Elliot Williams cleared to practice...

He will probably be a better defender and faster then Rudy with way more athleticism and length. I don't think he has good of ball handling skills as Rudy does and his outside shot isn't the best, but if he shows good court vision then I can see us keeping him and trying to mold him into a PG/SG who handles the ball for the second unit.

 

since he skipped the pre-draft, we don't have actual measurements of Elliott. But here is a link with a picture with him standing next to Duke teammate Gerald Henderson who measured 6'4 barefoot

http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Martynas Pocius/Greg Paulus

watching the highlights, it seems he's got a pretty good sized wingspan as well... hardly Bayless-esk

STOMP

 

I remember reports of him summed him up as "Bayless with a bigger body and better shot".

 

his draftxpress profile from the draft

hes not gonna light the world on fire, but could be decent, cant wait to find out!

 

I translate that to mean that like JB he's got good hops/athleticism but isn't blessed with superior court vision and feel for the game of a "pure" PG like Miller. He is clearly taller and much longer and should be able to create an open look for himself at will... I see him as having "go" player potential

Game wise, he's got textbook form on his lefty jumper which lends hope of it being a reliable weapon. Bayless had good form on his J too but for whatever reason he couldn't ever achieve consistency with it. Even without great court vision/feel, an athletic guard can be very effective as long as their jumper is pretty reliable. I have high hopes for EW

STOMP

 

i don't remember MJ being 6'5". I swore he was 6'6".

 

6'6 was his listed height which is whatever a player chooses it to be. While some players list their barefoot height, it's very common for guys to bump up their listing 1.25"-1.5" to their height with shoes on. Thats apparently what MJ did. Some guys bump their listing up 2"+ over their barefoot measurement. Bill Walton was supposed to be 7' barefoot but chose to list himself as 6'11

Elliott's 6'4 listing is supposed to be his barefoot height. Maybe you could clear this up by asking him whats what or breaking out a tape?

STOMP

 

yeah hcp measure his shit

 

And not with your mouth this time.

 

The worse example of this was Barkley. It always said 6'8".... man he was the exact same height as Terry Porter!

 

Funny this question would come up about his height, I was just thinking to myself as i watched him stand next to Roy last weeK......"he looks taller than I thought"

 

All this means is he gets to wear warmups rather than a suit

Matthews, Rudy, Roy, hell even Nic ahead of him at the 2

 

do you really think he has no chance at beating Patty out for backup PG minutes? Seriously?

STOMP

 

I remember being most excited about seeing Elliot play of the rookies we drafted, considering they talked a lot about 45-inch vertical or whatever it was. Hopefully the knee surgeries don't kill his legs.

 

All I can say, is read the Draftexpress article. In college, he averaged around 4 APG, but also around 3 TOs. He could pass out of double teams and make plays in transition, but he didn't show the ability to run a half-court offense. He isn't likely to beat Patty in a long range shooting contest either. He *does* have the potential to be a much better defender. (if he is fully recovered)

 

I'm excited to see the Wizard in action.

 

the article you sited mentions he played 2 guard at Memphis and was their featured scorer. I'm not sure what guard spot Patty played on the mighty Gaels, but his Sophomore year he averaged 3.9 Asst and 2.9 TO's and shot 34% from 3's... Elliot shot 37% from 3's in his Soph season and also led PM in overall FG% 46% to 40%. Patty is shooting 32% from deep this year. Why in the world are you siting his outside shooting like it's a strength?

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=37525

Here's what the article you sited had to say about Elliot's Defensive potential...

"Defensively, Williams has excellent potential thanks to his physical attributes and the intensity he displays. He has the size and length to defend either guard position, which gives him nice versatility that NBA teams should like in time. At Duke he was often the one asked to defend the opposing team’s most talented backcourt scorer."

you're not going out on much of a limb to say he might be better defensively then Patty Mills... at least you said something I can agree with. PM is supposed to be a great guy and all, but is there a worse back court defender in the league? I wouldn't place the chances of him being back on the team next year at over 50% especially since Elliot and Armon are under contract next season and he isn't

STOMP

 

Stomp, I understand your lack of enthusiasm for Mills, but lets be fair. Before the season, many people were predicting that Johnson would blow by Mills on the depth chart. Instead, Mills got better and kept his job. His long-term ceiling is still pretty low, but right now I would rather have him out there than either Johnson or Williams. In fact, I see nothing to suggest that Mills, Johnson, Williams, or Babbitt have any reason to be optimistic about their NBA futures.

I suppose that makes Mills the "cream of the crop of the bottom of the barrel."

I guess this is just an "agree to disagree" situation.