Return to Sender: The Mark Williams Thread

[Bassman]

All right, skeletor has spoken, the Hornets have no protest filed, Knecht has long since played…it’s done.

Mark Williams, time to get your azz back to the barn, suit up, and play. If you’re still missing because you’re butt hurt, suck it up and be a man. This is a business..you’ve got your opportunity right in front of you. If you stay out, you’re only hurting your value to this team and any other team watching.

And if you and your agent are trying to force a buyout? Screw that, go get bent and put on suspension. Your obligation is to your current team and to proving yourself as a player.

[JustBuzzin]

All right, skeletor has spoken, the Hornets have no protest filed, Knecht has long since played…it’s done.

Mark Williams, time to get your azz back to the barn, suit up, and play. If you’re still missing because you’re butt hurt, suck it up and be a man. This is a business..you’ve got your opportunity right in front of you. If you stay out, you’re only hurting your value to this team and any other team watching.

And if you and your agent are trying to force a buyout? Screw that, go get bent and put on suspension. Your obligation is to your current team and to proving yourself as a player.

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!

[Hornet Mania]

I get that being traded is the worst part of being a pro athlete, but all things considered we treated Mark well.

-We traded him to a contender where he was going to get major shine and probably make himself a bunch of money since LAL would have committed too much to him to lowball his extension. We didn't ship him off to Siberia.
-We traded him for a pretty good haul, imo. A haul many observers considered too much. This indicates the team valued him highly and it wasn't a fire sale.

It's a business. Mark was not mistreated or disrespected in any way. He would have been sent to probably the most desirable location in the NBA for a hefty return. The only thing that's harming him is LA reneging and bringing his long-term value into question.

[KembaWalker]

Trying to play hardass with a draft pick who’s career earning potential we just cratered during his rookie contract regardless of whose fault it is will just tank our awful reputation amongst players even more than it already is

[MasterIchiro]

Trying to play hardass with a draft pick who’s career earning potential we just cratered during his rookie contract regardless of whose fault it is will just tank our awful reputation amongst players even more than it already is

Care to elaborate, please?

[KembaWalker]

Trying to play hardass with a draft pick who’s career earning potential we just cratered during his rookie contract regardless of whose fault it is will just tank our awful reputation amongst players even more than it already is

Care to elaborate, please?

Threatening suspension etc. sounds good in theory but this isn’t middle school and you aren’t gonna benefit in the long run treating your players (and their agents) like middle schoolers. Marks career is possibly irreparably harmed because of a decision we were part of in which we concluded that we could move forward without him as a piece of our future. It’s not as simple as telling him to buck up and get on the court. He has some fair justifications to not want to be here moving forward. Especially if the physical results are true, perhaps he’d rather gamble his health night to night for a team that wants him (in his mind, again I don’t expect players as humans to be cold logical robots that can detach, work through the details and conclude that trades don’t necessarily mean that etc)

[MasterIchiro]

Trying to play hardass with a draft pick who’s career earning potential we just cratered during his rookie contract regardless of whose fault it is will just tank our awful reputation amongst players even more than it already is

Care to elaborate, please?

Threatening suspension etc. sounds good in theory but this isn’t middle school and you aren’t gonna benefit in the long run treating your players (and their agents) like middle schoolers. Marks career is possibly irreparably harmed because of a decision we were part of in which we concluded that we could move forward without him as a piece of our future. It’s not as simple as telling him to buck up and get on the court. He has some fair justifications to not want to be here moving forward. Especially if the physical results are true, perhaps he’d rather gamble his health night to night for a team that wants him (in his mind, again I don’t expect players as humans to be cold logical robots that can detach, work through the details and conclude that trades don’t necessarily mean that etc)

Hornets public statement indicates they want him back as their starter. I don't see any change in stance here that would contradict their welcoming embrace of him upon his return.

[KembaWalker]

Care to elaborate, please?

Threatening suspension etc. sounds good in theory but this isn’t middle school and you aren’t gonna benefit in the long run treating your players (and their agents) like middle schoolers. Marks career is possibly irreparably harmed because of a decision we were part of in which we concluded that we could move forward without him as a piece of our future. It’s not as simple as telling him to buck up and get on the court. He has some fair justifications to not want to be here moving forward. Especially if the physical results are true, perhaps he’d rather gamble his health night to night for a team that wants him (in his mind, again I don’t expect players as humans to be cold logical robots that can detach, work through the details and conclude that trades don’t necessarily mean that etc)

Hornets public statement indicates they want him back as their starter. I don't see any change in stance here that would contradict their welcoming embrace of him upon his return.

