I am beginning to think that the reason why Williams hasn't gotten any minutes might be something that happened off-court. Last game, when asked about the rookie's absence, Frank said it was a coach's decision. Normally, he would have said any number of things about matchups and stuff but he decided to say CD. You know how Frank and Nets are, they don't like to disclose too many things happening off-court. People criticize Frank for not playing certain players, but we form our opinion only on what we see or read. We don't know his side of the story.</p>
If it's an off the court thing, I can understand.</p> If it's not, it's not a good enough reason.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Real)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> If it's an off the court thing, I can understand.</p> If it's not, it's not a good enough reason.</p> </div></p> </p> Why would he not play a promising young player? Possible reasons:</p> 1) Frank is stupid and he doesn't know basketball. This in turn means that Thorn is stupid for trusting Frank so much and extending him for 2 years.</p> 2) He is deliberately trying to lose games, so he puts the worst possible lineup on the floor. And Thorn is o.k. with that.</p> 3) There is genuinely some off-court issue that we don't know about and FRank doesn't want to tell the press what it is, to protect Sean.</p> 4) Frank doesn't want to play a rookie over senior players. Doesn't matter if the Nets win or lose.</p> Add yours.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aurelino)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Add yours.</p> </div></p> Has a very narrow-minded, "elitist" notion of what kinds of flaws are acceptable: cerebral versus athletic. He would rather see a lumbering big man execute every defensive scheme perfectly and stay in position for a rebound than see a guy that can jump out of the gym cheat when he shouldn't have, even though it results in a blocked shot.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aurelino)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Add yours.</p> </div></p> Has a very narrow-minded, "elitist" notion of what kinds of flaws are acceptable: cerebral versus athletic. He would rather see a lumbering big man execute every defensive scheme perfectly and stay in position for a rebound than see a guy that can jump out of the gym cheat when he shouldn't have, even though it results in a blocked shot.</p> </p> </div></p> </p> Too bad that doesn't result in a win.</p>
peg, for Frank's sake, I hope it's an off court or attitude thing. If it isn't, this coach should be fired, plain and simple (and I've never said that before, ever.) Other than injury or behavioral issues, and at a time when the team is as desperate for frontcourt impact as any team could possibly be, there is absolutely no other reasonable excuse for not playing the guy that is by far the most talented and energetic guy over 6'7" on the roster and who can single-handedly change a game on the defensive end, which is where the Nets are most troubled at present. Not only should he be getting 35+ minutes a night, he should be starting so the Nets can try to avoid slow starts and actually balance their lineups better.</p>
Ok, you know what? The Nets have to make a decision if they want to compete this season or if they want to rebuild. If they want to compete, then they have to give Sean Williams the playing time and the opportunity to see if he can be the solution to their front court trouble and have a Krstic like rookie season and impact for them this season. If they don't think he's ready for that chance because they think he's too raw, prone to rookie mistakes, or whatever the excuse is for not playing him, then I think they should dangle him out there in a trade to try and get an established big guy that can help them now with Kidd at this age. If the Nets want to be competitve then they can't afford to develop projects who have trade value when they also have a glaring weakness in their frontcourt.</p> Make a decision Thorn!</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aurelino)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Add yours.</p> </div></p> Has a very narrow-minded, "elitist" notion of what kinds of flaws are acceptable: cerebral versus athletic. He would rather see a lumbering big man execute every defensive scheme perfectly and stay in position for a rebound than see a guy that can jump out of the gym cheat when he shouldn't have, even though it results in a blocked shot.</p> </p> </div></p> </p> point blank. that's the same reason he hated A-Train and played Collins over him. For some reason, he prefers tall players who are slow</p> </p>
It could be on-court stuff. We don't see what happens in practice. For instance, hypothetically, if he is unable to guard, say, Collins, why should he play in a game?</p>
Last night at the shootaround before tipoff and then again at halftime shootaround, SWat was taking crazy shots: Finger rolls along the baseline from 10 feet, running jumpers at the elbows, he even shot one backwards from almost the free throw line heh.</p> I'd love to see him get more burn and be out there 30 minutes a game - but last night he clearly didn't have a professional attitude.</p> That to me would point to 1 of 2 things:</p> 1) Something off the court and he knew he was being benched.</p> 2) Assuming he isn't going to play and not caring.</p> Either way, I would think the coaching staff would notice something like that and it isn't going to help his cause. I would have loved to see Kidd pull him aside and tell him to act like a pro.</p>
Dumpy, you really think Collins is schooling Williams in practice? With those myriad unstoppable post moves we've seen from him lo these last 6 years? Yup, that's probably it. Once J.C.'s career is over, I think it will be revealed that it was all a government experiment to see whether or not they could create a player so unbelievably bad that it would cause a fan base to completely abandon their team, causing crowds of less than 1,000 to show up at home games. That theory is more likely than Collins schooling Williams in practice.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dumpy)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> It could be on-court stuff. We don't see what happens in practice. For instance, hypothetically, if he is unable to guard, say, Collins, why should he play in a game?</p> </div></p> Why double team Collins when the rim does an exceptional job stopping him all by itself?</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I have very little doubt that it is off the court stuff keeping him out</div></p> </p> I would have thought so too until Frank's comments after the Clippers game.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FOMW)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I have very little doubt that it is off the court stuff keeping him out</div></p> </p> I would have thought so too until Frank's comments after the Clippers game.</p> </div></p> That is Frank being Frank. He would never say anything negative about one of his players to the media and explaining an off the court issue to the media would be something negative to the press.</p> </p>
If it's off court stuff, he shouldn't even dress for games then. Frank should just tell him he's inactive.</p>
I think it's just Sean playing weak in his last games and has nothing to do with off-court issues. Frank implies: "If you're a rookie and playing so-so, you're not getting any PT"</p>
