Thoughts on the Shawne Williams deal

If you all haven't heard the news, according to RealGM, Shawne Williams of the Pacers has been traded to the Mavericks for Eddie Jones, two 2nd round picks, and $1.8 million in cash.

This is definitely a step back, and at best a lateral step for the Mavs. My initial reaction to this trade is amazement. We all knew Shawne Williams was not going to last very long after his marijuana incident last year, and it is no secret he was on Larry Bird's blacklist after the incident. With that said, out of the 29 other teams in the league, why would the Mavericks be the ones to make a move for him?

It makes sense as to why the Pacers would want to split Marquis Daniels and Williams up, but why would Dallas want to bring Josh Howard and Williams together? With all of the negative press about Josh Howard these past 5 months, bringing in another problem player can't be healthy to the team's chemistry as well as their PR rehabilitation.

My guess right now is that Rick Carlisle thought very highly of Williams when he coached the Pacers. He can be a solid bench player if he focuses more energy on the court. Watching Williams play in Memphis left one to think that he is the prototype of an NBA player. Being 6'9 and 225lbs, he has the size to be a 3. He can play face up to the basket, and in college, could get to the rim at will. He is an inconsistent shooter, but with so much potential and only being 22, he definitely has room for improvement. Carlisle clearly thinks Williams has a chance to make it in this league, and wants one more shot a reviving a Williams career before it even really began. What is going to be the most intriguing part of this deal is how Williams conducts himself off the court. If he starts associating with the wrong people and it affects his play, I can't imagine Cuban having much patience for it after all he has had to deal with after the Howard situation. Nonetheless, the only product that matters is on the court. Williams has averaged 6.7 pts and 2.7 rebounds throughout his 2 year career. If he wants another contract, that is going to have to be improved to around 10 or 11ppg and he is going to have to improve his rebound category to around 6 or 7, at minimum to go along with it.

The problem I see with Williams is that he has no defined role at this point unless he somehow outplays Devean George and Jerry Stackhouse for minutes. If Carlisle starts randomly subbing Williams in to see how he fares, that could be disastrous for Williams and the Mavericks. In that scenario, it seems like Williams will get lost and his production will drop even further. That sort of seems like the rationale for trading Eddie Jones. Jones is an old veteran who had to compete with the younger George and Stackhouse for the same minutes Williams will be competing for, and with Williams due to make $1.5 and Jones being paid $1.9, it wasn't like that $400,000 was a salary cap move. The Mavs clearly see something here, and the desperate Mavs supporters are hoping it is right.

I love Shawne Williams the player, and I have loved his game since his days at Memphis. In fact, I was just talking with someone about how surprised I was when he was drafted 16th. Before the 2006 draft I was telling everyone that Williams was going to be one of the best players of the class, and the teams picking 11-15 were making a big mistake on passing him up. I have no problem admitting that I have been wrong so far. However, I do still have hope for Williams' career. There are two roads that Williams can take with his new start in Dallas. He can either live up to his potential or continue down his current path and find himself out of the league when his rookie contract expires.


As far as Indiana goes, Eddie Jones was my favorite player when he was on the Lakers. It has been tough for me to see him decline from his days as a Laker. I do believe that Eddie Jones will retire after his contract is up. He has even said that he will 'go home' if he did not win a championship with Dallas. I was rooting for him to win that championship, but it seems as if it won't be part of his career as a player. I don't see Jones playing much of a role in Indiana unless Jamaal Tinsley gets traded (which is a real possibility), but even then, Jones will be limited. Overall, the deal was great for the Pacers, and a gamble for the Mavs. It just adds to the already intriguing upcoming NBA season.

Izzy

Detroit Pistons Analysis

Many of you have requested to bring back the 'Off-Season To-Do List' series, but it was a little too much for our understaffed site to handle. So, to meet the demands of our faithful readers, we have decided to bring back the series in an abbreviated form. It will no longer be called the 'Off-Season To-Do list' because it is not the off-season anymore with the start of the preseason. We have decided to do analysis on teams that have been requested. We will try to accommodate as many requests as we can, but during the season, we will be blogging about season related issues instead of general analysis.
As you can tell by the title of this entry, the Pistons have been requested on numerous occasions. I have found the Pistons a very intriguing team in the NBA. Every year, someone picks them to go to the Finals or to win the championship. I've always found these predictions peculiar because they seem to be connecting dots that aren't there. Don't get me wrong, the Pistons are an extremely talented team, and they have the tools to be a competitive team year after year in the Eastern Conference. That is where it ends. A competitive Eastern Conference team. Even if they were a Western Conference team, they would still be competitive, but no matter where they play, they don't have the tools to get over the hump. I think Joe Dumars is starting to realize this and has pushed/will push the 'rebuild button'. This may not be totally apparent, but he has made a coaching change and toyed with the thought of trading his core this summer (The rumors with the Nuggets).

