I'm not convinced at all that WCS and Buddy are core pieces on a perennial playoff team. This is coming from a huge Buddy supporter/defender. Kings fans like to dismiss age for whatever reason, but their ages are completely relevant in discussions. They're 4 years older than Fox who is our supposed franchise player.
If they showed more than 12pts a game, then MAYBE I would think differently.. But when 37yearold ZBo is better than them at 24, it's hard to call me impressed.
So this is what were doing? We're using Randolph as a measuring stick. It doesn't impress you that you think Randolph is a better player than Willie, even though Randolph is in his 18 season in the league. That's 18 years of experience, against Willie, who is in his 3rd year in the league. First, I would argue that Randolph isn't that much better than Willie offensively. Randolph is averaging 14.8 ppg in 25 mpg. While shooting 47.5% from the floor and taking 13.1 shoots per game. Willie is averaging 12.6 ppg in 27 mpg, while shooting 49.2% from the floor and taking 10.5 shots per game. Randolph is pulling down 6.8 rebounds against Willie's 6.9 rebounds. I think I can safely argue the Willie is a far better defender than Randolph, and he should be.
I don't give a tinkers damm about the age of a player, but I do care about years of NBA experience. The NBA is an entirely different world than college basketball, and as I have said many times, and frankly I'm getting tired of saying it, the PG and Center positions are the two hardest positions to learn in the NBA. Especially the PG position. The reason is that both those positions require more responsibility than the other three positions. For that reason, I'm willing to cut Willie more slack than I'am Buddy. However, while Buddy makes me pull my hair out at times, he has some unique talents that are hard to find, and so I'm willing to ride that horse for a while longer.
So, at this juncture, no one is asking you to be convinced of anything. I'm not convinced, but I'm still optimistic because I see progress. Players don't go from being raw players as far as NBA experience goes, to superstars overnight. Actually, most will never reach the superstar level. In the case with Willie, I think you have to ask yourself what your expectations are? If you looking for him to become something that's not realistic, then your going to be disappointed. I've never expected Willie to be a 20 and 10 guy, but I do expect him to be a 15 and 8 guy. If he can do that, and play solid defense, I'm fine with it.
Now if next season he wants to score 23 points a game and pull down 12 boards, I'm thrilled. But I would consider that a bonus. I'd like to point out though that there aren't too many centers in the league averaging that.