Ja’Kobe Walter has been billed as a shooter and has long arms and good defensive instincts.
The Toronto Raptors opted on upside with the 19th pick of Wednesday’s NBA draft. Ja’Kobe Walter, a guard billed as a strong athlete who can shoot and defend was the pick. Walter, 6-foot-4 with a Raptors-esque 6-foot-10 wingspan, isn’t the playmaker the team could use behind Immanuel Quickley, but he a potential replacement for free agent shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. and an option to guard bigger wings as well.
Walter will turn 20 in September and averaged 14.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.1 steals in his lone season with Baylor. Despite his nice-looking shot, Walter hit only 37.6% of his attempts, including 34.1% from three-point range, though he was at 79.2% from the free throw line, shot well in high school, and has good mechanics. He also attacked the paint when he wasn’t launching three-pointers, getting to the line often. Baylor was eliminated in the second round of the NCAA tournament, but Walter was named BIg-12 rookie of the year and the thinking is with better teammates and more refinement he could be a nice rotation piece for years to come.
The Raptors seemed thrilled to land him. General manager Bobby Webster said just before Midnight Thursday they weren’t sure if Walter would still be on the board, but the easy consensus in the war room was that he was the best player available when the time came to make a call. “Maybe he thought he was going earlier,” Webster said, describing Walter as “a winner, tough, a kid we followed since high school.”
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One of Walter’s strengths is his ability to move off the ball and get himself open, a staple of Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic’s offensive system and something last year’s No. 13 pick, Gradey Dick, is also strong at. The team is putting shooters around franchise player Scottie Barnes and though he’s not “the best shooter in the draft” the way Dick was seen to be a year ago, he has the potential to be a threat from outside as well. The native of McKinney, Texas, a Dallas suburb, also drew high marks for his competitiveness, hustle and off-court intangibles.
“I think he’s got pretty good length. I think there’s just sort of an inner toughness when you watch him. And he rebounds the ball well. So (he’s) not afraid to kind of stick his nose in there,” Webster said of Walter’s defensive approach.
Walter said on a Zoom session with the Toronto media he wants to show off more of his shot creation abilities in the NBA, but added: “I consider myself a competitor, a scorer and a two-way player, somebody that will sacrifice their body on the defensive end and do whatever it takes to win.” Walter also said while he didn’t work out for the Raptors and has never been to Canada, he is familiar with Scottie Barnes (“big personality”), RJ Barrett and Quickley and is looking forward to fitting in.
“I’m just trying to make an immediate impact in any way I can. Whatever they need me to do.”
Walter was given the name Ja’Kobe by his parents in an homage to all-time greats Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Asked if this night was pre-ordained then, Walter said: “I prayed so many times for this moment right here. It’s dreams into reality and I’m just grateful.”
The Atlanta Hawks started the night off by selecting French forward Zaccharie Rissacher first overall. The Hawks, led by former Raptors forward Landry Fields as its general manager, won the draft lottery in May despite having just 3% odds of doing so. But like when the Raptors won the lottery back in 2006, there was no clear choice to go first. Time will tell if Rissacher becomes an all-star, a bust or something in between like Andrea Bargnani was. Rissacher joined Bargnani, Yao Ming and countryman Victor Wembanyama as the only international players who did not play in the NCAA to go first overall.
Washington went with another Frenchman, 7-foot-1 centre Alex Sarr with the second pick, who it expects will be a key part of a long-term rebuild that will also feature fellow French lottery pick Bilal Coulibaly, who went seventh overall last year (France had only had one player ever picked in the top seven prior to last year’s draft and now has five in the last two drafts, including consecutive top picks). The Wizards had earlier dealt away talented swingman Deni Avdija for four draft picks and oft-injured guard Malcolm Brogdan, who they will try to re-route. Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard, billed as the best shooter in the draft, went third to Houston, solid guard Stephon Castle, from the NCAA champion UConn Huskies, went fourth to San Antonio, while Ron Holland, of the G League Ignite, rounded out the top five, heading to Detroit. France’s Tidjane Salaun went sixth to Charlotte, with UConn centre Donovan Clingan surprisingly falling to Portland at seven. Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham went eight to San Antonio, but was dealt to Minnesota. Toronto’s Zach Edey was selected ninth by the Memphis Grizzlies, where he be teammates with fellow Canadian Brandon Clarke.