Here is the good news for the Pistons. They have a core of Rip Hamilton under contract until the summer of 2010, Tayshaun Prince until the summer of 2011, and Chauncey Billups until 2012. It gets even better for the Pistons, this is Rasheed Wallace's contract year. He is due to make $13.6 million this year and becomes an unrestricted free agent. This has huge implications for both Sheed and the Pistons. With Sheed being the highest paid Piston, but being only the 4th highest scorer on the team while averaging a very unimpressive 12.7ppg, 6.6 rebs, and 1.68blks, he will have a lot of incentive to boost those numbers this year, and Dumars as well as other GM's around the league will be taking note.. Sheed is only getting further and further away from his Tarheel glory days, and he will be demanding a huge contract to secure him and his family for life. That can happen, if, he performs big this season. As with many players and their contract years, expect Wallace to put up some huge numbers this season. He has always been an effective passer for a big man, but he should be averaging more than 1.8 assts per game. That statistic seems to be indicative of Sheed not looking to make the play and just settling. One of his biggest criticisms throughout his career has been his consistency. He shows up and then disappears through stretches of the season. He also tends to hang out on the perimeter instead of going down on the block. He does not utilize his post ability as much as he can. If he works on his post presence instead of settling for the three pointer, the Pistons will be very strong at the 4, which seems to be where everyone is making an upgrade these days. Wallace played decently well during the playoffs, but was shut down by KG during the Conference Finals. That is the biggest concern for Piston fans as it stands right now. KG and the Celtics are clearly the biggest impediment to making the Finals. If it does not happen this year, I can't see how the Pistons stay with Rasheed. This relationship won't be ablle to be rationally proglonged unless the Pistons get past the Celtics, at least.

If Sheed does have to leave after this year, Piston fans won't be too upset about it because they have one of the best young forwards in the game in Tayshaun Prince. The Compton Dominguez high school star and Kentucky Wildcat is the future of the Pistons. He has a 7'6 wingspan and a solid all around game. He creates matchup problems every night because of his length and solid defensive presence. Prince will be paid a fair $9.5 million this year and have that increase to $10.5 million and finally, to $11.3 million over the next 2 years. Prince made his mark on the league with his infamous block against Reggie Miller in the Conference Finals in 2004. Since then, he has become a household name, won a championship, and earned a spot on the Beijing team. He is most effective when he gets spot up mid-range jumpshots and is able to work within the system. Prince seems to have a great ability to adapt to different styles of play. Under Flip he was able to play a wing type of a role and get hustle points with a couple plays run for him throughout the game. With Michael Curry taking the reigns in Detroit the impact it will have is unknown at this point. I would expect Prince to be able to adapt to any role given to him because that is the type of player he is. He will still get his looks and will still create opportunities for himself. Prince has also never sustained a major injury in his career and has been a pretty consistent contributor for the most part throughout his career. I'd expect to see Prince being a constant and a long term player in the Piston's future.

I have been a firm believer for the last 4 years that the Pistons have the best back court in basketball. The combination of Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups is a coach's dream. You have a strong ball-handling guard in Billups who is a constant producer in terms of points and assists at 17ppg and 6.8assts, respectively, and you have Rip Hamilton, the overachieving sharp-shooter who averages the most points for Detroit at 17.3ppg. It is what you would envision a back court to look like. Two smaller players, one who can dribble, pass, make good decisions and protect the ball as your 1 guard, and the 2 guard who can shoot from anywhere on the court after receiving the ball from the point guard. This year, both players will combine to make $21.5 million of the $67.8 million payroll the Pistons will have to dish out this year. To exemplify how fair that amount of money is, Rip and Chauncey combine to average 34.3 ppg of the Piston's 97.5 ppg avg. That is 34% of the total points for the Pistons. Their salaries make up 31.7% of the total payroll. This shows that they are producing to the extent to which they should be. They also are not too bad on the defensive end as Rip logs 1 steal per game and Chauncey logs 1.2 steals per game. Both players are amazing perimeter defenders. Billups has the size to body up against bigger point guards like Deron Williams, and the speed and athleticism to keep up with players like Tony Parker, Chris Paul, and Steve Nash. Hamilton is undersized, but can still be a pesky defender. I think the Piston's biggest weakness is their lack of size overall, but it is most commonly exploited in the back court. It is tough for the Pistons to throw Rip on a 2 like Kobe or T-Mac. There is no doubt Rip has the quickness, but he is not strong enough to body up against players like that. Even smaller sized players at the 2 like Caron Butler would still have size advantages over Hamilton, and that poses a problem for Detroit. Many say, just throw Tayshaun on that player. Well, that creates another problem. Who does Rip guard? If Tayshaun has to guard T-Mac, then who guards Artest? If Tayshaun has to guard Kobe, who guards Lamar? Those are just two teams that can exploit the matchup of Rip Hamilton, but that is less of a concern considering the Lakers and Rockets are not in the same conference. For the purposes of the the Eastern Conference, Rip will be good enough to match up to Ray Allen, all the Pistons should really care about.

