Derrick Williams sucked Thursday night against the Clippers after looking great against Denver the night before. Williams only managed to muster 4 points against the Clips after thrashing the Nuggets’ front line.
Meanwhile, you have Anthony Randolph. Randolph almost never plays. But he played exceedingly well against Denver (28 pts in 31 mins, 11-16 from the floor) after Kevin Love got concussed, and he followed it up with a nice 16 and 9 night against the Clips.
Randolph’s solid play of late is not a revelation.
I’m a Williams fan. He’s gonna be really good.
But I ask an honest question: how confident are we that his upside is higher than Randolph’s over the next 5-10 years? 60%? 65%? Higher? What does that mean for the way ahead?
Punch-Drunk Wolves 
75 percent.
Which isn’t very high compared to the media treatment of each player.
Another question: Will Anthony Randolph be able to sign a long-term contract this off-season?
Good point.
I can’t really see a team giving him more than a two-year deal, can you?
No, I can’t.
OFF-TOPIC: (sort of) Aside from Kevin Garnett, how many NBA players release their shot at a higher point than AR15? As he (continues to) hone that mid-range jumper, won’t he become SORT OF unstoppable?
Randolph’s release point is ridic. Who else? Maybe Josh Smith? There aren’t that many in this category.
LaMarcus Aldridge is probably in there too. Ditto Dirk.
Maybe Serge Ibaka as well…
I forgot about Dirk–good call. Along with Garnett, he might have the highest release point since McHale. Gallinari also gets the ball pretty high.
Where do you possibly see AR next season?
Pretty tough to answer — but I’d guess somewhere other than Minnesota.
I agree with Nate. Williams always lokeod like trade bait to me from the day he was drafted and with Pau and a couple more pieces the Wolves could win 50 games next year. One lockout shortened year isn’t much to grade a guy on but look at Flynn, Wes, Beasley and Randolph . . . sometimes hanging on to a young prospect one season too long is the difference between getting big value back and trading him for peanuts or renouncing his rights. I wouldn’t get too attached to Williams, he is a luxury and a gamble, small market teams like the T-Wolves can afford guys who are one or the other, but not both.