Jay Williams Working Out for Houston : UPDATE - He's coming for a 2nd visit

Did I just hear you say they signed him because he was cheap? I also agree with you that is the reason they signed him. I think everyone on this board saw the Houston/Dallas series and yes he did a great job on Nowitzki on those first two games but we should not make a demigod out of him for having two good games! Great players such as Nowitzki have off nights and have trouble against some players on occasion but great players will also find a way to overcome these obstacles so we should not consider Bowen the Nowitzki-stopper !

Regarding Baker he never was coveted by the Rockets,the only reason they obtained him along with Moochie was because their salaries combined matched that of Maurice Taylor whom the Rockets we're trying to get rid of . Taylor had become a cancer on and off the court and he had to go and the Knicks we're the only ones willing to dance with us. I am not pro-Baker and anti-Bowen both can easily be replaced. But Baker in my opinion is more valuable now because he is in the last year of his contract which pays him roughly $3.85 million a year , that contract along with Moochie's $3.85 million a year could possibly help us land a player that the team really needs this season!

 

Riley rejected him and all the Raptors - THE FREAKING RAPTORS!!! - will offer his is a non-guarnateed one-year deal. And this is inspiring everyone to want to give him two guaranteed years because???

This kid was the #2 pick in the draft because of his incredible lateral quickness, athletic ability around the basket and explosiveness. He has lost nearly all of all three of those assets in a tragic accident. There is no guarantee he'll ever play pro ball again, let alone come CLOSE to the player he was when he was drafted.

Yet, we're all ready to dump a couple years worth of guaranteed contract on the kid when we were pissed over contracts for Charlie Ward, Moochie Norris, Brent Price, Matt Maloney, Bryce Drew...and on and on.

If the Rockets want to offer him non-guaranteed money and let him see if he can make it through camp, great. But, it's like paying a speed wide receiver who has lost all his speed to an injury a bunch of money because he used to be fast. It is not logical, nor is it financially responsible.

 

I wasn't impressed with Jay Williams when he was healthy in the NBA. FT% like his is not confidence inspiring. PGs that can't shoot all that great we already have. On top of that, this team is loaded down with guards. Jay Williams would never see the floor. This is just the media picking up on what could potentially be a nice, feel-good story. I don't think the guy will ever make it back to the NBA for more than one season before teams realize he has little to offer them.

 

I think that's the point. Would you really rather keep Charlie Ward over this guy? Worst case scenario, he sits on the bench and makes Ryan Bowen money for 2 years. That's no where NEAR where any of those guys you mentioned made/makes. Best case scenario is he becomes a contributor to a playoff team. I honestly don't understand how anyone could be opposed to this move?

Williams could flat out score. He's bound to lose some athleticism from the accident, but that doesn't take away the fact that he was a scorer. His FT% sucked, but he was a great 3pt shooter in college. I think he struggled a bit his opening year, but still logged a triple double atleast once. He's admitted to having to learn how to play without as much athleticism, IE become more of a spot-up shooter and run the offense under control as opposed to always attacking. I think we'd be a fool to not sign this guy and release Ward/Mooch.

 

would u take J-Will or V-Span?

 

Notice you didn't respond to any of the others that addressed your first post in this thread that espoused the exact same thing.

The reason some people wouldn't mind giving him 2 years guaranteed is because

1. It's not our money
2. It has virtually NO affect on our salary cap

If JVG and co think he'll never be able to come back, fine.

If LA doesn't want to fork over 500 k for two years, then fine, it's being a little cheap, but hey, it's his money.

\But to say, omg, signing a guy for the MINIMUM for two years isn't worth it because it screws up our salary cap? Gimme a break. All those guys you listed, NOBODY would have been pissed if their contracts would have been league minimum contracts. And if he is a bust, cut his ass. 500K is not enough of a committment to spazz over.

You want to bring up injury concerns, his actual NBA talent, the roster limit, then go ahead.

But don't bring up the cap situation and guaranteed money, because that
is a non-issue at this point.

 

Think of it in terms of Steve Francis- with Francis, he could and would revert to attacking and playing aggressively. Williams wasn't as athletically gifted as Francis to begin with (Williams was not a jawdropping type dunker that Francis can be), and from most reports, his dribble penetration is no longer going to be a weapon. As far as Williams' 3 point shooting in college - Luther Head was just as good or better. Head also actually operated as a spot up shooter.

I give Head a better chance of converting to a solid 1 with a repertoire of a solid catch-and-shoot game and superb size and athleticism for a point versus Jay Williams completely transforming his game.

Jay Williams might be better than Moochie and/or Charlie Ward at this point. But he's clearly not going to step into the rotation ahead of Sura, James, Wesley, Anderson, or Barry, and maybe not even Head.

We're talking about the 6th or 7th guard in the rotation. Picking up Baxter as the 5th big man behind Yao/Deke/Stro/Howard and ahead of Baker was a bigger move, and that wasn't exactly an earthquaker.

 

That is why in this situation, you pretty much have to wait until midseason. Teams that have a glimmer of hope (Clips, Warriors, Bucks, j*zz) before the season will have lost that glimmer by the All-Star break. That is when those pieces of paper become highly valuable and coveted.

