Around The Inter-NETS: Redefining basketball’s blueprint with Terrence Williams

This right here is something that any Nets fan who is a little iffy on Terrence Williams should check out.  It is a great article on apositional players (yes this is a real term that should not be confused with “tweener”), and how Terrence Williams is a part of elite group.

The full version can be found over at The Good Point, but I pulled some of my favorite parts of the article here:

Still, every now and then, special players will come along that defy all these categorizations. They take over the game by becoming the controller of the chaos, typically by either doing everything or by doing everything so differently than other players. These oddities aren’t exactly once-in-a-generation, but they are certainly rare enough that there may only be three or four in the league at any given time. These players are what the few that even dare to classify them like to call “apositional players,” that is, players whose very position is the exact opposite of playing a defined position.

Others, without a penchant for make-believe words, like to call them simply “weird.”

While Terrence Williams attended high school and later the perennially-elite college of Louisville, he liked to wear a Pokémon backpack to class. Most young ballers fetish over their sneakers, but Williams was rumored to wear two different shoes to practice some days. There’s no evidence to back this up, but they were probably both lefts. Williams took it as a complement that teammates and friends liked to call him weird.

Coaches may have called Williams weird too, but probably didn’t because they were too busy singing his praises. When I asked Louisville assistant coach Walter McCarty about Williams, his report was glowing.

“Terrence can have a huge effect on a game without ever scoring a bucket.”

and

Finally McCarty made sure to note that they “would also use his strength on defense to stop opponent’s best players.”

Not their best wings, their best players. Period.

Terrence Williams could and can guard almost any player in basketball because he is, potentially, a true apositional talent. Bethlehem Shoals of FreeDarko fame and a leading authority on the analysis of unorthodox basketball understands that the subject should, however, be approached with caution.

“Too often, players who are flawed or ‘tweeners’ get lumped in as apositional.”

Williams, he believes, is not one of these players.

“(It’s important to) be honest about guys who defy positional roles in constructive ways, versus those who are somehow flawed or uneven, and thus only are worth the team’s while if they’re just that good.”

I am already all-aboard the Terrence Williams train and I think he is going to be a great pro, and reading some of the comments from his old staff only makes my belief of this stronger.

While some Nets fans seem scared that Terrence is a jack of all trades and a master of none, I am completely on the other side of the fence.  I love guys who don’t let their poor shooting effect the other aspects of their game.  Terrence can do everything but shoot at this point, and if he can develop a shot (he sure as hell is working hard on it) he will be a a force.  Even if that shot doesn’t develop I still think he can become a great pro doing everything else that he does.