OT: Marcus Williams a disappointment on the Warriors

[kdub]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/21/SPGG13L4BJ.DTL

If the rise of DeMarcus Nelson is the Warriors' biggest surprise of training camp, then the fall of Marcus Williams is their biggest disappointment.

Williams was assumed to be the front-runner for starting point-guard duties once Monta Ellis was injured, but his slow grasp of the Warriors' offense - coupled with his lack of defense and speed - has him buried on the depth chart.

"I expected more, and we haven't seen it yet, and it's getting late," coach Don Nelson said Monday.

But Williams has had trouble learning the offense and spacing, and his conditioning is still not up to par. It hasn't helped that he is a liability on defense, where Nelson has made his mark.

"The offense is a lot more different than I thought it was going to be," said Williams, a former first-round pick. "From what I thought, it's a lot more complicated, and in order for stuff to work, the guard has to be vocal, get everyone in order.

I didn't crunch any numbers, but looking quickly at the past Warriors box scores it looks like he's averaging about 15 MPG, and 3 PPG, 3 APG.

 

[Netted]

Not that surprised. Conditioning and a 10 cent head have been his biggest issues.

Steve Nash made a hell of a career with crappy defense. The funny thing is, in the preseason they were talking about how his conditioning was improved now that he has his opportunity. I guess not.

 

[isrus]

Well i'm a bit surprised. He was never that good of a player but he was reliable to fill the need the Nets had. I hope he can turn it around with this team.

 

[ghoti]

"I expected more, and we haven't seen it yet, and it's getting late," coach Don Nelson said Monday.

If he expected more, he wasn't paying attention.

 

[WarriorFan]

"The offense is a lot more different than I thought it was going to be," said Williams, a former first-round pick. "From what I thought, it's a lot more complicated, and in order for stuff to work, the guard has to be vocal, get everyone in order.

Did he really think it was just streetball. Yeah, it's a free flowing offense, but it's still an offense with actual plays. It's like he's surprised that the PG has to know where to be and where everyone else should be.

 

[Belarus]

If the rise of DeMarcus Nelson is the Warriors' biggest surprise of training camp, then the fall of Marcus Williams is their biggest disappointment.

Williams was assumed to be the front-runner for starting point-guard duties once Monta Ellis was injured, but his slow grasp of the Warriors' offense - coupled with his lack of defense and speed - has him buried on the depth chart.

"I expected more, and we haven't seen it yet, and it's getting late," coach Don Nelson said Monday.

no way, man! Marcus Williams lacks defense??

 

[DLee7283]

its funny that the Warriors always end up getting lucky with camp invites or 2nd round picks. They are horrible at drafting in the 1st round and the only good trade they made in the last 10 years was the B Diddy one.


I think Marcus Williams is a backup type player, nothing more. I sort of envision him having a similiar career as Matt Cleaves for some reason.

 

[GrandKenyon6]

Marcus Williams sucking? What a shocker.

 

[jirohkanzaki]

i can't believe we got a 1st rounder for marcus! anyway, since we already traded him to the west, i wish he would develop and play well except when the nets play the warriors...he can definitely pass and score...and get a decent player for that 1st rounder we recieved (a future superstar won't hurt either!)

 

[Netted]

i can't believe we got a 1st rounder for marcus! anyway, since we already traded him to the west, i wish he would develop and play well except when the nets play the warriors...he can definitely pass and score...and get a decent player for that 1st rounder we recieved (a future superstar won't hurt either!)

I could care less if he's successful. It's not like he did anything at all for this franchise or left me with any great memories (like say RJ or Kidd).

Actually, I hope he's mediocre... I want the pick to be more valuable in the future. Good enough to warrant playing time, but bad enough to cost them games.

 

[fiElDy]

how surprising

 

[J.S]

the warriors pick is lottery protected, but is it for the 09 draft?

 

[WarriorFan]

i can't believe we got a 1st rounder for marcus! anyway, since we already traded him to the west, i wish he would develop and play well except when the nets play the warriors...he can definitely pass and score...and get a decent player for that 1st rounder we recieved (a future superstar won't hurt either!)

This trade will end up being for 2 second round picks, in 2013 and 2015. Even if they do, the soonest that the pick could be given is 2011. The west is too stacked for the W's to make the playoffs anytime soon.

If the Warriors make the playoffs in 2011, the Nets would get that non-lottery choice. If not, New Jersey would get the pick in 2012 (so long as it's not between pick Nos. 1-11) or 2013 (protected against picks 1-10). If the pick can't be used by then, New Jersey gets second-round picks in 2013 and 2015.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/22/SPN911TBB7.DTL&type=printable

 

[Ma3oxuct]

I think it is finally completely safe to say that for where M. Williams was picked, he turned out to be a bust. He definitely turned out not to be a steal where he was picked by any means. However, if the pick the Nets got for him turns out to be somebody better, then Marcus was a steal , but only indirectly.

