What's with Scal getting so much playing time? I know Shelden has come back down to earth a bit, but I still think he's more effective than Scal. When we had Powe and Baby, Scal hardly ever saw the floor unless KG was hurt. Now we have Shelden and Sheed and Scal gets playing time. Scal sucks and I don't get it. I know Shelden did play, but shouldn't he be getting all of Scal's minutes?
Scal keeps trying to drive instead of just shooting or passing the ball and he gets called for travel. Why is he driving? That's not his game. Don't get me wrong, I like Scal, but I like him more when he's on the bench.
Can't wait for Baby to return.
Doc's playing matchups. I don't agree with Doc that Scal has been a better matchup than williams would have been. Scal's man is still scoring/offensive rebounding. Williams would at least prevent the offensive rebounding if not reduce the scoring as well.
It has been matchups, and I completely agree with Doc's choices. When teams are playing guys like Ilyasova and Matt Bonner at PF, Shelden does not stand a chance to stay with them, which would likely allow them to start raining 3's.
I also think there is a little more to it though. I think Williams has plateaued a bit lately, and teams have adjusted to him more, making him less effective. Mostly though, I think he is still making mistakes on defense, and especially on offense, that he was making earlier in the year, and now that Scal is healthy, Doc does not need to play Williams as much.
Let's be honest here, despite the nice numbers he put up early in the season, Williams is who he is. He is a very good rebounder, but incredibly limited on offense, and is a questionable defender.
I think one of Williams' biggest struggles in the NBA has been trying to change from a big man who could stand in the middle and block shots to an undersized guy who can't really block many shots any more, and needs to rely on proper positioning to play defense. Powe had this same problem defensively, which is why it took him so long to get into the rotation. Davis on the other hand always had to rely on positioning, since he didn't play above the rim in college either...this made it a much quicker transition for him.
Ultimately, I think we are seeing the beginning of the transition of Williams from 9th man to about 11th man. He will still see the floor in certain matchups, and will be valuable when there are injuries or foul trouble, but ultimately, he is not a rotation quality player on this team.
