Lou Williams crying about lack of playing time in his final stint

[Plainview1981]

https://soaringdownsouth.com/2023/11/14/lou-williams-shades-hawks-trae-young/

lol. Does he really think he should have been playing big minutes? 

[AHF]

Apparently he thinks he should have been the team's (or a team's) 6th man despite not playing nearly well enough to warrant that kind of role.  

Ironically, he was 9th in LA's rotation playing 21.9 mpg before they traded him to the Hawks and he finished the season in a similar spot with the Hawks playing 20.0 mpg.  The thing was, he wasn't an effective defender and the one thing he was there for (instant offense) wasn't very good either as he scored at a .498% TS%.  That would have been a career low (ignoring his rookie season).  He also ranked near the bottom of the team in a lot of advanced metrics (think 16th in BPM, 17th in VORP, 16th in WS, 16th in WS/48, etc.)

The next year, he was no better.  He scored at a .500% TS%.  That is terrible for a guy who is there to score (by way of comparison Cam Reddish was at .537% and no one was real happy with that efficiency).  No team was going to have him as its 6th man at age 35.  He still was a regular part of the rotation with the 10th most minutes played that season despite ranking 17th in WS/48, 15th in BPM, and 23rd in VORP.  

I chalk this up to a proud athlete who is still struggling to come to grips with when he crossed the line into ineffectiveness as a player.  Maybe his theory about being too comfortable at home removing an edge from his preparation is true, but he stunk after playing most of his first season in LA when he should have obviously been in prime game shape already when he arrived in Atlanta.

He is right that no one disrespects him for it because he was an established and respected vet but let's not pretend he was done wrong by not having a big role on those teams.  He should have been a "break in case of emergency" sort of player who could spark for a few games a year but was generally going to be a dud when he played.

[Plainview1981]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

Apparently he thinks he should have been the team's (or a team's) 6th man despite not playing nearly well enough to warrant that kind of role.  

Ironically, he was 9th in LA's rotation playing 21.9 mpg before they traded him to the Hawks and he finished the season in a similar spot with the Hawks playing 20.0 mpg.  The thing was, he wasn't an effective defender and the one thing he was there for (instant offense) wasn't very good either as he scored at a .498% TS%.  That would have been a career low (ignoring his rookie season).  He also ranked near the bottom of the team in a lot of advanced metrics (think 16th in BPM, 17th in VORP, 16th in WS, 16th in WS/48, etc.)

The next year, he was no better.  He scored at a .500% TS%.  That is terrible for a guy who is there to score (by way of comparison Cam Reddish was at .537% and no one was real happy with that efficiency).  No team was going to have him as its 6th man at age 35.  He still was a regular part of the rotation with the 10th most minutes played that season despite ranking 17th in WS/48, 15th in BPM, and 23rd in VORP.  

I chalk this up to a proud athlete who is still struggling to come to grips with when he crossed the line into ineffectiveness as a player.  Maybe his theory about being too comfortable at home removing an edge from his preparation is true, but he stunk after playing most of his first season in LA when he should have obviously been in prime game shape already when he arrived in Atlanta.

He is right that no one disrespects him for it because he was an established and respected vet but let's not pretend he was done wrong by not having a big role on those teams.  He should have been a "break in case of emergency" sort of player who could spark for a few games a year but was generally going to be a dud when he played.

100%. 

Sour grapes and ego.

[Atlantaholic]

So team was probably dealing with his pouting in the locker room? Always assumed we kept him on as a "veteran presence", guess that wasn't the case. 

[AHF]

1 hour ago, Atlantaholic said:

So team was probably dealing with his pouting in the locker room? Always assumed we kept him on as a "veteran presence", guess that wasn't the case. 

I'm not sure he was actually pouting in the locker room.  Good leaders put their grievances aside to help the team.  He might have done just that and simply been complaining years after the fact about how things played out now.