The Raptors received the 19th pick of this draft from the Indiana Pacers as part of the Pascal Siakam trade. The team will also receive Indiana’s 2026 first-round selection if it’s not in the Top 4. Toronto lost the No. 8 overall selection to San Antonio thanks to the Feb. 2023 deal that brought Jakob Poeltl back to the Raptors. The team received the first pick of Thursday’s second round of this draft, No. 31 overall, via the blockbuster deal with the New York Knicks last season that sent OG Anunoby out and brought back Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett.
Toronto expects to receive many offers overnight before Round 2 kicks off at 4 ET.
Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil announced her retirement from swimming Thursday.
The gold medallist in the women’s 100-metre butterfly at Tokyo’s Summer Games in 2021 made the announcement in an Instagram post alongside a photo of her swimming as a child.
“The little girl above would have never dreamed this is where her love of swimming would take her,” Mac Neil wrote. “I am so grateful for all the memories, people, and places I have gotten to experience just through swimming.
“I’m excited to begin the next chapter of my life journey, as I embark on discovering who I am outside of swimming.”
The 24-year-old from London, Ont., earned a complete set of medals in Tokyo after helping relay teams to silver and bronze medals.
Mac Neil’s five gold medals at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, were the most by a Canadian athlete at a single Pan Am Games.
She was fifth in butterfly and was a member of two women’s relay teams that finished fourth at the recent Olympic Games in Paris.
“Anyone who I crossed paths with never, ever told me I couldn’t achieve my goal of going to the Olympics,” Mac Neil wrote. “It’s still surreal to be able to say I’m a two-time Olympian.”
She completed her master’s degree in sport management at Louisiana State University this year.
Born in China and adopted by Dr. Susan McNair and Dr. Edward MacNeil, Mac Neil’s mother wanted her to take swimming lessons for safety reasons because of the family’s backyard pool.
Mac Neil’s 2017 diagnosis of sport-induced asthma — which can be triggered by the swimming staples of heat and chlorine — forced a switch from longer distances to sprints.
Mac Neil became Canada’s first world champion in the women’s 100-metre butterfly two years later.
The nearsighted Mac Neil, who doesn’t wear contacts or prescription goggles, has seen multiple times a meme of her squinting hard at the scoreboard in Tokyo as she tried to decipher her result.
“I like to think it helps because I can’t see where other people are and I’m able to focus on my own race,” Mac Neil said before the Olympic Games in Paris. “That was definitely the case in Tokyo.
“I got that meme sent to me at least three times in January even though it’s been three years since.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
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VANCOUVER – Quarterback Nathan Rourke says the B.C. Lions “have to have a sense of urgency” as they prepare for their final four games of the CFL season.
“There’s a lot of importance in these last four games,” Rourke said after practice this week. “We’ve got to get it going.”
The Lions (7-7) want to get back on track when they face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-9) at B.C. Place Friday night. B.C. is coming off an embarrassing 33-17 loss at home to the Toronto Argonauts two weeks ago that left them in second place in the CFL West.
Across the country, a three-game winning streak has put the Tiger-Cats back in playoff contention in the East.
Defensive back Jamal Peters said the Ticats never stopped believing in themselves, even when they started the season with five losses.
“We kept the faith,” said Peters, who leads the team with four interceptions. “We kept believing in one another and kept working. We knew we wouldn’t ever be out of it.”
The Lions started the campaign 5-1 but are 2-6 in their last eight games. They head into the weekend two points behind the first-place Winnipeg Blue Bombers and one ahead of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
After looking strong in beating Ottawa and Montreal by a combined score of 75-35, the Lions managed just 222 total yards against Toronto. Rourke was pulled after completing six of 12 passes for 110 yards and no touchdowns.
“We’re trying to piece it together ourselves,” Rourke said in trying to explain why the Lions can be ferocious one game, then kittens the next. “At the end of the day it comes down to being able to play a complete game.
“That’s what all the good teams around the league do. They are able to play four quarters and have their offence help their defence.”
Rourke is 2-3 in the five games he has played since returning to the CFL after failing to land a job in the NFL. The Canadian-born quarterback has completed 79 of 126 passes for 1,099 yards, four touchdowns and seven interceptions. In the last two games Rourke has no touchdown passes and has thrown three interceptions.
Coming out of a bye week, Rick Campbell, B.C.’s head coach and co-general manager wanted to stop any talk of a quarterback controversy in Vancouver by saying Rourke remains the Lions starter.
