the basket.

So change was a must, and assistant coach Bruce Kreutzer – the Charlotte Hornets’ new “shot doctor” – wanted to get Walker off his heels and onto the balls of his feet. He also wanted Walker to stop holding the ball a few inches left of center as he launched a shot.

Might sound like little things, but to Walker they were so difficult he considered aborting the process. But he kept trying. Then, in the preseason, he hit three of his four 3s against the Miami Heat. This Kreutzer guy knew his stuff!

Three seasons later, Walker entered Monday’s game against the New York Knicks 51 points from breaking Dell Curry’s franchise scoring record of 9,839 points. The breakthrough in Walker’s career – probably the single biggest thing in making him a two-time All-Star – was fixing that 3-point shot. He’s made 39 percent of his 3s since that summer, and he entered Monday tied for second in the NBA for 3s made (218) this season.

“To make yourself uncomfortable, to make yourself comfortable anew, that’s tough to overcome,” Kreutzer recalled of that summer with Walker. “People say, ‘I want to shoot better.’ But that doesn’t always mean they do” what needs to be done.

That’s the deal with Walker: He was born with gifts that made it possible, even for a guy only slightly taller than 6-foot, to be an elite basketball player. But he’s had to outwork the next guy in so many ways to get to seven seasons and nearly 10,000 points.

Sometimes it’s complicated things like the willingness to tear down and reconstruct his jump shot, not just because he needed that changed in a vacuum, but because it gave opponents an edge defending his drives.

It’s the simple, niggling things, too: Learning to take care of his body, against the crazy abuse he endures over the course of an 82-game season. And appreciating this is a 12-month-a-year responsibility to both maintain and improve.

“As far as the working out, and continuously trying to get better, I think I was always that way,” said Walker, who led Connecticut to the national championship in 2011. “But the one thing I had to learn was taking care of my body.

“How to get a massage, get in the cold tub, just ice. All the little things. Sometimes you can say, ‘I don’t want to do that; it doesn’t hurt so much today.’ You’re just a little bit tired, you want to go home. But that extra 15 or 30 minutes, that’s what I’ve learned: Just do it because that’s what is going to keep me playing as long as I can.”

Body maintenance

Walker is a thinker, a learner, an adaptor. This dedication to body maintenance was inspired by what he read about the seven-figure annual cost superstar LeBron James spends annually on equipment and trainers.

Walker looked past the dollar figure to appreciate the benefit James has realized, still at the top of the sport after 15 seasons that included deep playoff runs and multiple summers playing for Team USA.

“LeBron is the one showing everyone you can play for a long, long time if you take care of your body,” Walker said. “There is no amount of money that is a waste to keep your body going at a high level. And now he’s having his best season, statistically, ever.”

Hornets coach Steve Clifford said he loves Walker’s receptiveness to learn, whether it’s from coaches, iconic former players or his peers. For instance, past summers have meant the occasional workout with future Hall of Famer Steve Nash (”Crazy stuff,” Walker said of the three days he spent in New York with Nash. “Stretching in ways I never tried.”). Or in tandem with two-time Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry.

Walker said working with Curry reinforced the importance of constantly refining your craft; of not being satisfied putting up some shots in the off-season, but rather attacking weaknesses.

Dell Curry ‘ecstatic’

That’s where this story winds back to the guy Walker will replace as Hornets all-time scorer: Steph’s dad, Dell Curry, who still does telecasts of the team’s games.

Dell Curry, an original Hornet who played here from 1988 through 1998, says it’s time for this record to fall, and he’s pleased Walker is the one who will break it. They have become close traveling together the past several seasons; Walker has picked Dell’s brain both about his own career and about setting up Stephen and younger brother Seth (a Dallas Maverick) for NBA careers.

“I’m ecstatic. I’ve had it long enough. He’s dedicated to his job,” Dell Curry said, adding he sees that dedication all the time on the road.

“A lot of guys in this league love the lifestyle, but they don’t like the work that it takes to maintain that lifestyle. Those guys don’t make it in the league, because you’ve got to get better.

“That’s the thing about Kemba. I’ve seen him after games, with his family, having a quiet dinner. To go out and go to a club, you might not feel it the next day, but a week or a month from now, your body will tell you you’re not right. It’s a process. It’s a discipline.”

For Walker, it’s a career plan, a life plan really, that will be celebrated when he breaks that record.

“I remember coming into the league, some people wondering if I’d even be a solid NBA player. There was so much doubt; especially about my height and my outside shooting,” Walker recalled.

“Being a franchise’s leading scorer? The thought of it is absolutely ridiculous.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2018 at 7:00 AM with the headline "How taking a risk in 2015 catapulted Kemba Walker to Hornets greatness."