Sheldon was the 5th overall player drafted with Justin was not drafted at all. Justin showed that he was one dimensional, something Sheldon is not. Both probably have many years left in their professional careers, but Sheldon is not a project at this point maybe looking to head back to the D-League.
Well...if Justin was one-dimensional, he really, really exceled at being one-dimensional at the things most valued upon by the league...rebounding and shotblocking. Where former Kings summer camp invites Lonnie Jones, Anwar Ferguson and others haven't succeeded, the fact that Justin even placed himself in the rebounds per 48 minutes top 10 category, despite limited playing time and limited overall game time, speaks volumes. Now, if Justin was, say a shooter, he'd be discarded by us easily...those are commonplace in the league.
I agree though that Shelden has more skills than Justin...obviously, that has to come with being the 5th overall pick, the general talent package...and Shelden does have a solid foundation of good base, good shooting touch and rebounding ability. I don't quite think he's the insane rebounding machine that was Justin Williams, but early returns in his rookie year suggest that he's a pretty good rebounder and can actually be an impact one if he sticks to boxing out and being very aggressive as opposed to athletically grabbing the boards. The shotblocking...stymied in the NBA, but will pick up a couple here and there. Showed a nice one tonight, but I don't anticipate much from him in blocks. He'll get brownie points out of aggression though.