“I don’t want to create any confusion,” said Campbell. “Right now this is what we’re doing. I want there to be clarity and not a debate going on.”
Veteran Vernon Adams Jr. was an early candidate as the league’s outstanding player before sustaining an injury and the return of Rourke. Adams was four of seven for 75 yards, no touchdowns and threw an interception when replacing Rourke against the Argos.
For the season Adams has completed 171 of 266 passes for 2,544 yards, 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
“We can win with either one of these guys,” said Campbell. “We’re going to go with the continuity Nathan has been playing with the last several weeks. We think we have room to improve and grow.”
One reason for the Hamilton turnaround has been Chris Jones joining the team as a senior defensive assistant after being fired as Edmonton’s head coach and general manager.
In the 10 games before Jones arrived, Hamilton allowed an average 33.4 points a game and gave up 3.5 touchdowns. In the four he has been a coach, the Ticats have given up 26.5 points a game and allowed 2.25 touchdowns.
Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell also leads the CFL with 4,044 passing yards (322 completions on 473 attempts) and 24 touchdowns.
Campbell knows Hamilton comes to the West Coast riding a wave of confidence.
“We always know we’re going to get their best shot,” he said. “Our job it to focus on us and make sure that they get our best shot.
“When they get our best shot, we’re pretty good. We need to direct all our energy and focus on ourselves.”
HAMILTON TIGER CATS (5-9) at B.C. Lions (7-7)
Friday, B.C. Place
ORANGE SHIRT DAY: The Lions celebrate their fourth consecutive Orange Shirt Day Game to pay respect to Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Players will wear special Orange Shirt Day warmup jerseys, which will be raffled off in support of the Orange Shirt Society and Indian Residential Schools Survivors’ Society (IRSSS).
HOMESTREACH: The Lions play three of their final games at home. After Friday they host Calgary Oct. 4 and Montreal Oct. 19 before finishing the season with a bye. B.C.’s lone road game is an Oct. 12 visit to Saskatchewan.
BYE BYE: The Lions are 4-2 in their last six games after a week’s rest.
DOING THE STREAK: Hamilton is looking for it’s first four-game win streak since 2022.
THREE-PEAT: Lions running back William Stanback needs just 41 yards to reach 1,000 for the third time in his career.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: The two teams have split their last six games at B.C. Place, with five of them decided in the final three minutes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Serbia and Albania are set to co-host the men’s Under-21 European Championship in 2027 in a soccer project that aims to overcome political tensions.
UEFA said Thursday only the Serbia-Albania bid met a deadline this week to file detailed tournament plans. Belgium and Turkey had declared interest earlier in the bidding process scheduled to be decided at a Dec. 16 meeting of the UEFA executive committee.
The Serbian and Albanian soccer federations teamed up in May to plan organization of the 16-team tournament played every two years that needs eight stadiums to host 31 games.
Albania soccer federation leader Armand Duka, who is a UEFA vice president, told The Associated Press in May that “it’s a 100% football project” with “a very good political message that we can get across.”
Weeks later at the men’s European Championship held in Germany, historic tensions between the Balkan countries — which in soccer included a notorious drone incident at a Serbia-Albania game in 2014 — played out at separate games involving their senior teams.
An Albania player was banned for games by UEFA for using a megaphone to join fans in nationalist chants, including targeting Serbia, after a Euro 2024 game against Croatia. Fans of Albania and Croatia earlier joined in anti-Serb chants, leading UEFA to impose fines for discrimination.
UEFA also fined both the Albanian and Serbian federations in separate incidents at Euro 2024 for fans displaying politically motivated banners about neighboring Kosovo.
After historic tensions were heightened by the 1990s Balkans conflicts, in 2008 majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo declared independence for the former Serbian province. Serbia refuses to recognize that independence and considers Kosovo the cradle of its statehood.
An Albanian fans group daubed red paint on the federation offices in May when the cooperation with Serbian soccer for the Under-21 Euros was announced.
“We did have a few negative reactions from fans, mainly, and some interest groups,” Duka said then, “but not from the Albania government.”
UEFA has shown broad support for Serbia and Albania under its president, Aleksander Ceferin, who is from Slovenia.
The next annual congress of UEFA’s 55 national federations is in the Serbian capital Belgrade on April 3, and an executive committee meeting in September 2025 will be held in Tirana, Albania.
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AP soccer:
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