The reason I wrote that the Pistons might be going through a rebuilding stage is due to their youth movement. They have brought in a lot of young talent with Maxiell, Afflalo, Stuckey, and their two draft picks of D.J White and Deron Washington. All of these players are in the beginning of their career and especially the first three players named, will have an opportunity to become stars in this league. Antonio McDyess at 8.8ppg and 8.5 rebs and commanding $6.8 million the next two years is not what I would call ideal. In addition, having Kwame Brown as the backup is clearly a deficiency. I have written about the Kwame Brown acquisition in a previous post so I won't go into that any more although it is no secret that I strongly disagree with it.

This coming season will be the ultimate test for the Pistons. They have made some tweaks in their roster, and will still be in the annual discussion of who will win the East. Their name is undoubtedly the top two on that list. I still don't see them making it past the Celtics with their current squad. The Pistons have a great core and they are probably two players away from a championship. The Pistons can go in two directions at this point. They could be remembered as the one year fluke that took advantage of a disheveled and unorganized Laker team. Or, they could be the team that had no defined superstar and won because of their team play, saved the NBA from the stereotype of a 'superstar first' league, and played the game like Mr. Naismith envisioned when he invented the game.

Izzy

Links:
Both of these links are from ESPN the Mag.

A year after the fact, the Durant vs. Oden debate continues.

This is not basketball related at all, but Lil Wayne has a blog on ESPN, and it is great.

Nick Young Documentary

"Second Chance Season" is an inspirational story about Wizard's player Nick Young. It chronicles his life before USC and the NBA. The movie aired on ESPN2 last night, and it was incredible. It shows him battling on the court against former UCLA legend and Laker star Jordan Farmar in high school for bragging rights to the best player in the city, to his off court battle of the SAT, to his life battle in trying to cope with the death of his brother, and even several in depth interviews with the murderer of his brother and the drama that happens when the murderer and the family attempt to arrange a meeting.

The documentary was incredibly well made and almost made it feel like you were Nick Young's best friend that was going through these struggles with him. I believe that many NBA fans take for granted how hard some of these players had it before the NBA. Many fans look at the finished product of the player and are quick to criticize. This documentary really puts basketball and life in perspective. Young has had a lot more to deal with than just the pressure of putting the ball in the hoop. You see all sorts of levels of disappointment for Young and you get to experience it through him, seemingly in person. I can't give the movie justice through these couple of paragraphs. After watching the documentary, I have a new appreciation for Young's game and a new understanding of his life and others that have gone through a similar situation as him. Some people ask why professional athletes get paid ungodly amounts of money, but after seeing how Nick Young perservered through all of these hardships, it begins to answer that question.

If you did not get a chance to watch the movie then try and get a hold of it. If you haven't heard of the movie, here is the trailer.



Izzy

Quick thoughts on Josh Howard and Chris Paul

I'm not going to post the Josh Howard video because you all have seen it a million times by now. Apparently, Josh Howard has been sighted around campus (Wake Forest University) today. He has a house and some family members in nearby Lewisville, so it is not outrageous that he is around town. The interesting point is that The Chris Paul Foundation is sponsoring a concert by Ludacris tonight, and bought up a bunch of tickets that he gave to Wake students for free. A guess could be that Howard is in town to make an appearance at the concert for PR purposes (Rumor has it that Dwade, Lebron, Byron Scott, George 'The Iceman' Gervin, and some other Hornets players are making an appearance at the concert tomorrow). Or, he could just be waiting around until his court date next week for his racing violation he received earlier in the summer. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see two of the most high profile people to ever come out of Wake Forest both be in town simultaneously. One is just scratching the surface of his career and is one of the most loved athletes in the country, and another one who could be on a dark path in his career. I am a huge Howard fan, I love his game and I can't forget how much he has helped the Dallas organization, and I sincerely hope that he gets his name out of the news for negative things he has done, and gets his name in the news more for good things he is doing.

