Long winded reply, but I hope I covered your points:
Oh, I get frustrated with Willie, too, because he has so much potential. However, I take issue with the constant refrain that he is not trying. There was a lot of comment on the board last year that he was lazy and not working, but Kayte and some of the others in some of the pregame stuff put that to rest by talking and showing how hard he was working. It’s the NBA, it’s hard.
Willie did not play much basketball until very late, he was more into football. He was supposed to be a project at Kentucky. If you could see how much he has progressed since then you old be amazed. Calipari did not really develop him, Cal has the one and done mind set, and once Willie’s potential showed, Cal played to Willie’s strength as a rim protector and P&R, nothing else, because with Cal it is get them noticed by the NBA and get a contract and move on. Play their strengths, hide their weaknesses, there isn’t time for a whole lot of development, plus it’s college with limited practice time. Most people thought he would leave after his freshman year and go late first round or more probably early 2nd round. But he came back, but with UK, there is always a new incoming class of one and done, so it was pretty much the same deal, showcase his strengths, hide his weaknesses, he will definitely be gone after year two. But he had a foot injury and he came back again even though he was projected as a definite 1st rounder, although I think he would have come back anyway. But again, there was always new guys to showcase, Karl Anthony Townes in particular, so still no real development of Willie, Cal had him doing the same things he did as a freshman, albeit pretty well.
Then Willie comes to the Kings (or the Kangz) and the dysfunction that was here 3 years ago with coach Karl (whether that was all Karl is certainly debatable) who used him in a limited manner doing pretty much the same things Cal had him doing. After that mess, the following year a new coach, new system, Joerger did not play the youngsters because his mandate was to make the playoffs, that is, until, Cuz was traded. Then Willie was given more playing time and we started to see glimpses of the potential. We actually started to see some of it before the trade. Joerger started working him into the rotation more. Then comes this year, the blowup and rebuild, bunch of new team mates, basically a reboot again. Nobody looks good consistently right now.
Willie needs to bring more energy, but so does everybody on the team. I am not sure what the deal is there, but it seems to be a team wide phenomenon. Also, sometimes I think people confuse frenetic with energy. Willie is very smooth, nothing herky-jerky about him. I had a young cousin who played baseball, centerfield, and he was tall and lanky and very smooth. He glided to the ball, didn’t look like he was putting much effort into it, but he caught almost everything hit his way and very few balls got by him. Another boy on the team played center field some and he was all in motion and herky-jerky, always diving for balls (that he didn’t get), flopping around and all the parents talked about how good he was even though he didn’t get to a lot of balls, but they loved “the effort”. The coaches mostly played Drew because they knew he got to all the balls he should.
I though Willie brought pretty good controlled energy to the Knick game, at least in the 1st quarter. Then everybody got steamrolled. The team defense is terrible for the most part, Willie tries to cover too much ground, which leaves his man open when he switches. Time and time again, I see Willie start out on his man, switch off on another and then wind up trying to close out on the 3-point shooter. Willie needs to learn how to guard 3 men at once better.
As for Willie’s comments, that is Willie, you ask him a question, you get a straight answer, exactly what is on his mind. Willie thinks he can be as good as Porzingis, that is what he will tell you. He needs that confidence, although for the public relations part, it might be better if he did the “aw shucks” politically correct thing. Willie is trying to grow into a leadership role, that is hard work, too.
As far as draft picks, hind sight is always 20/20, I’m sure Portland would take Michael Jordan a 1000 time over Sam Bowie if they had it to do over again.
And I have to disagree with you about “people not turning on Willie, because he loves art or has tatoos or weird hairdos” because in this very thread there are at least 3 comments, one calling him a stoner, another suggesting he is high on weed, and then a comment about his love of art. None of which has anything to do with his performance (unless they really have some evidence that he is playing high). Anytime there is a thread about Willie, you will see those comments by the same cast of characters. I believe the stoner and weed references are more about his free-spirited ways, being different than any real concern there.
There is a complete lack of patience on the board right now, this rebuild is not a just a few weeks and then the team will be playing for a playoff spot. That is completely delusional for the people that have that mind set. The rebuild will be measured in years not weeks. Patience for the team, for the individual players, and the coaching staff is going to be required. There will be some good nights, some good performances and there will be regressions. More regressions than good performances for the foreseeable future. Personally, I believe it will be year 3 of the rebuild before this team becomes competitive, but I also think it has a chance to become something special.