Comments on: Monday Bolts – 7.13.09

By: Crow

Crow — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:57:38 +0000

As I threw in earlier his health / weight / conditioning would be the determining factor. In college he did much of what Blair did. I’d at least be willing to work him out to guess whether there is any real chance of a change to the better. Probably not but you want to look for the surprises.

By: Crow

Crow — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:27:57 +0000

On second look I probably could have passed on mentioning Williams. He can defend the center but he really can’t score as a center. As I said the defense might matter more, especially for a spot minutes guy but it is unlikely they go for him. If you could get him at the minimum he might be a good practice player making players work to score and making them defend.

By: DSMok1

DSMok1 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:51:21 +0000

@Vince No, Williams can't really play the 5. That was his problem. In college, he could muscle his way to rebounds. However, despite his wide wingspan he had a very short vertical reach (very broad shoulders). His standing reach was shorter than any other PF ever drafted in the top 15, and his vertical wasn't great either! In truth, he could scarcely play the 4 in the pros, either, due to his lack of footspeed. A productive college player, but without the ability to translate that to the pros.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:29:19 +0000

Also, The guy we traded for Mullens, Dubios (don’t care to look up spelling) had a stellar game last night, the injured his knee. It looked pretty bad.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:12:24 +0000

Shelden Williams and JJ Redick were both on TV a LOOOOttt that year, as was Adam MOrrison.

Millsap was on the radar though. He led the NCAA’s in rebounding three straight years.

By: Vince

Vince — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:05:11 +0000

Can Williams play the 5? He’s only 6′9″, so I wouldn’t think so. Seems to be a bit redundant with Collison and White behind Green. Plus, he went to Duke, so he can go…well, you know.

In all seriousness, I always liked him as a prospect — I’m suprised he’s struggled as much as he has. After all the hoopla over the recent draft, it just goes to show how little we really know right now. Who’d have guessed Paul Millsap (drafted 47th in ‘06) would be getting $30M+ and Shelden Williams (drafted 5th the same year) would be praying for a phone call?

By: Crow

Crow — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:42:48 +0000

I assume you could get him for about $2 mil a year or maybe less. Probably a 2-3 year deal with somebody having an option. Last year he was better on some things (blocks, steals, rebounding) and worse on shooting but the first items are probably more important. How many bigs have a personalty type and a pedigree that Presti would like and is cheap and presumably willing to come to OKC?

Just a thought. Maybe not considered a need. Depends on the availability of a roster slot. Presti anticipated he could do something with Atkins. Not yet.

By: Royce

Royce — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:17:35 +0000

@Crow Yep, real good player for Midwest City High School. Teammate of current Los Angeles Dodger Matt Kemp.

By: Crow

Crow — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:55:32 +0000

He’d mainly be an insurance policy unless they moved Collison. If Krstic or Collison went out for awhile they got guys who could cover but Williams is probably a better defender than any of them.

I just made one last pass on the free agent market and that is all I came up with that was semi-realistic.

By: Crow

Crow — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:48:16 +0000

And mainly to try to improve team defense, not be a major scorer.