Like Mike Conley Jr. last season, Bill Walker is one of the most talented bridesmaids to ever come into the NBA, first playing in the shadow of O.J. Mayo in high school then Michael Beasley at K-State.

There are few players who are as strong and athletic yet skilled offensively as Walker.  He is a more explosive Bonzi Wells and is a good perimeter shot away from being a top-10 pick.

His shot mechanics are not horrible, but there are a few things he needs to alter.  He does elevate well (although not on every attempt) and his follow through has no hitch, but he brings it up too far over on his left side and also extends at a 45-degree angle to the bucket, instead of shooting out of a phone booth as they teach during instructional camps.

Walker does a great job of getting into space at both elbows and is tremendously efficient shooting this midrange shot.

At this point he isn?t a great shooter but is efficient enough to keep his defenders from sagging off; plus, he rarely misses left or right and will get streaky on occasion.  I expect him to eventually become serviceable from beyond the NBA arc, but this is clearly not the reason why teams look to draft a Bill Walker.

Walker?s perimeter game is most effective when he has already made some buckets on the interior.

He does this largely based on an excellent handle in the halfcourt, and is as skilled as most point guards.  Walker has a remarkable crossover and a between the legs dribble that shakes off just about any defender.  He is tremendously gritty knifing through the lane, splitting defenders for his own shot.

Walker might even work better without the ball.  He does a nice job of setting a baseline screen and then instantly becoming a low post threat.  Walker alternates between being a post player and a perimeter player seamlessly and quickly.

When he catches the ball in the post, he is as tough as anyone.

Occasionally he will reverse pivot to create some space, but it is more of a quickness and strength attack than sophisticated footwork although his technique isn?t bad.  He likes to pin his man to his high hip to setup a lob entry pass, but more frequently he?ll do some sort of variance of a spin move that is too quick to defend.

He is an explosive finisher, and although he is more of a power guy in the air, he can be acrobatic and finesse some buckets.

He is tremendously aggressive on the offensive glass, following his own misses and really scrapping down low.  He rebounds at a tremendous rate especially on this side of the ball.

Walker is a mixed bag on the defensive end of the floor.

He is strong enough to defend taller players in the post and quick enough to defend smaller players on the perimeter.  He should comfortably defend all wings and a few of the bigger point guards and shorter power forwards who can?t shoot over him the way Darrell Arthur did.

He has a great defensive stance and covers a lot of ground quickly while in it.  He also does a great job of fighting through screens and will be as aggressive on the defensive glass as on the offensive glass.

He is also a nifty defender, drawing legitimate charges and even doing a little pull the chair play in the post.

But Walker too frequently gets spun around in help defense when his man moves around the floor.  His help defense is great when his man stays relatively stationary.

His other biggest deficiency is how quickly and elevated he closes out on perimeter shooters.  He has the athletic tools to be better, and this is probably a pacing/endurance issue because he plays the game so hard in nearly every other part of the floor.

Walker recently hurt himself again during the pre-draft workouts and has a history of injuries, which will surely cause some teams to shy away, but his skill set is rare enough to be valuable to a team which needs an upgrade of toughness and inside scoring from the wing position.

- Click here to see our full list of 2008 Draft Prospect Reports

Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM.  He can be reached at Chris.Reina@RealGM.com where he may use your draft questions in a future mailbag edition