It seems that the Celtics front office and Williams are at an impasse in regards to his financial value. If this continues through the season perhaps he needs to be moved?
Grant Williams is such a polarizing figure, he can be surprisingly effective, then completely non-existent.
The problem with trading him if finding returning value and the fact his positional role is very hard to find.
One idea I had was if the Hornets struggle early this season they might tank and look to retool their roster.
Hornet: Williams, Hauser, Celtics 1st round pick
Celtics: P.J Washington
Grant Williams is a better player than Washington. He's a much better defender and shooter.
No, he is not. Worse scorer, rebounder, and passer. Shooting difference is minute. Washington is a better career shooter on more attempts, and over the last two seasons the 3PT % is 2 points in Grant's favour (on nearly 2 less attempts).
Yes he is. He's been a signficant rotation player for a playoff team and won several games. PJ Washington continues to lose rotation minutes on a lottery team.
PJ Washington is a poor defender, which is the main reason he's been losing minutes. Williams blows him out of the water in that regard.
All other stats are jaded in the favor of the player who gets more time on a worse team.
Washington has essentially been a Terrance Jones or one of the Morris twins early in their career.
I'm a big fan of Washington and would love to have him in our rotation. I think he has potential to improve, but I think we will see that the market doesn't value what he brings as much as Williams when they get their next contracts.
It has absolutely nothing to do with their minutes. Per possession comparisons avoid minutes bias, and they are as equally incomparable because PJ is better at everything.
The defensive difference is being exaggerated by you, as the shooting one was initially too. Poor is an overstatement - he sits in the mediocre range for most defensive analytics, just like Grant does. Both have glaring weaknesses on D, but generally are okay.
Winning is entirely dependent on the situation. It's not PJ's fault he was drafted to a basket case.
This is exactly where advanced stats break down. I love advanced stats, but they often (not always) can't differentiate in situations like this. We see it over and over again.
Often, comparing a player on a lottery team to a player on a winning team is like comparing apples to oranges. The situation is completely different, the shot opportunities are different, the role is different.
Again, I argue that we will see how the NBA values each player in their next contract. I like Washington a lot, but to this point in his career he has not proven he can contribute to a winning situation. However, that's what makes him an excellent trade candidate. I think i was the first one last year to suggest that he may be a good player to target. I like the guy's potential a lot on a winning basketball team.
But at this point, Grant has proven to be able to have a significant and valuable role on a winning basketball team. He's a more proven commodity and that will come out in their next contracts (or lack thereof in Washington's case).
