Walker basketball players honing skills during summer league play

As summer high school basketball leagues pass their midpoint, it’s not too early to wonder how much individual players will retain in the roughly four months until basketball season officially begins.

Not that it matters.

Take Walker boys’ coach Anthony Schiro. Speculation is not part of the equation as his team uses summer basketball as a tool to build chemistry.

The Wildcats always have talented players, but this year’s experience level, at least initially, will be low as they replace five departed seniors.

Walker went 29-6 last season, and earned a No. 4 seed in the Division I nonselect playoffs before falling to New Iberia in the semifinals.

The top returning player is KJ Smith-Johnson, who was the Wildcats sixth man last season. He will fill one of the vacated starting spots, but the others are up for grabs.

“We’ve got a lot of new guys who are pretty good athletes,” Schiro said last week after his junior varsity and varsity teams picked up wins in the Woodlawn High summer league. “We’ve got a lot of potential and, right now, in the summer we’re trying to find our identity. Once we find our way I think we’re going to be pretty good.”

Finding the way will likely include players like Evan King, Austin Workman, Braylen Montgomery and Troy Sylve Jr. King and Workman will be seniors. All four got chances to dip their toes in the waters of varsity play last season.

“A lot of these guys got a lot of JV time last year, but that’s different,” Schiro said. “We’re trying to get these guys as much varsity experience as we can get, and we’re playing as many people as we can.”

Many of the Walker starters will have a chance to play other sports, including football in the fall. Current LSU wide receiver Brian Thomas helped Walker claim a state basketball title in his freshman year before eventually stepping away from basketball to focus on football.

Last season, Ja’Cory Thomas and Warren Young Jr. starred on the gridiron and the basketball court for the Wildcats.

“We’ve had good success with multisport athletes,” Schiro said. “There’s a lot of learning going on (in the summer) before they move back to football, or something similar. We like our multisport athletes because they’re well-rounded guys and they’re really good.”

Which brings Schiro to the Woodlawn summer league, where he wants to put basketball into the multisport moniker. The intensity of summer league play is no match for the rigors of competing for Division I nonselect honors, but for Schiro, it’s a good place to start.

“We had some moments where we looked really good, and we had some where it was kind of sloppy. That’s why we’re here during the summer. We’re trying to fix those things and just get better.”