Williams would be a guy I'd be excited to sign as a FA. He's restricted, but if we pay him Hedo money, the Hawks might let him go. Why would Portland do that? Marvin has improved consistently his four seasons in the NBA Williams can play both forward spots, so could fit in with Batum/Aldridge well in the near- and long runs He is young (turned 23 last month) and would fit into our long-term window quite well He has great character and is a Pacific NW guy The Blazers were *this* close to overpaying Hedo for a couple years (on the back side of his contract)... there's a real chance that Portland would have to overpay on the front side of a Marvin Williams contract. The three main negatives as I see them are No huge step up immediately Might never quite live up to the huge contract it'd take to procure him Because of the nature of restricted free agency, our cap space would be "tied up" as we wait and see if Atlanta would match or not... and they might end up matching anything Portland offers I think that Marvin might be my favorite option right now, right there with Marion and Odom, but he gets me more excited about his long-term impact. Ed O.
Haven't we been reading for the last couple of days that the going rate for starters is $8-10m a year? Marvin Williams is a starting-level player, and he's got a LOT more basketball in him than Hedo, who's over seven years older. Given that their production is similar, I don't think a 5 year, $50m deal for Williams would be any less wise than one for Hedo. Of course, I didn't think that was wise, either. Hmm... Ed O.
I like Marvin Williams, but I'm not sure he is the answer. He's not really a clear upgrade. He does bring some quality playoff experience though. Maybe if they signed him and then moved Outlaw and Blake for someone like Hinrich that would work.
At this point, I would just as soon see if Grant will accept a 2 year deal (maybe 3, with a team option). At least he would be a good mentor for Batum.
IF IF IF there was some sort of deal in place to clear out our logjam at SF, I would be all over Marvin Williams at whatever price. He's a smart and controlled player, and we wouldn't have cap space for another decade so we might as well use it...
Odom would be my first choice of what's left in the FA market, but I certainly wouldn't mind a Marvin Williams acquisition.
How much better would a Marvin Williams be than say, Travis Outlaw? I question his fit, he's not the greatest creator for himself. He's the type that plays off the ball and demands someone like Roy make the play for him. Is it really worth paying him twice the amount you pay Outlaw, only to have him duplicate the same skill set as Travis? Plus, Atlanta fans have complained a lot about his lack of BBIQ, especially on the defensive end. I would be flabbergasted if we signed him to a big contract, on to have him become a slightly better version of Outlaw. That is my fear.
I would agree with this. The thing I like about getting a Hedo/Odom/Williams is the versatility they would all bring in being able to play at the 4 on offense if necessary. With Hedo seemingly gone, either Odom or Williams would satisfy that luxury. The thing about signing Williams as a restricted and it tying up money as we wait for Atlanta is not a huge concern for me. There really isn't much else out there that I would want in the meantime that could be signed.
I don't know for sure, of course, but he's already at least as good as Outlaw, and he's two years younger. Further, while we all pooh-pooh starting roles as something relatively arbitrary, Marvin Williams has started 209 regular season games already, and Outlaw has started 26. Marvin has also played a thousand more minutes in the regular season than Outlaw... Why does that matter? First of all, I think that it points to Williams's experience at a young age. He's got to play a lot, in spite of his rather limited skill set when he entered the league. Secondly, I think it's indicative that Williams was READY to play. Outlaw came off/sat on the bench on a series of bad teams and he still hasn't been able to grab a starting spot. I don't think they're that similar. Outlaw CAN create for himself, while Marvin is less capable. Williams, though, scores differently. 82games shows us that Travis Outlaw shot 81% of his shots as jumpers, while Marvin only shot 66%. Still predominantly a jumpshooter, of course, but not to the same crippling level that Travis is. One nice aspect of this is that Williams draws more free throws... his DrawF rate is 15.4% while Outlaw's is 10.4%. I think there is a downside to any free agent, but (unlike with some) I think that there is actually upside with Williams. With all of this said? It's almost certainly not going to happen. Even if Portland wanted to offer him a lot of money, Atlanta probably would just match it. Ed O.
Season Age Tm Lg G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS 2008-09 24 POR NBA 81 6 27.7 4.8 10.5 .453 1.1 2.9 .377 2.2 3.0 .723 0.9 3.2 4.1 1.0 0.6 0.7 1.2 2.1 12.8 <--Travis 2008-09 22 ATL NBA 61 59 34.3 4.7 10.2 .458 0.9 2.5 .355 3.6 4.5 .806 1.8 4.5 6.3 1.3 0.9 0.6 1.1 2.1 13.9 <--Marvin Statistically, they match up pretty similar. REALLY similar, surprisingly. Even though Marvin plays about 7 more minutes per game, due to his starting, he's only a TINY bit more efficient. Their PER and TS% are incredibly similar as well. 16-15.1 in PER and 57%-54% in TS%. And since neither Travis or Marvin are known as world beaters on defense, I seriously question whether or not he's that much of an upgrade. He's two years younger, I'll give him that, but in the grand scheme of things, does that really matter that much? And like I said before, both players have pretty low BBIQ. I'm just not liking signing Marvin.
First off: Odom is not coming to Portland. He is a Miami/L.A. kind of guy. Besides the L@ker fans down here will tell you how he will lift you up one day and then have you staring in disbelief for four games when he doesn't show up. Definitely not a culture guy. On Williams. I never liked him because he was a classic underachieving 3/4 tweener. He was supposed to come in with the this great outside shooting. Finally last year he did okay, but not so much in the playoffs. I like his rebounding, but I have a question: Can Marvin Williams guard small forwards? He looks like a decent shooting, weak rebounding PF to me. Can he actually defend SFs? If so, maybe he is worth a shot. I'm just nervous he will continue to be underwhelming and the we will be the suckers who overpaid to get him.