Keep in mind that we may be trying to sign JWill to a contract that includes the possibility of being moved to the NBDL. In that case, we could have one or two (if Head gets sent down) point guards working things out in the NBDL while we start the season with the squad that finished last year plus Swift and Anderson. Once we get into the season and see what our true needs are, we can package our expirings for an expendable player from another team (Mobley, DMason, Dunleavy) and get maximum bang for our buck. If either of the NBDL guys is showing signs of being ready, we can bring them up after the 2 or 3 for 1 trade goes down and see if they will get into the rotation.

But that is just what I would do.

 

I think with Head already on the team, it makes it that much more difficult to sign Williams.

Unless CD has a plan to move our deadweight already at that position.

 

Amazing how a man with a broken leg and not having played basketball in 2 years has a 6 page thread devoted to him. even when he played, he had ****ty numbers. Is the offseason that slow?

 

I'd take him.

Just find a way to trade away some of the guards and Vin Baker.

 

I was thinking the same thing, there certainly is a lot interest in the guy. A second visit is positive for the prospects of signing the guy though. I would definitely ask the guy if he is willing to go to the NBDL, let him get his game legs down there and see if he reinjures himself. I'm somewhat surprised by the Rox move in inviting him back, I think we are more like the Heat in that we should be about winning now and getting players we're sure can contribute.

 

NIKEstrad:

Why do you continually interject a voice of insight, reason, common sense, and intelligence into an otherwise banal thread such as this one. This is a thread designed for 'newbies' to get in their licks and make some posts, otherwise the majority of the thread makes no sense.

Sorry for paraphrasing your post, I hope that didn't change the meaning of the post.

 

I don't know, I mean i wouldn't expect to see any discussions on a player who's coming in for a workout on a fan board devoted to that very team.









Oh yeah, I forgot the . No, one doesn't do it justice.

 

Update on Jay Will:

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/bulls.asp?id=95544

Bulls decline to sign former top pick Williams
By Mike McGraw
Daily Herald Sports Writer
Posted Saturday, September 17, 2005

The Bulls have taken a pass on re-signing former first-round draft pick Jay Williams.

Williams, a 6-foot-1 guard, promised the Bulls they would get the first chance to re-sign him when he was ready to mount an NBA comeback. The second overall pick of the 2002 draft spent the last two years rehabilitating hip and leg injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident.

The Bulls negotiated a $3 million contract buyout and released Williams on Feb. 17, 2004, making him an unrestricted free agent. Williams has worked out for Houston, Toronto, Cleveland and Miami in hopes of joining a team in time for training camp next month.

Williams visited the Berto Center recently and worked out while several Bulls played pickup game.

But general manager John Paxson felt the Bulls did not have a roster spot available for Williams, which comes as no surprise since the team already has several small guards.

“Our guard corps is set,” Paxson said.

Paxson is including third-year veteran Jannero Pargo in that group. The Bulls have decided they will match any reasonable offer given to the restricted free agent, which almost certainly means Pargo will spend another season playing in his hometown.

Besides his clutch shooting, the Bulls like Pargo’s presence in the locker room. He’s a hard worker who also keeps things loose as the team comedian.

The Bulls expect to sign 6-9 Sacramento forward Darius Songaila to a $2.2 million offer sheet early next week. The Kings have no plans to match an offer for Songaila, and his addition to the Bulls has essentially been a foregone conclusion for weeks.

There has been no progress in contract negotiations for fourth-year center Eddy Curry, another restricted free agent. Curry’s camp is telling the Bulls they should trade him now or lose him for nothing in return next year.

But the Bulls’ stance all summer has been if Curry or Tyson Chandler decided to sign the one-year qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent in 2006, so be it.

Chandler agreed to a six-year, $63-million deal earlier this month. Because of his heart condition, the Bulls’ offer to Curry includes just one guaranteed season worth about $5 million to $6 million, according to a team source.

A trade is unlikely because a team would not only have to be willing to risk more money on Curry, it would also have to give the Bulls something significant in return.

The Bulls are giving consideration to keeping veteran swingman Adrian Griffin after originally planning to re-sign him only if they succeeded in trading Eric Piatkowski.

 

Jeff,

No way would I offer JWill a one year contract. That is just letting him use the Rockets as a spring board to some other team in the NBA since the Rockets would not have bird rights or early bird rights to him.

I have not seen JWill play even one second since his rookie year so I all I can do is go by what our scouting department and the guys evaluating him see. If they think he has recovered enough then I am all for giving JWill a 2 year deal. If they don't ever think he will recover enough to be a rotational player then I don't want to sign him at all.

The guy that I prefer to give a 1 year deal to is the old vet or someone that can help us right away in case of an emergency to one of our regular rotation players and I don't think JWill would be that in any case this year.

So my point is that either JWill is worth a two year deal based on what he might be able to do for us in the future or he is worth nothing at all.

 

I wouldn't have ever thought about it this way. You might be right about this. I would assume that the 2 year deal would need to be for the minimum, right?

 

right.

has to be a two year to get early bird..and since we dont have anything left...it would have to be for minimum

crash has about nailed it...it the brass thinks he is worth signing...gotta make it two years or not at all.

 

What about a one year contract with a team option for the 2nd year?

 

Exactly,

It is a low risk proposition, with a potential high return.

2 years with a team option for year 3...better than Charlie Ward.

DD