I can't stop reading all about this movie that is coming out about Lebron and his younger years. Here is an interview with some of the players, and check out this picture of a young Lebron.

What is the worst draft pick in the history of the NBA? No, not Kwame or Olowakandi...it is clearly Sam Bowie. Here is a stat analysis by WOW showing that Bowie was actually a very efficient player.

Team USA's go-to guy

One of the questions about the USA Redeem Team was whether they could fit all of those egos onto one team. As well all know, it worked better than planned. Some of the best players in the world found themselves in unfamiliar positions and adjusted to the situation. For my generation, it was our version of the Dream Team. It was some of the purest basketball I have ever seen, and it was beautiful to watch. Here is an article by Bill Simmons that a friend emailed to me talking about how the USA team unanimously chose Kobe to have the ball in the final moments of the game. It is a great read (Simmons always is). This post is less about promoting Kobe and more about highlighting the humility of the rest of the players, all of which, are the superstars on their respective teams. We may not see this again for a long time.

Here is the story.

Izzy

Introducing Greg Johnson to the DishingDimes team

We have picked up a new writer this past week. His name is Greg Johnson. He has written us a post before. It was the Game 1 rundown of the NBA Finals. Greg hails from the great or not so great (depends on your perspective), city of Boston. Some of you might be thinking, how can a Laker fan and Celtic fan coexist? Well, that is a good question. Surprisingly, Greg is one of the most level headed Boston fan I've ever come across, but I make that statement with some reservation seeing as I have not talked to him since Brady's injury. He has a very realistic view on everything Boston, and has a great knowledge about the league as well as history of the league. He is a great talent evaluator, and brings great opinions to any sports discussion I have with him. He is further from a Steven A. Smith and closer to a Hubie Brown in terms of his basketball comments.

He has a lot of real basketball experience. Standing at 6'5 he has played AAU ball, high school ball, and was a manager for the Wake Forest Basketball Team his freshmen year. If you ask him about the most memorable moment of his bsaketball career, he is less likely to tell you about the Division 1 basketball players he hung around with for hours on end, and more likely to tell you about the time when he was in a layup line for pregame warm-ups and fell after a dunk and attempted to brace his fall, like anyone would, with the palm of his hand, which caused his arm to bend up to the centimeter before it would break. I can imagine that his arm looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It may not have been his defining moment in his career, but it has proven that he is unbreakable, and he will be able to endure the criticism that bombards bloggers in the blogosphere without being phased. We are very proud to have Greg as a writer on the site, and we are sure that you all will enjoy his writing and his insight.

Welcome, Greg.

Izzy

When the real estate market and the economy is bad, it is tough to sell your house. Just ask Sheed and AI.

This is a really good review of a new documentary that is coming out about Lebron's old high school team. Check it out.

Like Father, uh, not really

The worst month of the year for the NBA is August. During the month of August I have had time to reflect on a lot of NBA happenings. I have come up with, what I have thought, to be profound thoughts, but upon approval from Phil, I have come to discover that my profound thoughts, have been very, well, unprofound. That changed yesterday when Patrick Ewing Jr. was traded to his father's old team, the Knicks. It caused me to think about not the trade itself, but about the pressure and expectation that has suddenly been put on Pat Jr. (not that there is no pressure when you are the son of a Hall of Fame player), now that he is playing for the Knicks, and not just any NBA team. I have reflected on the father-son duos of the NBA and sports in general, and about what this trade really meant for the Knicks. My conclusion may surprise you. Here are my thoughts on all of this.

Patrick Ewing Jr: I feel bad for the guy. Gets drafted in the second round and then gets dished to the Knicks. Most of the articles I have read on this story favor him going to New York. I look at this as the worst possible scenario for him. The public is a very unforgiving group of critics. People can't help but compare what is familiar to them.

