Name: Terrence Williams
Position: PG/SG/SF
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 220
Birth Date: June 28, 1987 (age 22)
Birth Place: Seattle, Washington
Number: 8
College: Louisville
Drafted: 2009, 1st round, 11th overall by New Jersey
Experience: Rookie
Contract: $2.06 million in 2009-10
On offense:
Terrence Williams seems to be the perfect addition to a team that is going to try to be an up and down team this year. At 6’5″ Terrence Williams can do just about everything on the offensive end. The one thing he can’t do however is kind of important. Right now Terrence is lacking a shot, and if he can develop that he will turn into a scary good player.
One thing for sure, he is working on his shot. Terrence has been showing up to the Nets practice facility on his own to shoot for a few weeks before the group workouts started. His attitude on working on his shooting?
“Shooting is shooting. Shooting is like video games, you gotta love to do it.”
He has the “I want to get better” attitude few players have early on in their career.
Ok, let’s back off of the shooting for the moment and look at the rest of his offensive game. Terrence’s skill-set allows him to play any of 3 positions, SF, SG, and PG. Coach Lawrence Frank has already been on record saying that he will be playing some point while Devin Harris will slide to the off-guard spot…allowing him to get into scoring mode.
Playing in the point forward role is familiar territory for him, and while doing it for the better part of his senior season at Louisville, Williams lead his team in assists at 5.1 per game, with a 2.2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. His passing is probably his best skill, and he refers to it as such, “the feeling I get when I make a pass for an assist is like the one you’d get if you had a baby brother and every time he tried to walk, he fell down, until one time, he finally walked and you were there to see it. That’s the kind of happiness I get from seeing other guys score. “The guys over at The Good Point 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.”
So if Terrence’s shot doesn’t develop, Nets fans shouldn’t be too worried, because he can have a productive effect on the game without scoring.
On Defense:
With Terrence Williams’ size and athletic ability, he should be able to guard multiple positions on the court. Going back to The Good Point’s article:
Not only did Williams dish up some remarkable passes to his fellow Cardinals, but he also got after it on the boards better than almost any shooting guard in memory.
Finally McCarty made sure to note that they “would also use his strength on defense to stop opponent’s best players.”
We don’t know too much about how his defense will translate to the pros where everyone is bigger than in college, but one thing is for sure, he won’t be bashful on the defensive end.
Miscellaneous:
Terrence Williams has a pretty cool pregame speech that he gives himself before every game. Luke Winn’s article on Terrence Williams talks about it briefly, but he also talked to me about it:
NAS: I was reading a Luke Winn SI.com article about you and it says you have a little pregame speech you give yourself. When did you start doing that?
Terrence Williams: In college.
NAS: Do you care to repeat it, or is it a personal thing?
Terrence Williams: It’s something personal, but to sum it up, it just basically says go out and play hard, have fun, don’t take anything for granted because somebody has it worse off . And then I tell my family and the Lord to watch over me while I play on this court to protect me and everybody else on this court, the players, from injury. And just to have fun.
Comment:
I don’t know if you noticed this from the scouting report, but I am a real big fan of Terrence Williams. I just think he has a terrific skill-set, and he can impact the game in a ton of different ways. Even as he develops a shooting game (and I have no doubt he will, the kid is working hard), he can still have a solid (maybe even spectacular) rookie season.
In my mind he is a early rookie of the year candidate.
Video:
More on Williams:
ESPN
Draft Express
NetsAreScorching
