Willie also kept us in the game in the first quarter of that game. He was almost our total offense. Plus, I agree with the post that stated many times Willie was away from the basket guarding KAT. There were also many plays if you go back and rewatch the game where Buddy or another teammate got the rebound because Willie boxed out Towns, who was a freaking beast last night.
Look, Willie is never going to be a rebounding leader in the NBA, especially when he's being used the way he is. Do I think he could still improve in that area? You bet! I think he tends to give up on a rebound because of being out of position, and many times if he had pursued, he might have gotten it, or had a put back. On the whole, I thought Willie played a good game. Not sure what he could have done to contain Towns other than tackle him.
In that regard, the best thing you can do with a player like Towns is deny him the ball. However, the new freedom of movement rules make that very difficult to do. When a player like Towns is trying to establish position, you can't do anything that stops him from getting to that position like you used to. You can't bump him, put your hands on him, and in some cases, if you body makes contact with him they're blowing the whistle. Now of course it works both ways, but when you have a player as talented as Towns, you have a big problem. Same deal with Antetekoumnpo. If they're hitting their shots, it makes them almost unstoppable.
It didn't seem to be a problem for Kosta, did it? Kosta gave KAT some defensive problems at the end of the game. He actually posed some
resistance to KAT that WCS just did not do.
Safe to say WCS won't be a rebound leader in the NBA.
Only one time in the first 12 games of the season has he had more rebounds than the opposing center. In this game the opposing center almost
quadrupled his output in rebounding. I don't know if this stat is available or not, but it would be very interesting at the end of the season to see on average how many rebounds WCS is out-rebounded by opposing centers. Getting rebounds is a good stat, but it doesn't necessarily tell you how many rebounds you prevent your opponent from getting. The net difference is key.
Did WCS have a positive and
efficient offensive impact in scoring in the first half? Yes. I just loved his efficiency. Did he offset *some* of the KAT point production? Yes. Could one say that WCS's activity on the offensive end slowed down KAT some on the offensive end because he was expending energy on defending WCS? Hard to say because I don't know how much energy KAT puts into defense to begin with, but it is possible.
The thing that just bugs me about WCS is that his priority and/or focus or emphasis seems to be much more on point production than anything else. He doesn't get his hands up ready for a rebound, the result of which the ball just bounces off his hands as he brings them up to the ball. He doesn't look to really put a body on KAT when the ball is shot. He just loves offense. And he just hates being physical. It is very interesting to me that the guy who for years now has wanted and believed he could score in the post is now doing so. He absolutely has surprised me with the improvement of that aspect of his game. Too bad he didn't put the same emphasis on interior defense and rebounding.
He's a fast, point producing center who does help you with his switching defense on the periphery. But, and it's a big but for the center position,
he's soft. Maybe that's that's all he'll ever be. If that is what he is, then I'd really like to know how the Kings' brain trust views how he fits with their vision of this team going forward. It would be a very interesting conversation.