Season in Review: Lou Williams
by Jordan Sams on Apr 21, 2010 11:28 AM PDT
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PrintLou began the season as the Sixers starting point guard, but the experiment failed. Since the day he was drafted, there was hope that he could one day turn into the Sixers starting point guard. Five years later it's not about what Lou can be, it's about what he is -- a scoring guard off the bench. Why isn't he a point guard? He comes from the Allen Iverson mold of, "I get assists and make good passes, so what's the problem?" Well, the problem is, point guards don't simply make good passes, they run the offense. Running an offense is something Lou is incapable of doing, much like most score-first guards who dribble too much.
Lou's defense also leaves much to be desired. However; he made marginal improvements this season, and there's still some room to grow.
As you know, I'm higher on Lou than most. I understand who he is, and what he does. He's the best pure scorer on the Sixers roster. Some nights he's capable of carrying the team offensively, and some nights he's useless. Since he doesn't bring much else to the table -- if he's not scoring -- he's a detriment to the team. I don't expect him to play great defense, and I don't expect him to be a point guard. I expect him to score in bunches, get to the line, and set teammates up for easy baskets -- all while coming off the bench.
3 stats
- Lou scored 1.4 points per shot this season. To put that in perspective, LeBron scored 1.48 per shot, Durant scored 1.5 per shot, Steve Nash scored 1.35 per shot, and the best Michael Jordan ever did was 1.46 per shot.
- According to Hoop Data 48% of Lou's assists were at the rim, a higher percentage than Jrue Holiday (38%), Andre Iguodala (47%), Andre Miller (41%), Steve Nash (45%), LeBron James (47%), and Chris Paul (36%).
- Lou improved from a .398 eFG% on jumpers in 08-09 to .461 in 09-10.
- Percentages - 40% FG / 29% Three / 79% FT in 08-09 ... 47% FG / 34% Three / 82% FT in 09-10
- Turnovers - 2.8/per 36 in 08-09 ... 2.0/per 36 in 09-10
- Defense
- Free throws - 7.2/per 36 in 08-09 ... 4.4/per 36 in 09-10
- Points - 19.5/per 36 in 08-09 ... 16.9/per 36 in 09-10
- And1% - 4.5% in 08-09 ... 4.0% in 09-10
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Good write-up, Jordan
I would think B+ is a little high, given just how bad his defense was many nights. If I were the next coach, I would ban him from using the pump fake when not in the lane area, especially when not shooting pull-ups from 20+. I think he took the wrong aspect from Miller’s game in that respect.
Yeah, pump fakes way too much.
What grade do you think he should’ve gotten? Did you really expect Lou to do any better on D? He actually exceeded my expectations on both ends of the floor.
what kills me is he pump fakes, gets his man in the air, then avoids contact and puts up an awkward, leaning jumper.
Derek Bodner
by Derek Bodner on Apr 21, 2010 3:35 PM PDT up reply actions
IMO, I’d given him C+. Maybe, a “B-” if I’m being charitable. He became a more efficient scorer, still needs to work on that long range jumper if he’s gonna take so many. But he actually shot a healthy percentage from the floor for the most part, given his sometimes horrid shot selection.
His performance on defense was really, really bad many nights. I’d hoped that, given the chance to start, he actually take pride in locking up his man. Instead, he went from a shifty little tailback on offense to moving all super-stiff like Fred Sanford calling for Elizabeth on the other end. He also needs to stop acting like his shoulders had crazy glue on them every time he got screened. Jrue, as a counter-example, is MUCH better at getting through picks.
But he’s always been the type to try and get his back at the other end, instead of shutting down his guy AND lighting them up too(a byproduct of worshiping AI as opposed to MJ, perhaps).
He should be graded down maybe a half or whole letterp urely for his juvenile and whiney approach to his twitter account
by jemagee on Apr 21, 2010 4:22 PM PDT reply actions
you aren’t one of his peeps?
Derek Bodner
by Derek Bodner on Apr 21, 2010 6:21 PM PDT up reply actions
I was – I never got banned when i used twitter – but i shut down my account so no idea what would happen now
by jemagee on Apr 21, 2010 7:20 PM PDT up reply actions
The most professional thing Lou can do is accept that he’s a 6th man. I think he approached acceptance toward the end of the season, but you can tell from body language that he still wanted to start.
This is why getting a good coach who commands respect is absolutely necessary. We have a bunch of young guys on this team with undefined roles.
Well I think every player WANTS to start, I’m sure Crawford would rather be a starter than get sixth man of the year…if you can accept your role but still play like you can move ‘up’ in the rotation, that’s the best ain’t it
by jemagee on Apr 21, 2010 5:44 PM PDT up reply actions
Playing like you want to be better and acting like you deserve better are two different things. One is beneficial to the team, the other is detrimental.
And i’ve found that most blog posters suck pretty well at interpreting the nuance of body language from a tv shot
by jemagee on Apr 21, 2010 8:36 PM PDT up reply actions
It’s a subset of the moronity of the ‘i watch the game’ contigent – numbers can’t tell me anything my own eyes don’t see watching the games
by jemagee on Apr 22, 2010 7:34 AM PDT up reply actions
Observing and analyzing human emotion is a natural ability. Some people are better at it than others. So no, it’s not related to production on the court. Seeing as you watched only a handful of games this year and rely on most of your info through other means, perhaps you overlooked the articles discussing Lou’s poor body language and complaints about his lack of minutes.
The point I was trying to make was that Jordan didn’t have set rotations and changed the starting line-up multiple times. Combine this with a team that has a losing record, a lack of defined roles, and players are going to start complaining, showing poor body language, and losing faith in their coach/system. It just so happened that Lou was one of them.
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