Nets Are Scorching

With the Nets constantly being mentioned by the mainstream sports media as a potential landing spot for Carmelo Anthony, the NAS squad is going to take a look over at some of the players who would likely be included in a deal for the All-Star SF.

Would you Trade Terrence Williams?

The Case For Trading Terrence Williams:

The man is all potential at this point.  Williams is a favorite of a lot of Nets fans and surely many will cry foul should T-Will be traded.  Afterall, some may have spent $40+ dollars on a Williams jersey and it only appreciated one year’s worth of value?  In any case, Williams is loaded with talent and athleticism and brings a certain amount of excitement every time his kicks touch the hardwood.  However, he can’t shoot for excrement!  Granted it was his rookie season, but shooting 40.1% for the season is as bad as answering your girlfriend when she asks you if she looks good in a certain outfit (BTW, the answer is always to ask a question back such as, “Do you think you look good in it?”).

Taking a closer look at it, Williams shot 55.4% at the rim and 50.0% from less than 10 feet, which is decent, but 31.6% from 10-15 feet, 22.0% from 16-23 feet, and 31.0% from three-point range.  In a word, yuck.  Obviously as a wing player, one must, you know, be able to hit shots from the wing and Williams clearly cannot do that yet.  Unfortunately for T-Will, there are other players now on the team that can.  Anthony Morrow is a career 48.1% shooter from 10-15, 44.1% from 16-23, and 46.0% from the land of treys.  Travis Outlaw, in the past four seasons, has hit 39.8% of his shots from 10-15, 41.8% from 16-23, and 36.4% from behind the three-point line.

Granted getting to the rim is part of being a wing player, but both Morrow and Outlaw are pretty good finishers at the rim themselves, so Williams doesn’t stand out in that respect.  So, unless T-Will can get a jumper of some kind with the quickfast, he has to be considered expendable, particularly for a player of Carmelo Anthony’s caliber.

The Case Against Trading Terrence Williams:

The man is all potential at this point.  However, the last two months of the 2009-10 season, in particular, showed how great Williams could be.  In 15 March games, T-Will averaged 14.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 4.9 APG.  In 7 April games, he slightly upped the production by averaging 14.3 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 6.3 APG, a month that includes getting his first career triple-double (27, 13, 10) versus the Chicago Bulls on April 9th.  And to get back to his shooting, in March, Williams shot 42.9% from the field and did a lot better in April, hitting 45.5% of his shots.  So, there is hope yet!

Given the burn on the court, T-Will is basically a triple-double waiting to happen.  His Per 40 stats break down to 14.9 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 5.1 APG.  Williams is a freak athlete with outstanding court vision and passing ability for a wing.  In fact, there always seems to be talk about T-Will playing the lead guard position as a back-up to Devin Harris.  Williams has the tools to become an outstanding defender at the NBA level as he was during his college days at Louisville, able to defend multiple positions.  Again, there is a lot of potential here with Williams.

The Final Verdict:

Potential is a nice thing, however, it can only get you so far, especially if you’re the Nets trying to make the playoffs and change the culture surrounding the team.  So, the question is, will Carmelo Anthony help the Nets into the playoffs?  No question.  Will T-Will?  Quite possibly, but there is a better chance with Melo around in a Nets uni.  So, Terrence Williams, we hardly knew ye.  Enjoy Denver.

While we’ve heard a lout about the team’s new players, new owner and new head coach, one of the biggest changes for the organization this summer has been the dramatic improvement in the team’s coaching staff. One of those new additions, assistant coach Larry Krystkowiak, has head coaching experience in Milwaukee and after reading this latest piece from Ben Couch, seems like a legitimately great guy who is going to be a real asset to the organization:

“I’ve always been a big fan of trying to get a little bit better every day,” Krystkowiak says. “That’s a personal goal for me. And I don’t have all the answers – don’t have close to all the answers. I’d love to pick up something each day that can help me get better at my job. And also be challenged with the players on the team, to make sure they’re doing the same thing. Really, I’ve been pretty fortunate having that mentality and that philosophy: bigger picture things tend to work themselves out when you focus on the day-to-day stuff. If that means head coach down the road, great. If not, I’m not getting restless and wanting anything to do with that. I’m just one day at time, and I’m real content with that philosophy.”