Grade Whg Season

Hellcrooner · Post #1 » by **Hellcrooner** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 4:34 am

So, what do you think about willys season ?
Are you surprised?
Dissapointed?

What do you expect from him long term?

Do you expect him to be back next season or maybe get traded?

knickstape21 · Post #2 » by **knickstape21** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 4:54 am

B+

Didn't expect him to improve this much since watching him in the Summer. He has a lot of good things to work with and seems like a fiery guy.

I'm hoping he's our starting Center moving forward.

OrangeAndFlu · Post #3 » by **OrangeAndFlu** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 4:57 am

knickstape21 wrote:B+

Didn't expect him to improve this much since watching him in the Summer. He has a lot of good things to work with and seems like a fiery guy.

I'm hoping he's our starting Center moving forward.

He's not athletic or skilled enough defensively to backbone a defense not to mention we don't have a single defensive stopper on our team

If your perimeter defense is weak you can't be weak at the rim too

I'll give him a B+ because of how much he exceeded expectations

3toheadmelo · Post #4 » by **3toheadmelo** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 5:42 am

B or B+ for me

NY2TheBay · Post #5 » by **NY2TheBay** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 5:59 am

Great feel for the game, great footwork, willing passer, quick hands defensively, high iq player. Needs to advance a little defensively but that should be expected.

Wont be traded, on a great contract. He could develop into a borderline all star or all star level player. Bright future for the kid.

spree2kawhi · Post #6 » by **spree2kawhi** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 11:32 am

NBA Fan 1234 · Post #7 » by **NBA Fan 1234** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:02 pm

OrangeAndFlu wrote:
knickstape21 wrote:B+

Didn't expect him to improve this much since watching him in the Summer. He has a lot of good things to work with and seems like a fiery guy.

I'm hoping he's our starting Center moving forward.

He's not athletic or skilled enough defensively to backbone a defense not to mention we don't have a single defensive stopper on our team

If your perimeter defense is weak you can't be weak at the rim too

I'll give him a B+ because of how much he exceeded expectations

Marc Gasol wasn't athletic enough or skilled enough his first year to be the backbone of a defense. He routinely got killed everywhere in defense from in space to missing rotations...and yet he become one of the best defenders in the NBA. I'm not saying Willy will get there, but he has quicker feet than Marc and is more athletic, so he has a good place to start from. He really needs to spend time watching film, but I expect his defense to take a nice leap in year 2. Not DPOY, but he'll become better defensively in all areas...at least, I hope and think he has the potential to.

Anyways, I'm cool with a B+/A- range.

adjacent2bench · Post #8 » by **adjacent2bench** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:08 pm

A
Dude is a second round pick but a future 70-90 milly contract type player (based on today's NBA)

thebuzzardman · Post #9 » by **thebuzzardman** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:40 pm

First I didn't have much in the way of expectations for him, so I was pleasantly surprised at his good play. Not satisfied with this, I began to expect good, then great play consistently. When WHG didn't reward my inflated expectations, I began to sour on him, feelings of bile creeping into my throat in disgust at his sometimes substandard defensive play. By the end of the season, I was ready to trade him for Popeye Jones coming out of retirement.

?->B->A+->B->D->F->please trade

Please feel free to use my handy schematic for expressing your feelings for next year's rookie and any young knick.

thebuzzardman · Post #10 » by **thebuzzardman** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:47 pm

Knickstape1214 wrote:
OrangeAndFlu wrote:
knickstape21 wrote:B+

Didn't expect him to improve this much since watching him in the Summer. He has a lot of good things to work with and seems like a fiery guy.

I'm hoping he's our starting Center moving forward.

He's not athletic or skilled enough defensively to backbone a defense not to mention we don't have a single defensive stopper on our team

If your perimeter defense is weak you can't be weak at the rim too

I'll give him a B+ because of how much he exceeded expectations

Marc Gasol wasn't athletic enough or skilled enough his first year to be the backbone of a defense. He routinely got killed everywhere in defense from in space to missing rotations...and yet he become one of the best defenders in the NBA. I'm not saying Willy will get there, but he has quicker feet than Marc and is more athletic, so he has a good place to start from. He really needs to spend time watching film, but I expect his defense to take a nice leap in year 2. Not DPOY, but he'll become better defensively in all areas...at least, I hope and think he has the potential to.

Anyways, I'm cool with a B+/A- range.

This. Now, not saying him and Marc are a 1:1, but does anyone recall Marc Gasol's first few years? I remember saying to myself "Why did the Grizzlies trade for this guy? He's big, but seems sort of slow footed and mechanical and his defense doesn't seem that special".

Did anyone else feel that way? Then it seemed almost overnight year 3 or 4, where he was a big time defensive presence and his offensive game when up a few tics each year. Of course they've probably leveled out, but at all star level when you consider both sides of the ball and team play.

