[sideburn2goParticipant]

Derrick Williams is still somewhat of a mystery to me. This guy is drafted number 2 with pretty big expectations comes in and for a year and a half underperforms and looks like he may not have been worth it. However, after the last month and a half he has started to show flashes of what made the T-wolves love what they saw in this kid coming out of college. Since the all-star break he has been averaging 17.9 points and 7.6 rebounds, huge jumps from his disappointing career numbers thus far. Last night he even put up a career high 28 points in a recently rare timberwolves win. So here are my questions for the forum: Can Derrick Williams do things like this on a consistent basis? Is the production only due to the fact that the wolves are so beat up right now? What happens once everyone gets healthy again and his minutes go down? Are the twolves just trying to showcase what he’s got to raise his trade value? And to t-wolves fans out there do you want to trade him or do you think he can learn to thrive on our team?

[HotSnotParticipant]

Yes he can do these things on a regular basis.

He would have been at this point sooner with more encouragement/confidence from the coaching staff.

Williams also needed to discover himself. With Love out Williams has been able to establish a comfortable role. Its coming along slowly but I believe with more time to grow he can he a solid starter. He still has many things to work on but he’s certainly not Beasley 2.0 as some posters have suggested.

[ilike.panochasParticipant]

He is capable of producing when given the minutes. He was in Adelman’s dog house in the beginning of the season and now Adelman’s is forced to give him the playing time due to injuries. He’s putting up numbers but the team isn’t winning. You know the saying, it’s easy to put up numbers when your in a bad team. I think he makes a good 2nd option on a fully healthy Wolves team, the problem is he and Love plays the same position. I think eventually, perhaps this offseason, they try to trade Derrick Williams, especially that his value has risen.

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

Yeah, he’s been playing better since they moved him to power forward..Which i think is his more natural position

[Sewok15Participant]

He is a guy that can really be effective if utilized properly. He needs to play the 4 and use his quickness. He could be Thaddeus Young with a better jumpshot but only half the defense. Thad has averaged 15 and 8 this year for the Sixers and been one of the most efficient power forwards in the NBA. I expect Williams to develop into a guy who can put up those kind of numbers if given the opportunity. He already has been since the all star break and I expect more of the same…but they have to trade him or Love.

[bennydabullParticipant]

i think the timberwolves gotta keep and develop him to play that 4 because i have a bad feeling that Love won’t be returning…

[Meditated StatesParticipant]

I think Williams plays good with Rubio though. I think Williams suits Ricky more. Love is not a high flyer. Love without a doubt is the better player though.

[meirmeir13]

Hes not better than terrance jones, patric patterson hell ill even take bismac over him

[BigChamp12Participant]

I wouldnt mind seeing him with the Lakers

[Sewok15Participant]

Williams would be a good fit with Boston moving forward. They have a play making PG who can get him easy buckets. Love won’t be resigning but he can’t opt out until the summer of 2015. I think you have to roll with the guy who gets you 26 and 13 over Williams getting you 17 and 8. Even with Love being injured often and not likely to resign he still is one of the best power forwards in the league.

[Skeating12345Participant]

I really like his game. He has actually improved alot since college. He has a very good mid range shot now, which was almost non-existent at Arizona, his 3 ball is continuing to improve, and he has a decent handle. With his work ethic, I think that he will end up being a very good NBA player. Its too early to start giving up on him. He’s only in his second year, and hes starting to put up numbers now.

[rileymcshea3Participant]

Well if I do remember from watching Derrick Williams at Arizona,almost all of his 3s came from the top of key or and sometimes the wings,not much in the corner which distance wise is a mid range shot in the NBA and shot over 50% in college.As for D-Will in the nba he is definitely a 4, and a great scoring one if given the chance.I think Minnesota either needs to trade him or let Pekovic leave and slide Kevin Love to the 5 and make him play defense like the superstar he think is,because with Rubio running the team with D-Will and K-love at the big men position they will definitely be one the best scoring teams in the league.The front court would be seriously unguarded but might not be the best in the defensive side,maybe kerlinko will help that out.

[SiggyParticipant]

This is him playing better?
He’s still shooting 44% as a PF for the month of March, 51%TS which is well below average for a big man.
This after coming off of a month of February shooting 43% with a 50%TS. And he’s doing this on a bad, losing team where he’s forced into extended action.
Combine that with his nondescript defense, negative plus minus, a -9 net rating, mediocre rebounding and he’s pretty much the same player that they struggled to find value for this past offseason. And that mid-range game? Yes it has improved, from 29% to 32% from mid-range which still isn’t good.

They should look to get whatever they can for him, but they already tried that.

[JoeJoParticipant]

He still hasn’t been great, as he’s had too many clunkers along with some very good games but he’s not looking like a total bust anymore. At least that’s progress.

I don’t think he’s going to be a star. For an undersized power forward with no post game, he needs to have a driving game to complement his outside game and I think he’s too poor of an one-foot jumper to ever be an effective finisher. He’s getting to the line but he might hit the rim like once in four drives. Off two feet, he’s still the same dynamic, explosive finisher of lobs he was in college but off one-foot, it’s like morphs into George Mureshan. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger drop off in leaping ability from two feet to one. It’s bizarre.

[doubledribblerParticipant]

Williams is a tweener in the worst way. He’s too slow to guard 3s and too small and weak to guard 4s. Offensively, he’s not efficient at all. He’s poor shooting from distance and doesn’t use his quickness very well against bigger guys. If Adelman doesn’t want to play him then these are probably the reasons. This is a coach that has no problem playing versatile players. I’m not saying the guy is a bust, but like most tweeners his best role is going to likely be coming off the bench.

More than anything Khan should be blamed for drafting him. You don’t draft a guy #2 that his best position might be the same as a guy that is going to play 35-40 minutes and that likely would never be able to play with that same player. There were a number of guys they could have traded down for that would have filled a need for them at that time.

[JNixonParticipant]

he’s a role player at best on a good team. like a matchup ploy type. he’s too much of a tweener right now, and he’s not really efficient for a combo forward

[Author]

Posts