Sorry but this is nonsense. It is easy misinterpret stats and go data mining for conclusions you seek. It is laughable to say Willie is a prolific passer. He is a
cautious passer which has its merits and accounts for assist to turnover rate, same as the case with Jackson. Among other things to be a prolific passer you need to be able to throw baseball passes, to cup the ball and whip it through traffic. You need to be able to make quick precise reads. His mind-body connection does not process at an optimal rate. Do you see Willie throwing baseball passes, palming the ball like a grapefruit and threading the needle? C-Webb did this. Boogie did this (of course he was too careless too). Giles shows incredible potential in this regard. Willie is nowhere close. He will throw a nice interior bounce pass now and again and he will make the simple pass. That's not prolific. To be a prolific passer you have to draw attention and be an offensive threat. Why do you think D-Fox assists soared this year and Lonzo did not? One can attract defense and a second defender and one cannot . It is the same thing with Willie. He's not causing gravity to open up the floor for his teammates.
Your other statement that I bolded is inaccurate too. A diverse offense skill set would be reflected in scoring efficiency (TS%). His scoring efficiency is 53%. That is poor for a guy who gets so many baskets served on a platter. He is dared to score in iso situations and can't do it. 78% of his baskets are assisted. I estimate that he shoots about 20% FGs when he tries to take his man one-on-one. 4 out of 5 baskets are with the help of a teammate where he just needs to catch and dunk. Being a formidable lob target is a great weapon, it is underrated, but this is the extent of his "diverse offensive skill". He has good quickness but it is difficult to exploit his quickness advantage because he lacks touch. Quickness and power are a devastating combination (think LeBron). Quickness and touch are devastating too (think Kevin Durant). Willie has the quickness but he lacks the power and the touch.
The link you referenced is not impressive. How many games has the author seen Willie play? Regrettably I have seen them all.
. The main reason we are 10th in the playoffs and not 5th or 6th is because of Willie. We would have at least 5 more wins if he did not consistently let us down. He has led us to the 5th worst defense and 5th worst rebounding. The center is the anchor to your defense. He is not a good anchor minus a few flashes here and there. He could offset this to a degree if he was a dynamic offense player but he looks good primarily when his teammates make him look good. There is one way to settle the debate among the very small contingent of fans that support Willie. If Willie is the player a small minority contend there should be a rumor with his name in it. In other words a team makes an overture to acquiring him with the intent to re-sign him. If he has "all the tools" as I have heard some say 1 team out of 29 should express some interest that may get leaked. I don't think those rumors are forthcoming. I would love to be wrong and for example hear that the Pistons (Drummond) or Wizards (Porter) have interest in trading for Willie. There are dumb GMs out there but unfortunately for our sake I don't think they are that dumb.
