Like I said, what counts is what he does in the NBA. And Williams was no consensus lottery pick, 21 players were picked in front of him.
Bro...how do you think they invite guys to the Blue Room? That' they're just random guys that they hope get picked at all? You think that the NBA would have invited Rashard Lewis to the Blue room 5 or so years ago when he dropped into the second round? No. Of course not they go by projections. I challenge you to find 1 mock, 1 report, 1 anything that says it's even a possibility that Marcus WIlliams would fall into the 20's.
I know mocks are not the draft, but sometimes mocks are good, sometimes they aren't, but they are a good guage for reference. You think that Paul Pierce was the 10th best player in that draft? Robert Traylor was drafted before him!http://www.nbadraft.net/1998.htm
Marcus was the best PG prospect(with Rondo a close 2nd). If you can find me anything-anything at all that says Marcus was going to fall out of the lotto, I'll be extremely impressed.
He would not have played. Maybe we do need backcourt help but he would not have played and he is redundant. SO far he is low percentage and high turnovers.
You are getting redundant confused with just having alot of guards. Marbury, Crawford, Nate, and Francis are redundant. They all do the exact same thing. They all have the exact same strength. Marcus or Rondo, or Lowry wouldn't have been redundant because thay all excel at running a team, getting others involved. That is not redundant, that is just having too many guards. Isiah had given us redundancy x3 at the position since Feb. when he got Francis.
I don't believe I have ever brought it up, but I have responded to it. I don't care where he was picked as long as he can help the team.
I don't care as long as he helps the team, either. I just think a different pick would have helped the team
more.
I am not sure what you mean. You were nringing up players we could have had, citing that he is better based on college. Based on the short NBA season he is about the same. I am sure there are other players who seem better than Balkman who were picked after, but do they have a role on the team? I know Rondo doesn't.
Looking back is 20-20. I am not looking at it from the perspective of what they are doing now. I look at the thinking at the time of the draft. And I try to remember just what I knew then. Example: I can't cry about passing on Gilbert Arenas, or Mike Redd because they just weren't projected to be that good coming out of school. Knowing what I know know, of course I would pick them. But I didn't know then what I do know now.
It seems a little confusing, but the logic still stands-especially this early in guys' careers.
And about that last line-yes Rondo would have had a place on this team. You realize Rondo is averaging more assists and more rebounds and is shooting better than Nate is?
I am not arguing "the rookies" would not have played, I am arging that Marcus Williams would not have played. And he wouldn't. When do you think he might have played? I think possibly in the second half of the SA game, that's it.
With all this stuff about not drafting guys because they wouldn't have played, you realize, Balkman is averaging 6.5 minutes per game right? And there have been time Isiah has gone to 4 guards and Lee or Curry.
I have never claimed he is the next Artest or the next anything. My point is that Balkman fills a need we have, which is hustling, scrapping, defense. Is that wrong, or is it true? And even if Balkman can only defend the wing, we need that!
And once again there were alot of better players that filled that need and did more than Balkman.
I get your point. But I don't agree. Williams is not so good that we should draft him even though we have 4 players who will play in front of him.
And the comparison of SA drafting Duncan even though they had Robinson is waaaaay of base, because Duncan truly is the kind of player you draft no matter who is on your team, unlike Williams. Also Robinson and Duncan played different positions, they played alongside each other quite well don't you think?
I am talking about the principle oohah...please get over the names involved in my example. Look at the Draft.
The Celts drafted Rondo even though they had West, and just traded for Telfair that night. Philly drafted Carney AND Bobby Jones even though they had Iggy and Korver at that 2/3 spot. Indy drafted Shawne Williams even though Granger is proving to be a very good SF. NO drafted Cedric Simmons when West is proving to be almost a 20/10 guy. Cleveland drafted Shannon Brown when they have a 26 yr old-just signed Larry Hughes manning that 2 guard spot.
These are just a few examples. I am not comparing Williams to ANY of the names, I am just arguing the principle.
[Edited by - joec32033 on 11-08-2006 10:26 AM]
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11/8/2006 8:48 AM