The Ohio high school athletic association has just cleared the way for Bill Walker to become a lottery pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.
Walker, best known as O.J. Mayo's teammate at North College Hill (Ohio) High -- but a legitimate NBA prospect on his own -- was declared ineligible for his senior season on Monday. Basically, the governing body of Ohio high school sports has determined that Walker already has played four years of varsity basketball since completing his eighth grade season.
That means Walker, a nomadic sort whose high school background is murky, has met the first half of the NBA's draft-eligible requirements for high school seniors -- which says that a high school senior can enter the draft if it has been a year since his original high school class graduated. The Ohio governing body is essentially stating that Walker's original high school class is the one that graduated in June 2006.
The second half of the NBA's draft requirement for Walker is crystal clear. The NBA cannot draft a player who isn't yet 19. Walker will be 19 -- and some media reports say he will be 20 -- in June 2007.
So what kind of player is Bill Walker? He's a 6-foot-6 trampoline, a Vince Carter-like athlete with an already solid NBA body. His perimeter skills need work, but athletically he is on par -- though a different kind of player -- with freaky former LSU forward Tyrus Thomas, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 draft.
If he chooses to enter the 2007 draft, Walker would become the first high school senior to be picked since the NBA changed its draft rules after the 2005 draft. No high school seniors entered the draft this year.