Ask Luke Walton if he will ever be able to get out of the shadow of his father. No matter what he does at this point in his career, he will always be 'Bill's son'. Ask Jeffery Jordan how tough it is playing at Illinois. He probably couldn't even imagine what kind of pressure and what people would be saying if he played at Chapel Hill. Ask Drew, Jon, and Brent, who they are compared to? If they missed a free throw, announcers would have to hold their tongue before they could utter the words 'Rick wouldn't have done that.' Ask Coby Karl or Mike Dunleavy Jr. what sort of pressure they were under when they came into the league. Remember Stephon Curry in his legendary performance this past March? Who did they compare him to? His shot was like...Del's. At least Coby, Mike, and Stephon's fathers weren't considered some of the best players in the history of the game. No matter who you are, if your father played in the league, it will automatically attached inflated standards to your name. Once in a while you will get a Kobe Bryant, who can achieve legendary status that his father's career becomes more known after retirement. Or, if you are lucky, you will get a Grant Hill who is a five time all-star, a college standout, and has a career average of 21 points a game, and your father was an NFL legend who was a 4 time pro bowler who had over 1000 yards twice, and over 6,000 in his career. Even more rarely, will you have a Jimmy Walker and Jalen Rose. The late Jimmy Walker was the first pick in the NBA draft in 1967 and had an exceptional 9 year career averaging 16.7 ppg with Detroit, Houston, and Kansas City. Jalen Rose had a great NBA career with too many NBA teams to name, but averaging 14.8 his career, and even once averaging as much as 22.1 ppg with the Bulls. Kobe, Grant, and Jalen are exceptions.

This brings us back to our latest father-son player combo who has come into the league. Although Pat Jr. is in a very tough spot, you have to love his commitment, and courage to have the career he has had (Jeffery Jordan has to get a shout out for doing the same, even though Jeff will likely never see an NBA court). Patrick Ewing Jr. went to Indiana for the first two years of his college career and then transfered to Georgetown to finish off his career. It was a bold move, one that I'm sure his father was proud of. To put their careers in perspective, Pat Sr. averaged 15.3 ppg, 9.2 rebs, and 3.4 blks while he was a Hoya. Pat Jr., averaged 5.2 ppg and 1.4 assts. You don't have to be a statistician to see the incredible disparity between the numbers. Now, lets suppose, you knew nothing about either players' pro career, and they were not father and son, but brother and brother. Based on the numbers, you would probably say that Pat Sr. would be a good NBA player that had potential to be an All-Star one day. Few, if any, would say Pat Jr. had similar or even comparable potential. NBA teams must see something in Pat Jr. that would make them take a chance on him. The Knicks seem to be in the business of potential and taking Pat Jr. on the basis of potential is a little suspicious. He did not have an outstanding career and is best known for blocking a game winning shot against West Virginia that was about as close to goal tending as you will ever see. The question is, why? Why would the Knicks take an unproven player when they are a fading franchise. Pat Jr. has not proven he can make it. He was drafted on pure potential. His 6'8 and 240 frame gives him an NBA body, but does he know how to use it? Can Mike D'Antoni's coaching staff improve it? My guess is no.

I know that many of you are thinking that I am acting like Pat Jr. is a huge impact player the Knicks acquired, and it is still contingent on him making the roster. This post is more about me trying to be skeptical so Knick fans and NBA fans aren't so harsh on him if he flops. If he doesn't, it is a fairytale story that will probably be made into a movie one day, if he does, it was expected. The kid is playing in the biggest media market in the country, under the shadow of his Hall of Fame father. That is a lot of pressure, but he has dealt with this his whole life. He is probably phasing this out right now, but there is a bigger issue here. This is less about Pat Jr. than it is about the Knicks management. This is clearly a last ditch effort for the Knicks to acquire the best Knicks player in history's son in order to draw nostalgic fans who wish they were back in the 90's. This is a win-win for the Knicks. Fans will be drawn to MSG, to see what kind of player ol' Pat's son is. If the Knick's develop him, it will be the rebirth of their franchise, and it will be a story that will live in sport infamy. If not, at least it got fans in seats for a little bit, something the Knicks desperately need. It was a cheap rental. This pick up was strictly for a PR boost. Something that Knick fans should be extremely concerned about. Sports is about winning, and continuing to win, that is what keeps fans there, not parading around the shadow child of your franchise's glory days. Even the most devout Knicks fan is probably close to his or her breaking point by now, but if you are one of the fans who has looked the other way, be concerned.

Izzy

Ive been meaning to post these for a while.

Top NBA SF prospects in the 2009 draft.

Is Lebron really leaving? Seems like Cleveland is in the best position to do anything.