I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that Mark Williams might not take the hornets at their PR word. Words aren’t gonna do anything to restore his future earning potential, unless maybe they come from the Lakers or the commissioner. To me it makes sense for him not to touch the court until the whole thing is totally over which doesn’t seem to be where we’re at from what Silver said

[MasterIchiro]

Threatening suspension etc. sounds good in theory but this isn’t middle school and you aren’t gonna benefit in the long run treating your players (and their agents) like middle schoolers. Marks career is possibly irreparably harmed because of a decision we were part of in which we concluded that we could move forward without him as a piece of our future. It’s not as simple as telling him to buck up and get on the court. He has some fair justifications to not want to be here moving forward. Especially if the physical results are true, perhaps he’d rather gamble his health night to night for a team that wants him (in his mind, again I don’t expect players as humans to be cold logical robots that can detach, work through the details and conclude that trades don’t necessarily mean that etc)

Hornets public statement indicates they want him back as their starter. I don't see any change in stance here that would contradict their welcoming embrace of him upon his return.

I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that Mark Williams might not take the hornets at their PR word. Words aren’t gonna do anything to restore his future earning potential, unless maybe they come from the Lakers or the commissioner. To me it makes sense for him not to touch the court until the whole thing is totally over which doesn’t seem to be where we’re at from what Silver said

The Hornets PR statement should mean something to the agency negotiating his contract terms. And considering restricted free agents can generate bids from outside teams, public statements carry currency with them.

It's in Mark's best interests to play the role for him here per public statements. Even if he doesn't want to return to Charlotte, he wants an outside team bidding on him as a starter.

That bid should be the only motivation Mark needs.

[Braggins]

I have no idea how Mark feels about the situation. I just wouldn't be surprised if he was upset. Mark having a lowly franchise who was sending him out there on some nights with a GLeague roster signal that they don't want him on their team by trading him away out of nowhere seems like it could potentially be taken negatively. I could see him thinking like "seriously? who guys don't want ME on your team...".

Mark's camp being completely silent and him being away from the team apparently seems a little concerning to me. Could be nothing idk.

[HornetJail]

hoping he's just taking the all-star break to clear his head, and jumps back in like the rookie did with LA

[luciano-davidwesley]

Trying to play hardass with a draft pick who’s career earning potential we just cratered during his rookie contract regardless of whose fault it is will just tank our awful reputation amongst players even more than it already is

Oh no, now players won't sign with us in Free Agency. I'm so worried.

[Chapelchilla]

Dude has two or three years until he can call his shots regarding who he plays for. Sitting out a year ago , he also doesn't have a huge body of work or leverage.
He can easily guarantee himself a fat payday (here or elsewhere) by balling out and Proving he is healthy. That would be the smart play. Even if it's not til next season.

[SWedd523]

Mark hasn't earned the right to be petulant.

Him not playing confirms he's either hurt or pouting, neither of which is going to make him an attractive trade piece if he's trying to leave town

It also doesn't engender any good will with his teammates or others in the franchise, risking burning bridges.

I won't pretend to know the circumstances of his "not with the team", but if he's holding out because he's poopy lipped then I'm not okay with it

[vexco]

Mark hasn't earned the right to be petulant.

Him not playing confirms he's either hurt or pouting, neither of which is going to make him an attractive trade piece if he's trying to leave town

It also doesn't engender any good will with his teammates or others in the franchise, risking burning bridges.

I won't pretend to know the circumstances of his "not with the team", but if he's holding out because he's poopy lipped then I'm not okay with it

Basically this. He's been available for what? Like 30% of his games as a pro? If you can play, play. Stop crying about being traded.

[GoBobs]

It would be awesome if he destroyed the lakers in his first game back. If he was that guy both teams would want him.

The Lakers first comments that mentioned it was’t his back make me wonder if there is a part of the story we don’t know. Something they didn’t know until they got further in the process.

I don’t want to speculate to much, but there are going to be times when the team doesn’t really know the whole story. If Mark was capable of impacting the game and also wanted to be out there it would look different than what we have seen so far.

[Diop]

Lot of narratives been spun up again.

End of the day, the best move for everyone involved is for Mark to comeback and show he’s a player worth good $.

He plays plenty of games and gets decent stats, he will be fine

[Rays Pompadour]

It's kinda coming out that Mark Williams is suffering from whiplash. Or he opened the wrong gift at Christmas. One of those two.

Ice up, son.

[Braggins]

Read on Twitter

[Chapelchilla]

If he destroys the Lakers with all eyez on him it would be pretty cool and a heckuva statement.