Point being, sometimes it takes players a few years to pan out. Some do, some don't. If we could really peg the guys who will consistently I think we'd have good paying jobs as NBA scouts, because some of them don't call it right either. That said, I'll bank on the guy with the solid fundamentals panning out, or his floor being better for a team, then the "athlete" who a team hopes to coach up.

Fat Kat · Post #11 » by **Fat Kat** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 1:00 pm

A-

Exceeded everyone's expectations. Went from a guy some here wanted traded for a second round pick, to a potential starter. Hopefully the scouts find a few more like him.

reub · Post #12 » by **reub** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 1:11 pm

NY2TheBay wrote:Great feel for the game, great footwork, willing passer, quick hands defensively, high iq player. Needs to advance a little defensively but that should be expected.

Wont be traded, on a great contract. He could develop into a borderline all star or all star level player. Bright future for the kid.

A+ for where we got him.

MaseInYourFace · Post #13 » by **MaseInYourFace** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 2:39 pm

A. He exceeded expectations.

MaseInYourFace · Post #14 » by **MaseInYourFace** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 2:43 pm

He's nowhere near as bad defensively as some on here make him out to be. He had some really poor games on that end early in the season but to his credit he learned and adjusted. Is he Camby on his prime or Chandler good?
No. He's not a shot blocker and probably will always lack in that area realistically.

Juggynaut · Post #15 » by **Juggynaut** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 2:55 pm

A+, I'm pretty sure he surpassed everybody's expectations.

TheDavinciCHODE · Post #16 » by **TheDavinciCHODE** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 3:26 pm

Grade Willy's season in terms of his performance? Pretty solid B. Good all around big on the offense side of the ball. Solidly mobile, relatively big, decent efficiency considering his offense style, and plenty of upside.

Grade his season terms of expectations? A easily. Second round pick that nobody knew what to expect about. Ended the season with a 19 PER averaging 8/7. Stats are deceiving because he showed better #'s when he got more mins later in the season.

Anotha Knicks fan · Post #17 » by **Anotha Knicks fan** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 4:50 pm

Thing is... this is where you've got to take a step back and temper expectations. Sure he blew away expectations his first year based off what was known about him and where he was selected. Now that he has a season's body of work under him, we'll see what becomes of him next season. Does he improve? Does he stagnate? I think an inch in either direction will have a huge impact on how he is perceived, at least on this board.

Personally, I like him, and was pleasantly surprised at what he was able to do with playing time. He really put Noah's contract and his inability to play into perspective. However, I don't think the team can go with both KP and Willy as the starting bigs unless Willy drastically improves his defense.

For his effort and uncanny footwork, I'll give him a B+. I really hope he works hard on defense and shows improvement as he goes forward.

ctorres · Post #18 » by **ctorres** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 5:05 pm

B+

He should have gotten consistent minutes from the beginning. He could have been rookie of the year. The team may have even had a better shot at making the playoffs. The organization failed Willy in that regard.

Here are Willy's numbers during his last 38 games...

23.3 mpg
10.8 ppg
52.3% fg's
74.4% ft's
9.4 rpg
1.9 apg
0.8 spg
0.5 bpg

Compare that to his first 34 games...

13.0 mpg
5.1 ppg
54.9% fg's
68.6% ft's
4.3 rpg
0.8 apg
0.3 spg
0.5 bpg

DaKnicksAreBack · Post #19 » by **DaKnicksAreBack** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 5:05 pm

I'm not even a big fan of this game, but I'll give him an A, because as a second rounder he exceeded expectations by a lot.

OrangeAndFlu · Post #20 » by **OrangeAndFlu** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 6:14 pm

Knickstape1214 wrote:
OrangeAndFlu wrote:
knickstape21 wrote:B+

Didn't expect him to improve this much since watching him in the Summer. He has a lot of good things to work with and seems like a fiery guy.

I'm hoping he's our starting Center moving forward.

He's not athletic or skilled enough defensively to backbone a defense not to mention we don't have a single defensive stopper on our team

If your perimeter defense is weak you can't be weak at the rim too

I'll give him a B+ because of how much he exceeded expectations

Marc Gasol wasn't athletic enough or skilled enough his first year to be the backbone of a defense. He routinely got killed everywhere in defense from in space to missing rotations...and yet he become one of the best defenders in the NBA. I'm not saying Willy will get there, but he has quicker feet than Marc and is more athletic, so he has a good place to start from. He really needs to spend time watching film, but I expect his defense to take a nice leap in year 2. Not DPOY, but he'll become better defensively in all areas...at least, I hope and think he has the potential to.

Anyways, I'm cool with a B+/A- range.

I knew someone was gonna make the Marc gasol comp but Marc gasol has longer arms and is 3 inches taller
So he can make up for what he lacks in athleticism more than Willy can