Tuesday, May 6, 2008

PG Evaluations: Milwaukee


Over the coming weeks, 'Runnin' The Point' will be taking a look at every team's PG situation based on this year and offering an assessment, starting with non-playoff teams.

KEY NUMBER: 25 – The age of Mo Williams, who has put up 17 and six in his two seasons as the undisputed starting PG in Milwaukee. Too bad he plays for the Bucks, otherwise his quick rise to stardom would be much more known.

THE GOOD STUFF: Well, he’s locked up for quite some time, having signed a contract in the summer of ’07 that’ll keep him around until at least 2013. Mo is confident, hits big shots, is consistent, strong, and best of all, he signed a big deal and didn’t blow afterwards. His numbers were near identical to his previous year – keep in mind, those numbers (17 and six on 48% FG) were pretty darn good – and carried the Bucks’ offense during Michael Redd’s absence. Random moment: Down 92-97 to Memphis in February, he scored the final ten points in the last two minutes (look at the play-by-play); basically like running the table in snooker, and he ran out of town with a 102-97 win. It began a streak of three 30-point games, and it was just crazy to watch.

THE BAD STUFF: Having missed 54 games in the last three years isn’t something that fills you with a heap of confidence. Also, playing on a consistently bad team is never good, especially for young guys, so you hope that doesn’t warp him. Truth be told, there’s not a whole lot to get down about; I’ll be picky: His numbers didn’t make a huge jump this year, and if they don’t in 2009 you may wonder if they will. Hey, give me credit, I tried being negative.

THE BACK-UP: My man Ramon Sessions. Spent part of the season in the D-League, gets called up late in the year, is given a stack of minutes and actually produced one of the more random statistical explosions in recent memory – that inspired this piece – with a 20/8/24 line on Chicago. I mean, that’s like a Fat-Lever-on-steroids-circa-’87 line. That’s just stunning. Can I come up with any more ways to honor the kid? Just look at his splits: 3 and 2 in March, 11 and 11 in April, someone please make sense of that. And for $427,000, that isn’t even bargain basement, that’s like pocket change in your average NBA players couch. A great story. Now, if we’ll see him get consistent minutes anywhere else is unknown, but he gave fantasy geeks much love late in a lost year.

EVALUATION: Honestly, not a whole lot to feel bad about. But isn’t this Milwaukee? Yes, it is, but they have a nice PG in Williams so they now have to find a consistent second scorer (other than Redd) to flank those him. Expect an increase in his numbers this year, and unquestionably with winning, more attention.

ALSO SEE: PG Evaluation Index

1 comment:

Dustin Fox said...

Mo Williams is not good. He's a solid fantasy player, but I would not want him to be my point guard. He's the epitome of an average player that puts up big stats on a crappy team.