Putting my stock in Marcus Williams

Ok, you've heard me rave about Marcus Williams time and time again, so I figured now was the time to actually devote a whole column to him, to really put my reputation on the line!

Basically, I think he's going to be a really good player in this league, and one of the top 3 to come out of this draft. He is the #1 PG on Critical Fanatic's Board, but accoring to most mocks I've seen, he'll be coming off the board sometime in the mid to late lottery. Heck, Chad Ford has him falling all the way to 17! This, my friends, is not right.

Well, he he will be coming off the board sometime in the mid-to-late lottery, but I don't see why he should fall past Atlanta at 5.

Let me explain.

For one, and what I like most, is that he has unbelievable vision off the break. Playing with a bunch of studs at Connecticut, he always put the ball where it needed to be at the right time, which resulted in lots of easy baskets for guys. This showed in the stat line, as he averaged a NCAA leading 8.6 assists per game in 33.3 minutes a game. I wrote a long time ago (or at least it feels like a long time ago!) that Williams can control games without scoring, and that's why I think he's a lot like Steve Nash in many ways. He's such a good passer that often he doesn't even need to score.

Another thing I like is that the outside jumper is improving. He shot a solid 40% from beyond the 3-point line last year, and he's a great FT shooter, shooting 86% last year and being pracitcally automatic from there at the end of games. He's not a great finisher at the hoop at this point, but he's got a very nice floater, or touch shot in the line. In addition, he's got a nice pull-up jumper from the mid-range.

If you watched UConn in the NCAA Tournament, you know that it was often Marcus Williams that kept them in ballgames late with clutch jumpers and drives. He can get it done all 40 minutes.

Like everyone, he does have negatives. He's not that great off the right hand, but he's getting better there. His jumper still isn't that good yet. He's not a defensive standout. Most importantly, he can become turnover-prone and try to do too much if he gets into a half-court game. That's why I think it's important for him to get on a team that plays at a high tempo. And of course, there's always the baggage that he carries after the stolen laptop incident.

But mark it down, if he can stay out of trouble, he's going to be an excellent PG. And the prospect of him falling to Philly at 13 makes me positively giddy.