chicago paxsons wrote:transplant wrote:When I heard they picked Williams, my first thought was that it sure as hell wasn't designed to be a fan pleaser. From what I've read in this thread, I was right...most fans are kinda underwhelmed. My first reaction was that it sucks having the 4th player in a 3-player draft, but then I heard AK say that he never really pursued moving up and loved Williams at 4. OK, AK is all in on Williams. If Paxson had made this pick, I have to believe that the fan reaction would have been even more negative.
Let's face it, AK gets his "honeymoon" period. He will get criticized by some, but most fans are giving him the benefit of the doubt. Obviously, how Williams develops will become a touchstone of how we judge him, but he's going to make a lot of other moves to build his team. I confess that the Williams pick has me scratching my head a bit, but for the next year or so, I'm going to stay with the "In Arturas I trust" mode. I'm not expecting perfection, but I do expect to see a plan coming together.
Oddly enough, if paxson had made the pick, i don't doubt it would have been deni or haliburton and we might have a more happy thread than we do. I understand going with the safe pick, but i'm not against drafting for potential even if it means picking someone who would have been drafted 4 or 5 picks later. Drafting a player near where they were going to be drafted is important for value's sake, but so is getting the guy you want.
AK made it very clear that he got his guy...no equivocation. He clearly said that he didn't really pursue trading up. He was happy with the 4th pick and who he got. Honestly, I can't ever recall a management group more committed to a first round pick.





















