Player Mark Williams

[Grit]

That's fair. I think Mark moves his feet better than Ayton and Gobert, so I think he can have value on defense even if a team goes small. I think it's hard to actually play him off the floor, and that when it's happened it's because Duke's scheme and probably all his experience up until now makes him focus on protecting the paint (and thus give his man space outside), not because he can't stick with forwards on the outside. But tbh I'm speculating and not really basing that on anything substantive.

How unlikely is it for Mark to improve his range? In one season he's gone from 54% to 75% from the line, and his shots seem to mostly be swishes. Maybe instead of Ayton or Gobert, his comp should be someone like Evan Mobley.

 

[rome8180]

It's not just 75% from the line either. It's like 85% in the last 12 games or so. Plus, he's shooting a high percentage on midrange jumpers in that same stretch. I know he takes 3pt shots in warmups. I've seen him do it at games. It's not a quick release and he's not going to be able to shoot off of motion, but I can see him eventually adding a wide open catch-and-shoot.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

On cue, DeAndre Ayton just hit a 3 in his 2nd straight game, after making 1 all season before this. I think he’s gotten the message that this is the one thing anyone cares about when considering what contract to give him. Mark will get the message in the NBA. Unfortunately or fortunately, Duke basketball isn’t UW Milwaukee or the G League, where Mark could be experimenting in games for his own selfish purposes.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

The touch looks good enough to me to suggest the range can improve.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

 

[DukeCrow]

Sorry your coaches and teammates are douches.

 

[rome8180]

Watching the 1st round game again. Williams is so far out on so many of these possessions. Those possessions are going to be wide open dunks against better teams (or "team," depending on today's outcome).

 

[torontoduke]

Played like a boss

 

[rome8180]

He was sensational. Theo wasn't horrible, but I was cringing every time Mark came out of the game.

 

[Hammy-O]

He was sensational. Theo wasn't horrible, but I was cringing every time Mark came out of the game.

Theo could a lot but he made some really nice plays!

I watching Mark though. Seeing him erase shots is so fun especially one on one.

 

[Slap the Floor]

 

[rome8180]

Theo had some really nice offensive rebounds. But every time he came into the game, they cut into our lead. And several of their most open threes happened with him in there. Not saying he was exclusively to blame. But our defense was noticeably worse with him in the game. And when our guards did get beat, he wasn't able to cover up for them as effectively. He had no choice but to foul on two possessions.

 

[Pantone287]

Pretty good player.

I wonder if we might regret not using him more on offense in retrospect. Feels like he'd be averaging an efficient 18 ppg if he were at UNC or something.

 

[rhfarmer]

Yeah, he seems to be marginalized at the expense of showcasing Banchero, who would directly benefit from teams selling out to stop Williams.

Williams (and Banchero for that matter) has displayed more than ample playmaking ability to facilitate Banch if teams collapse on him. This is another infuriating aspect of this season to me.

 

[rome8180]

I don't put it all on the coaching. Paolo being a more dangerous shooter would make Mark's offense come a lot easier. We don't want Mark post-ups. They're not good. What we want is more Mark as the roll man. Our best pick and roll operator (by a mile) is Keels, but teams are probably not super scared of his shooting either.

Hurt and Mark were the more natural pairing (on offense anyway).

 

[DrKlahn]

I tend to agree that Duke must have envisioned Paolo as better than a 32% 3 point shooter

 

[Pantone287]

I don't put it all on the coaching. Paolo being a more dangerous shooter would make Mark's offense come a lot easier. We don't want Mark post-ups. They're not good. What we want is more Mark as the roll man. Our best pick and roll operator (by a mile) is Keels, but teams are probably not super scared of his shooting either.

Hurt and Mark were the more natural pairing (on offense anyway).

I mainly agree with this, except I do also think (with no evidence) that Mark has been very efficient when he gets the ball reasonably near the rim, regardless of whether it's rolling or with his back to the basket or from lobs over the top. The forced post-ups where we spend like 5 seconds trying to pass it to him as he gets pushed out to 12-15 feet are bad, but that shouldn't be the only way to get him post touches.

 

[rhfarmer]

I wasn't suggesting post ups, honestly, and I should have been more clear about that.

I would use Mark a number of different ways away from the ball. One would be to screen away to any of PP, Moore or Keels for an entry at the rim. If both defenders follow the beneficiary of the screen, Mark is available for a lob. Pretty easy action.
If the defenders switch, then in 2 cases you have a guard on Mark. Would be hard to fuck that up.
However, if you did post him up, he's been pretty damn good shooting the basketball up to about 12 feet from the rim. You could do a lot worse.

 

[Pantone287]

Man, he had a real rough stretch from like 8:00-2:00 or so. Very happy he didn't have to go out like that.

I was also happy he got that monster dunk, and then finally got a big block on his big-brother-Williams going at him down in the final minutes, though.

 

[torontoduke]

He broke up a pass near the end as well

Much respect to his FT shooting