Arizona Basketball: Rawle Alkins working this summer, becoming a leader

Since Arizona Basketball guard Rawle Alkins decided to return to school for another year, he has been working hard and taking a leadership role on the team with freshmen.

Along with Arizona Basketball guard Rawle Alkins performance at the NBA Combine, Alkins also impressed in a couple of particular areas.

First, he out-jumped Oregon’s Jordan Bell at the NBA Combine with a Max Vertical Leap of 40.5 inches vs. 38.0 for PF Bell. Bell is impressing the NBA teams and is getting asked back to workout for teams like the Los Angeles Lakers. So Rawle should be able to impress the same way in this area. Shooting is also a huge piece of the workouts with NBA teams, Alkins is working on that as well.

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Also, you may not know this, but Alkins also has one of the widest hands of any player who entered the combine and was measured (67 players total). His 10-inch wide hands ranked in the top third of all participants. He also has a longer hand that Terrance Ferguson who also has 10-inch wide hands (8.75 vs. 8.5 inches). Both Ferguson and Alkins can dunk like the best of NBA Players, I can attest to that.

But aside from his measurements and his performance at the NBA Combine, Alkins took all the advice he got from NBA personnel and others. He has been eating healthy, he has been pumping iron in the gym, and he has been practicing his shooting. Shirtless of course. This way we can all witness the transformation of Alkins since he heard he needs to work on getting his body fat percentage down below 11 percent.

Can you imagine? Having 11% body fat is way too much for the NBA these days. Draymond Green was at 11% body fat when he was drafted. HoopsHabit.com put together a list of the top draftees as far as body fat. The site reported that Kyle Wiltjer measured 15.25% in 2016 when drafted by the Houston Rockets and in 2010, DeMarcus Cousins measured in at 16.1% body fat.

Alkins and his fellow teammates have been working the Sean Miller Arizona Basketball camp this week. He is having so much fun being a leader, and the kids love him, they come to camp wearing his jersey number ‘1.’ Even though the jersey’s don’t say Alkins on the back (legally retailers cannot benefit from a NCAA athlete), the youngsters know who’s jersey they are wearing and they let King Rawle know.

https://twitter.com/2020DylanR/status/871476974753116160

Alkins does not take this lightly. He also is fully engaged in leading his brand new freshman teammates helping them fit in and feel at home.

“Last year, I was in these guys shoes. So this year I want to use my experience to help my new brothers throughout the year, and I also want to make sure that I can be a kind of Big Brother to these guys,” explained King Rawle.

We took a peak into the 2018 NBA Draft to see what the early projections had our Cats, and Rawle, DeAndre and Allonzo all are projected to go in the first round next year!!

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If you follow any of the teammates of the 2017-2018 basketball team on Snapchat, you will see just how well they are all getting along. Alkins is stepping up and following the advice he has been given and Wildcats fans will be enjoying the fruits of his labor next season. The Red and Blue game tickets go on sale on July 22nd at 10 am for the game which takes place the weekend after Parent Weekend on October 20, 2017, at McKale. Bear down Wildcats!