Derrick Williams: Time to Move On?

[jfg]

Without enough minutes and most of those minutes playing out of position, he's not going to develop here. It's the story of the NBA draft- most players bust because they're never given the chance to play their position until it's too late. Best player available is all well and good unless you don't make an effort to develop that player with game experience at his position and BPA is a ridiculous concept if you know that the player is never going to be the starter at his natural position. If the Wolves want to make that right, they need to trade him while his value is somewhat high. If they give him 5-10 minutes a game at PF this year and 10 minutes out of position he'll officially be a bust.

[Esohny]

I'm assuming that the OP resents Williams for showing so very little last season.

[Saltine]

I'm not sure why he gets so much hate around here, he was 20 years old last season. He averaged 15 and 8 when he got at least 28 minutes (15 games), with a short season, no camp, and playing behind Love and Beas. Give the man a chance.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... elog/2012/

Only 15 power forwards averaged more points, and 12 averaged more boards.
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/playe ... r-forwards
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/playe ... r-forwards

That's not bad company at all for a 20 year old guy who wasn't in great shape.
Only 7 Small Forwards averaged more points, and none had more boards.
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/playe ... l-forwards
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/playe ... l-forwards

I really wonder which theoretical player you guys are comparing him to in your heads, he did well for a 20 year old.

[AQuintus]

On top of all the stuff that Saltine just mentioned, he also averaged 0.39 Free Throw attempts per Field Goal attempt. That's good for 44th in the league, and a large amount of the guys ahead of Williams were low FGA big men. The league average is .27. Other guys that amount or less: Durant, Pierce, Carmelo, Wade, Chris Paul, Dirk, and Kobe. That says to me that if he can figure out his jumpshot, he'd be one of the most efficient scorers in the league.

Also of note, of the 43 that were ahead of Williams, 3 will be on our team next year: Rubio (0.40), Pekovic (0.41), and Love (0.43, tied with Lebron).

Another fun note, Beasley (0.19), Johnson (0.09), Webster (0.26), Ellington (0.13) are all guys we got rid of this offseason who were below league average at getting to the line.

Edit: I should also mention that those rankings are based on everyone who played at least 20 games and at least 15 mpg.

[Tirion]

If he figures out how to score efficiently, he will be a nice scoring 6th man type of player. If he doesn't he will be a huge bust.

[Saltine]

Derrick is quite gifted at getting to the line. He attempted 56 free throws in 5 games during the Summer League, played 144 minutes, a FT every 2.5 minutes, that's nuts.
http://www.nba.com/summer-league/2012/p ... index.html

He only shot 62.5%, he needs to get that rate above 75%. I think a few years working on his shooting is in order, he has no consistency in his form... But it does show he isn't shy of contact, Adelman told him to be aggressive, and he was.

He has a lot of heart, if he puts in the work, I think it will payoff. I certainly wouldn't give him up for Tyreke, or sideshow bob, unless we get a nice pick back.

[The J Rocka]

I'm glad we saw Williams playing more aggressive but I'm not surprised how many times he got to the line. He was a man among boys in SL.

[Saltine]

I'm glad we saw Williams playing more aggressive but I'm not surprised how many times he got to the line. He was a man among boys in SL.

And one of the youngest guys there.
05/25/1991

[Tirion]

Okay, Denver just leapfrogged Minny again with the Iggy trade. Get Varejao. Do it!

[Mattya]

I'm glad we saw Williams playing more aggressive but I'm not surprised how many times he got to the line. He was a man among boys in SL.

Not to mention all the rookie refs that call 50 fouls a game.

[NikolaPekovic]

i think an underrated part of his game is his passing.

he says his favorite player is lebron and u can see it in his style, also with particular moves (scoop shot)


we gotta give this guy a chance.. we should be developing players not sending them out for anderson varejos(?)

[cpfsf]

I'm glad we saw Williams playing more aggressive but I'm not surprised how many times he got to the line. He was a man among boys in SL.

In FTA per 36 (minimum of 15 GP and 15 MPG), Williams is ranked 50th overall and 3rd amongst rookies. It helps that he plays for a face paced team, but that's still not too shabby for a rookie forward.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I'm glad we saw Williams playing more aggressive but I'm not surprised how many times he got to the line. He was a man among boys in SL.

Not to mention all the rookie refs that call 50 fouls a game.

thats why I was thoroughly unimpressed; every SL game there's some dude with 9 fouls. Outside of his free throws he didn't really do anything. Wasn't a defensive presence, was bricking his jumpers, wasn't rebounding that much.

[Foye]

I see his ceiling as an Iggy-like player who attacks more often.

Do I see him getting there? Probably not, but from my experience, shedding just 20 pounds can make you a whole lot faster. We need to give him more time. I would be pretty upset with a trade for Varejao if we were to give him up.

I don't see any similarities between Iggy and Williams.

Williams ball handling is far too poor. He is too slow and can't play the SF position in the nba.

He definitely is a PF.

[Krapinsky]

I see his ceiling as an Iggy-like player who attacks more often.

Do I see him getting there? Probably not, but from my experience, shedding just 20 pounds can make you a whole lot faster. We need to give him more time. I would be pretty upset with a trade for Varejao if we were to give him up.

I don't see any similarities between Iggy and Williams.

Williams ball handling is far too poor. He is too slow and can't play the SF position in the nba.

He definitely is a PF.

FWIW Lute Olson once said that Williams reminded him of Iggy.

Former Arizona coach Lute Olson called Williams "Andre Iguodala with a jump shot," which thrilled Williams.
"I like that comparison," Williams said during the combine. "Lute Olson is a very smart man. He coached there for 25 years. To have my name up there with [former Wildcat] Andre Iguodala is an honor right there. He's a great player."

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf ... ams_c.html

[[RCG]]

I see his ceiling as an Iggy-like player who attacks more often.

Do I see him getting there? Probably not, but from my experience, shedding just 20 pounds can make you a whole lot faster. We need to give him more time. I would be pretty upset with a trade for Varejao if we were to give him up.

I don't see any similarities between Iggy and Williams.

Williams ball handling is far too poor. He is too slow and can't play the SF position in the nba.

He definitely is a PF.

I don't see poor ball-handling.

[Esohny]

I see his ceiling as an Iggy-like player who attacks more often.

Do I see him getting there? Probably not, but from my experience, shedding just 20 pounds can make you a whole lot faster. We need to give him more time. I would be pretty upset with a trade for Varejao if we were to give him up.

I don't see any similarities between Iggy and Williams.

Williams ball handling is far too poor. He is too slow and can't play the SF position in the nba.

He definitely is a PF.

I don't see poor ball-handling.

I don't see good ball-handling.

[teven_1]

D- Will is a legit NBA player people! why trade him for a pick?

[Krapinsky]

I've reversed course on the whole trading Williams thing. At this point I think we should at least hold onto him until 15-20 games in the season and see how our front court looks and how good our team is. I don't think anything we could get for him now (i.e. Varejao) will be unavailable then.

[moss_is_1]

^ agree. I don't see the point in trading him at this point. Unless we can get a stud at SG then why bother? Might as well ease him along now that AK47 can hold down the SF spot for a couple of seasons. D-will can progress as the super 6th man for now.