The thing that troubles me about Marcus is that he is soft. He's getting outplayed by DeMarcus and he's giving petty excuses such as, the offense is not what I expected. In otherwords, "Give me a break, it mostly coaching's fault." Any mentally tough player would have realized they were doing something wrong at this point, told anyone who asked: "I'm gonna get my spot back." And would have adjusted themselves and played their heart out to get their opportunity to shine back.

 

[Kidd Karma]

...and when you get in Nellie's doghouse, it's really, really tough to crawl out, the only saving grace for his PT is.....the lack of PG depth on the Warriors roster....then again Nellie is a scientist concocting several different lineups, with a point forward like Stephen Jackson, it allows Nellie to run 2 off guards. SI's NBA preview arrived in the mail yesterday....Monta Ellis is the starting PG....guess they couldn't find a mug of DeMarcus Nelson nor Williams.

 

[Belarus]

i can't believe we got a 1st rounder for marcus! anyway, since we already traded him to the west, i wish he would develop and play well except when the nets play the warriors...he can definitely pass and score...and get a decent player for that 1st rounder we recieved (a future superstar won't hurt either!)

as Netted mention I also could care less about Marcus Williams being successful. it's hard to root for a guy who was (and is) a complete wuss and voiced his displeasure with playing time in his rookie season when he actually sucked. Always blamed his failures on somebody else but himself. Soft, no character, bust - words coming up when i hear Marcus Williams's name. Screw him.

 

[zєяσ]

I overestimated Williams. I was expecting him to be in the doghouse at least 5 games into the regular season, since he does so well in games that don't matter(summer, preseason)

 

[SportsTicker]

Another case where Frank didnt develop young talent!!!

Like Antoine Wright and Zoran Planinic!!!

Truth be told, Marcus' problem is his head, not his conditioning. He has a sense of entitlement. Beats me as to why, but that plus his sullen attitude doesn't help.

There are always reasons why players drop in the draft. Sometimes the concerns are overrated--Boozer's weight, Arenas' immaturity, Granger's knee--but most of the time they're not.

 

[FOMW]

He's run out of excuses.

From his first preseason game as a rookie and throughout his first year, he showed a ton of natural ability in terms of court vision and technical passing skills. Still think his one-handed pass off the dribble is as good as I've seen. But he got worse and worse the longer he played in terms of judgment and team management, and his defense always sucked. I'm not privy to the behind the scenes stuff, but if an attitude of entitlement was the problem, he'll soon find out how short life in the NBA can be.

 

[reganomics813]

Guys like him take time to figure out where the line between flashy and effective actually is. Whether or not he can do so before NBA teams write him off as a lost cause is the big question. It's all about desire because he has the natural abilities to be an effective player in this league. He needs to stop telling us what he's gonna do and actually do it.

That being said, I think Nellie's putting this our there to motivate him into trying harder and really laying the blame on him to test Marcus. Apparently it worked too.

 

[MisterMontross]

Still think his one-handed pass off the dribble is as good as I've seen.

Maravich was the best I've ever seen at passing off the dribble. Actually, Pete was AMAZING at it. And check out Ramon Sessions when you get the chance. He is very good at it also.

 

[SportsTicker]

Guys like him take time to figure out where the line between flashy and effective actually is. Whether or not he can do so before NBA teams write him off as a lost cause is the big question. It's all about desire because he has the natural abilities to be an effective player in this league. He needs to stop telling us what he's gonna do and actually do it.

That being said, I think Nellie's putting this our there to motivate him into trying harder and really laying the blame on him to test Marcus. Apparently it worked too.

The Warriors have until October 31 to exercise their fourth year option on him. THAT will tell you how Nellie REALLY feels about him.

I must admit I thought he would do better in a new situation, but if he doesn't make it in SF, he's pretty much a journeyman or worse the rest of his career. His high school buddies aren't doing much better: Dorrell Wright has disappointed in Miami and Hassan Adams hasnt done much in Toronto this preseason.

What makes it all so much worse is that the Nets might have taken Jordan Farmar if Williams was gone at #22.

 

[WarriorFan]

That being said, I think Nellie's putting this our there to motivate him into trying harder and really laying the blame on him to test Marcus. Apparently it worked too.

That wouldn't surprise me. Last year at this time Nellie kept talking about how he was going to play Belinelli over Monta and look how that turned out.