Right up until about 10:30 last Friday night I had absolutely written off Louis Williams as a legit NBA player. There were just too many undersized high-school shooting guards turned 2nd round busts out there and it was getting harder and harder for me to envision LouWill as anything but another carbon copy of that model. Somehow his 1.9 points and .3 assists in limited action his rookie year didn’t dispel that notion. I thought for sure we had picked up a bootleg Willie Green, and given my feelings on the original Willie Green this was not a situation which enthralled me.
Even when we sent him to the D-League (not a minute too soon) and he put up 26 and 8 I was confident that was the type of player he was – he had to be the best player on the court, and if he was he would be effective, but if he wasn’t he couldn’t contribute in other aspects of the game. He is undeniably quick, but never used that to be even a plus defender – either as a help guy covering the passing lanes or as a man guy who could give other quick guards problems – and because he’s so weak big PGs could just muscle him up. On defense I envisioned him as an ineffective AI (he still has work to go to dispel this one).
Overall, his game reminded me sort of guard version of Shareef Abdul-Rahim, where for him to be effective he would need to dominate the ball, but he if is going to dominate the ball for your team, that team is in trouble because he’s just not talented enough to lead a team. He's not 'the man' but more problamatically he can't be anything else because his game is so ball oriented.
If you’re noticing a theme here you’re right, I kept on trying to place Louis Williams into a comparison, but every mold I forced him into was a negative one, or at least one which highlighted a part of/role for his game better left out of the spotlight.
Then, while we were watching preseason during the commercial breaks of one of the LCSs, Ru casually mentioned compared him to a poor-man’s Leonardo Barbosa, a comparison that immediately changed how I now and forever will see The Louis Williams.
Barbosa, another quick, high scoring, ball-dominating scoring point guard whose probably never going to be good enough to be ‘the man’ on a team the way his play would dictate. The difference is, of course, that Barbosa is the man on that Suns team, he’s just only the man in select spots - and he plays within a system that is built to be able to facilitate his talents, but thats another topic.
With this comparison in mind I’m ready to start really digging into the legend of Lou Williams.
Louis Williams is more than just an occasional reality-tv show star and good friend of Lil’ Bow Wow (true story), he is also a former four time (!) all-state player in Georgia. Now while all-state Georgia isn't exactly New York, California, or Indiana all-state, it is still definitely all-state, and four times is just insane. He was named their “Mr. Basketball” both his junior and senior years, which is LeBron/Wanny Wags high school shit. He averaged 26.5, 5.5, and 5.5 as a freshmen.
His first dunk was as a 5’7” seventh grader and currently has a vert of over 40 inches.
This is important not just because it gives us Sixers fans something to mention about him when he does something relevant in a game (like when that Euro we drafted won a car by dunking over it, ruben get me a name here) but or because it builds upon his legend, but rather because it means that he has been absolutely murdering people his entire career. He has never not had the mindset to absolutely dominate. When he barks out instructions on the court its not because he’s trying to gain respect, its because he doesn’t know any other way to play.
We all know that LouWill hasn't done anything in the league yet, but everytime he goes down to the D-League he embarrasses people (26, 8, and just vicious embarrassment) and this preseason he's embarrassing people again (he’s been getting by everyone, dunking hard in traffic, and just taking over games late). The fact that not only is he that much better than 2nd tier NBA guys, but also that he clearly has a takeover mentality is an encouraging sign for a 20 year old kid.
This doesn’t mean he’s a finished product at all. In summer leagues this year he got to the line an impressive 12 times a game (and hit 80%) but also averaged 5.4 turnovers per game compared with just 4.7 dimes, but it may mean that he has a role to play in this league, and a high-volume scorer who doesn’t ever let the pressure off the defense is a nice role to play.
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3 comments:
Marco Milic. He's the dude who jumped the car (and won it in the process). Also, just semantics here, but when you called Louis Williams an "ineffective AI" on defense, does that imply that AI was in any way "effective"? Because aside from 3 or so steals a game, he was about as useless a defender as I've ever seen. And trust me, as one myself, I can spot a useless defender when i see one.
In trying to find who Marco Milic was I found this; "76ers become first NBA team to lose in Europe" - occurred October 5, 2006 but slipped my attention at the time as a true Philly milestone.
Would be nice if the Sixers got it right with Who Will? Lou Will - and it is promising to hear that he was such a star as a kid, who knew?
Will be interesting to see how the kids shape up this year.
Almost as interesting as the team Nova will put on the floor this year ...
Ru, your argument is that AI was a bad defender, not an ineffective one. While your argument has some merit, it misses the point as a criticism. AI may have been a poor on-the-ball defender, and while I would disagree I could see the case being made that he was a poor team help guy as well. However, he was effective in what he tried to do - namely keep constant pressure on the opposing offense. Physically he was at a disadvantage (like LWIll) but he played a game that maximized his resourcefullness on D. Therefore, yes, I would argue that he was effective as a whole, and certainly more effective than Lou Will as a comparison.
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