Lou Williams-the story of underappreciation

It's kind of remarkable to me, we drafted this project with the 45th pick a few years ago and is frankly, King's best pick.  He's improved virtually every year he's been in the league and he's ONLY 23 years old! He's been mentored by Maurice Cheeks, Andre Miller, Allen Iverson and now Doug Collins.  Lou Williams had an outstanding year last year.   He played within the flow of the offense, much like Miller and Cheeks carried themselves and when the opportunity presented itself, like A.I he exploded on the court.   Despite the impressive performance by Lou Williams last year, he apparently wins no, zero, zip points from the Sixers community.

The same thoughts that the RealGM Sixer community had and some here at Libertyballers had were: Lou doesn't fit.  Why?  Because he's not a Jrue Holiday clone?   We fell in love with Holiday so much, that we immediately wanted a clone of him in the back-court.   Hey, I won't argue against the reasoning I mean Jrue's a heck of a player but 1) If such a clone were available I imagine we'd get him if we could and 2) Such a clone isn't available. 

If the draft were done over again, I can't see why Tyler Hansbrough, Earl Clark and Austin Daye are picked ahead of him.  I've argued time and time again that Jrue is a top-5/8 pick if the draft is done over again, we're as lucky as hell that we got Jrue. Another one ain't falling in our laps, kapeach?

I think we're as lucky as hell that we have Lou Williams and we made the right decision. We groomed him properly, and Lou himself takes his career very seriously and he comes from such humble roots.  I like how Lou knew his weaknesses and he tried to compensate for them.  He brought effort and intensity to the court, something very few sixers did last season.  I like how, as Jrue stepped up his game and took the starters spot, Lou isn't sulking. He's reaching for higher platforms.

My question with Lou was if you couldn't start, can you be a part of a great 3-man rotation?

-Doug Collins, on the Sixers back-court

I seem to recall a Libertyballers poster made a few posts pointing out how Aaron Brooks and Monta Ellis benefit from playing so many minutes and getting so many more touches then Lou does, not that they are actually better then him.   Is Lou the 45th pick in the draft if we re-do that draft?  If I'm not mistaken, Marvin Williams was the 2nd overall pick in that draft and Lou played heads and tails above Marvin this past season. 

I love Lou's game, the effort, the intensity and the will to win are all there.  He's an under-rated and under-looked part of that 2008 playoff team. You can argue that a big reason for the Orlando loss, was Lou hesitating in that series.   IMO, Nocioni, Green and even Brand(one poster I read called him the "Albatross") are far more wastes of roster space. Oh and can't forget Tony Battie.

Lou has value to the sixers, whether it's as the starter or as a 30+ MPG impact player will be decided at the end of training camp :).