Heard this mentioned briefly; but for those who might be interested in reading more it appears that Shelden and BBD have some history. Training Camp should be interesting.
from Draft Express:
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/NCAA-Tournament-NBA-Draft-Stock-Watch--Sweet-Sixteen,-Thursday-games--1237/NCAA Tournament: NBA Draft Stock Watch (Sweet Sixteen, Thursday games)
March 24, 2006
Shelden Williams finished his career on a positive note, despite the fact that Duke was eliminated from the NCAA tournament. Williams had stretches of dominance on both the offensive and defensive end, having his way with a slew of LSU frontcourt players. Even Glen Davis, who had a strength advantage on Williams on paper, wasn’t able to keep up with him. Williams wasn’t able to use his power against Davis on the offensive end, being unable to back him down or establish good position, so he adjusted and used his intelligence and finesse. Either he would lose Davis on screens to get open in the lane or use his vast array of post moves to create a shot for himself. Williams used up and under moves, drop steps, hooks across the lane, turnaround jumpers, and even a jumpshot from long range on one occasion to score on Davis and the rest of LSU. When Davis wasn’t in the game, Williams had a much easier time establishing position in the post, being able to use his power in addition to finesse. Even when Williams couldn’t put the ball in the hole, he was usually able to grab his own rebound and pass it out to a teammate.
On the defensive end, Williams played strong man and team defense. There weren’t many occasions when someone scored on Williams in the post, let alone even tried to. Williams also had quite a few blocks and other weakside-help stops. Whether he was making a rotation down low or stepping up to help on the perimeter, Williams was making his presence felt. Williams was also very consistent with boxing out on both ends of the floor, rarely letting his man get a chance at a rebound.
Just as impressive as any aspect of Williams’ game has to be his overall feel for the game. Williams plays within himself, understands his strengths and weaknesses, and just plays intelligently in every aspect of the game. He recognizes double teams very well and knows how to handle them accordingly. He has excellent weakside awareness and almost always makes the proper rotation. As evidenced tonight, he knows how to adjust his methods of post scoring to be most effective against his opponent. There were very few negatives for Williams on the night, and the only things that really stood out were two traveling violations in the post, though both were of questionable veracity from my viewpoint.
Williams is a senior and will thus be entering the NBA draft this summer. He will undoubtedly be a lottery pick and should be able to contribute for his team from day one. He’s somewhat of a known commodity at this point, with most of his game being developed through his four years at Duke. There isn’t much more “upside” for Williams, but he should be a steady contributor for a long time in the NBA.
Topic: Shelden Williams (and BIG BABY) press conference (updated) (Read 10927 times)