How is Gordon not worth the max?. 23 years old. Has improved incrementally every single year. Has a decent 3 pt shot. Will easily be a 20-10 guy next year. WCS sucks. Plain and Simple. He has a lot more issues than a broken jumper. WCS probably won’t even be on the Kings next year.
The Kings will never be an elite team with Willie. The guy is the worst starting center in the NBA.
At best we can be a low rung playoff team with Willie in the rotation. Nothing more.
You cannot have a player with so many holes to his game (mental and physical; O and D) be part of your rotation and expect to compete at the highest level.
Last night Fox and Boggy and Buddy were sporadically brilliant.
The reason we needed OT to beat a beat-up Heat team is because Willie gets abused and outworked against the likes of James Johnson and their rookie center who has more power and poise in the paint.
If we had an advantage at that position we would be more than 29th in offensive and 29th in defense.
Even when Willie drew that offensive charge on James Johnson he was out of position and lucky to get the whistle.
The replay showed that his shoulders were turned and it was only the refs blocked view that was fortuous for Willie.
Willie has a combination of low IQ and low grit. He doesn't want to get dirty. He wants to play pretty.
Willie sets the WORST picks I have ever seen in 30 plus years of NBA watching. Actually that is not completely accurate because to set a bad pick you actually have to, you know, set a pick. More than half of the time, his picks are phantom picks, similar to Jason Thompson's fake hustle.
Willie reacts to situations like he's seeing them for the first time. He's going on 25 years old with a rookie mindset. He's constantly off balance and throws up the weakest s**t when he tries to create his own shot. This would not be so bad if he was a stout defender.
But he is not keen or alert or bullying or anticipatory or any of the qualities you need from a front line defender.
Willie does good job with lob passes and throwing them down. This is his formidable skill.
But just like Lonzo Bust is not going to make a career out of being a great defensive rebounding PG, Willie needs to do more than be a beneficiary of great setups from his teammates.
Here's the problem: We have a GM who thinks Willie can be "elite". Vlade already botched on the draft pick on a center with Papa G. Is Vlade going to be willing to admit to the err of his ways again?
Admission the guy has not panned out is mounting self-indictment. His ego needs to be set aside for the good of the team and I don't know if he is going to be willing to do so and attract further attention to his dubious draft record.
If we do what I think as I stated months ago before the bandwagon jumpers jumped on, I think we throw max dollars Julius Randle. With the likes of Bagley and Bamba in our projected range, and Giles waiting in the wings, we can convert a draft pick last year and this year and our free agency dollars into fantastic upgrade over a chronic underachiever. That is three viable resources to move on from Willie.
This is right path. It is an easy call!
Even if we go with Miles Bridges in the draft, a strong play, we still have a shockingly reliable Kosta Koufos who is catching the ball and showing touch over the last 2-3 months who could come back and do a more credible job as a starter than Willie.
The only basis to bring back Willie next season is delusion.
When Vlade made his incredulous "elite" comment, I said let's wait for Willie to average 12 PPG 10 RPG and 2 BPG over 5 games before we refer to said player as elite. I do NOT need to peruse the game logs to ascertain if these statistical thresholds have been broached!
Even when WIllie puts up numbers they are usually empty. His infrequent shot blocks usually do not result in change of possession.
I have said before I will say it again: He's just not that good. The stretch he had before the All-Star break was fools good and I did not fall for it.
Myles Turner with Oladipo is leading the Pacers to 3rd seed in the East. Myles is a brilliant pick and pop player and league leader in swats. The guy is awesome and 3 years younger. He was the obvious pick that could have mitigated all this meandering and floundering.
Some point along the way Willie decided he wanted to be the next Boogie : high usage 25 PPG force. He is as delusional as the assessment of the GM of his potential and ability. Long suffering Kings fans deserve better than a player who is all talk and paltry action.