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Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Nothing bold about this pick
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
New York — Billy Knight didn’t take a point guard, nor did he take the best available athlete. Knight, for reasons known only to him, instead drafted an undersized center who will be a capable NBA player but never an All-Star. With the No. 5 pick, Knight chose Shelden Williams.
A month ago, Knight insisted the Hawks weren’t yet in a position to draft according to positional need, but what was this pick if not an attempt to address the certain loss of Al Harrington? What was this if not a half-measure for a team that is, under its blunt and self-assured GM, supposed to be painting only in bold strokes? What’s bold about Shelden Williams?
He isn’t a point guard, like Marcus Williams (who inexplicably lasted until the 22rd pick). He isn’t a combo guard, like Brandon Roy and Randy Foye (who went just after Shelden Williams). He isn’t even another of Knight’s beloved swingmen, like Rudy Gay (who went just after Foye). All those worthies were available to Knight, same as Chris Paul and Deron Williams and Raymond Felton were a year ago. Yet again, the Hawks have taken a lofty pick and selected someone who isn’t about to change the face of a franchise that could sorely use changing.
The nice thing about Shelden Williams is that he’s low-risk. He’ll do much as he did at Duke — clog the lane, chase rebounds, block some shots. The not-so-nice thing is that he has less of an upside than you want from a first-rounder, let alone a lottery pick. “I’m assuming they needed a rebounder, a banger,” Williams said Wednesday night. But are the long-suffering Hawks so far advanced that they can take a role player? And if they are, then why didn’t they take a point guard, a combo guard, any kind of guard?
“We think Shelden is a good basketball player,” Knight said, “but he fills a need for us also. We finished next-to-last in points scored against us in the paint; next-to-last in defensive rebounding, and last in 3-point plays against.”
Playing either power forward — and Williams, who’s listed as 6-foot-9 but appears 6-8 at most, has always considered himself a forward — or center, Williams will help upgrade those areas. But weren’t greater upgrades at hand? Wouldn’t Marcus Williams have put the Hawks’ many pieces in their rightful spots? Wouldn’t Roy or Foye have taken some of the ballhandling load off Joe Johnson? Wasn’t this the most curious of Knight’s picks to date?
Shelden Williams didn’t work out for the Hawks. (He did note, not incorrectly, that a lot of Duke games were televised.) But if you watched Williams at all as a collegian, you know he posted superb numbers against a conference that wasn’t laden with gifted bigger men. And Williams, who holds the reputation as an ace defender, yielded a surprising number of big performances to opponents like N.C. State’s Cedric Simmons (who outscored Williams 28-21) and Indiana’s Marco Killingsworth (34-13) and North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough (27-18). Even Luke Schenscher had some nice nights against the Landlord.
Williams won’t hurt the Hawks, but he won’t help in the way a No. 5 pick should. (Then again, Marvin Williams didn’t exactly dazzle as the No. 2 selection overall.) There were better investments to be found, maybe even a half-dozen. Knight didn’t find them. Knight keeps constructing a roster without really building a team.
This marks the fourth draft under this GM, and not once has Knight shot out the lights. Unless he can find a point guard in free agency, Knight will have again let an offseason pass without giving his many acquisitions a chance to better themselves. The Hawks were 26-56 last season. Add Shelden Williams. Subtract Al Harrington. Do you see a net gain? Do you see any reason to feel better about the Hawks today than yesterday? Do you see any heightened promise of a brighter tomorrow?
Me neither.
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Knicks owner’s ultimatum bold, refreshing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
No question, Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan will never go into the Sports Owner Hall of Fame. I mean, what do you expect from somebody who allowed his underlings to turn one of the premier NBA franchises into a joke?
That said, Dolan wasn’t playing the clown this week when he did the rarity of issuing an ultimate to one of those underlings and doing so bluntly and publicly.
After firing Larry Brown as head coach and giving Isiah Thomas the dual role of general manager and head coach, Dolan told Thomas that the New York Knicks have to make “significant� progress next season toward becoming a championship team or else Thomas is outta here. And Dolan did so with Thomas sitting nearby before flashing cameras and scribbling reporters from the suffocating New York media.
I love it. Given the big bucks involved with professional sports these days, more owners should demand such things under the brightest of spotlights.
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