Mo Williams Will Make Mike Brown Look Good
Mo WilliamsI was astounded when the Cavs jumped deeper into bed with Mike Brown last January, extending his contract through the 2010-11 season. No matter how wonderful he is supposed to be on the defensive end, he’s got to be one of the worst offensive coaches in the League.
It doesn’t matter to me that he’s made it out of the first round of the playoffs in each of his first three years in Cleveland. Just ask Gilbert Arenas – he’d tell you that those Cavs teams were beating up on injury-plagued Wizards’ squads who would struggle to make it through the NCAA Tournament. What matters is that the Cavs finished 24th of 30 teams in the League in offensive output last season, 28th in field goal percentage and 25th in assists.
But last night something was different. When the Raptors missed shots, Mo Williams got outlet passes and darted up the floor. When the Raptors made shots, Mo Williams got inbound passes and darted up the floor. Over and over again, the Cavs pushed the ball without giving Toronto any time to set up their D.
“At one point in the game,” writes Terry Pluto, “Sasha Pavlovic turned to Williams during a timeout and said, ‘You even push off makes [shots made]. I gotta get used to that.’
Williams said, ‘You better get ready to go because I’m gone.’”
It’s almost shocking that it’s taken this long to figure out. There is no team in the League better suited for this style of play. With Williams, LeBron, Boobie Gibson, Delonte West, Pavlovic and Szczerbiak , Cleveland has a multi-faceted fast-break with multiple guys who can lead the break, multiple guys who can finish, and multiple guys who can knock down spot-up three’s.
Though Williams fell back into his bad habit of dribbling the grip off the ball at times, and even being too trigger-happy (he went 2-7 from three), his insistence on turning the game into a track meet could revolutionize the way other teams look at Cleveland: if the Cavs can hurt teams by getting out and running, it will ultimately pay dividends on the glass, forcing other teams to send guys running back on defense without crashing the boards.
When the Cavs re-up Mike Brown for another couple of years, he can address his ‘thank you’ letter to Mo Williams.
Source: Cleveland.com
October 8th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Sweet English says:
YES MO WILL!!!!
man i LOVE that sh*t!! That’s my game man! watchin’ the ball rim out and bein at the half court by the time anyones grabbed that!! Myself and Mo Will are lucky enough to be in the position where we got solid defensive rebounders, so you can get the step on the D most the time.
one thing Mo has gotta be warey of though is going off to early, cos many a time i am GONE… only for the rebound to swing out to a wingman on the opposition who is then WIIIIDE open.
OUTLET BABY!!
October 8th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Sweet English says:
and guys can you imagine if those funny rumors after the olympics about Usain Bolt playing ball actually happened!!!
You’d still be waiting for the rebound to come down and the guy would already have put it in the bucket at the other end.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Sam I Am says:
Sweet English…
You and Mo Will are completely different…
He runs and pushes the ball full court physically and gets paid
You do it on NBA Live and get fatter
October 8th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Sweet English says:
Sam I am
Given that you have no idea who i am and no idea who i play for and at what level, i will assume your comment was made purely for comical reasons.
Fail.
And your right, i don’t get paid, no one who writes here gets paid, we do it because we love playing basketball, which is why we waste time at work writing on the boards here. Does that mean your gonna slam on EVERYONE who talks about how they like to play ball, or was it more of a personal vendetta. I’m assuming you don’t play, seeing as you seem to think ONLY players in the NBA are aloud to play basketball.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Sweet English says:
and seocndly, i’m not saying i am any where near the level of Mo or a lot of people for that matter. I even critisised my style of play for leaving people open after being over zealous on fast breaks.
If your gonna make a critisism why be an idiot? im happy to listen to people who critisise my game because that is the only way to improve, but why be a d*ck about it?
If your such a basketball FORCE, why don’t you say something constructive and prove to people that you are worth listening too?
October 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am
rodnets says:
Mike Brown Playbook 08
Play Nº1 – Give it to Lebron and move aside
Play Nº2 – Give it to Mo and move aside.
Now I back up when I was against Lebron telling everybody this was going to be the year for Cleveland.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
MAYO~ 4~ROY says:
I don’t remember MoWill pushing it in Milw? Then again how often did they play on TV? Even when I had League Pass I wouldn’t watch them……
I’m surprised that he has that mentality…..
October 8th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
dagwaller says:
Yea, but didn’t the Cavs lose? Granted, Lebron didn’t play much, but c’mon.
Williams can lead the revolution, so long as he doesn’t lead the team in FGA/3FGA.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Brown says:
The thought of Big Z playing on a running team cracks me up. Dude won’t make it to the offensive end at all if they play that style.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
nao_diga says:
Brown–did KAJ on the “Showtime” Lakers crack you up? There were lots of times when he didn’t make it down to the offensive end.
LOL, if the Cavs did become a running team, they’d get a lot more mileage out of Z and Big Ben–they’d only have to make every other trip down to the offensive end.
In all seriousness, the Cavs will never be a “running team” per se, but it certainly could help them to be able to push the ball on occasion.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Meica says:
Anyone knows that the preseason don’t mean nothing. The Bulls should have been champs last year if the preseason means anything.
Listen, sooner than later, Mike Brown and his Neanderthal grasp of offense is going to be disciplining and coming down on Mo for his style of play. Even if he didn’t, Mo ain’t no Chris Paul or Steve Nash. Sure he likes to run, but he doesn’t always like to pass. I’m sure LeBron will get his fair share of alley oops and open looks, but it’s sure going to be funny watching Mo push the rock up floor, score (or miss) before Big Z and Big Ben even make it up to half-court.
Believe it from a Bucks/Hornets fan, Mo ain’t the answer to the Cavs problems.
I still can’t believe they re-upped Mike Brown; I thought they wanted to keep LeBron, not lose him to free agency!
October 9th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Lady Luck says:
I hope that Mo can bring that style to the Cavs. It doesn’t mean they are going to be the 2006 Suns, but to have someone who can push the ball and get with Lebron out in the open floor will be a great asset to this team. Since the Cavs are such a nice defensive squad, they need to be able to push the ball. They will still be a mainly half-court team, but the ability to let Lebron, Mo, and the 3 point shooters get out on the break will make them a scary team to guard against.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Dagomar says:
Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying the Cavs made it out of the first round just because the Wiz were injured? They weren’t injured the first time both teams played. The second time they played the Cavs went on to clobber the Pistons and made it to the Finals. Last year? The Wizards played better without Arenas, still lost, and the Cavs gave the Celts their toughest series of the playoffs. So don’t pretend the Cavs can’t get it done in the playoffs. Ultimately I’d rather have a coach like Mike Brown who gets the maximum out of his team in the playoffs than a guy like Mike D’Antoni who, for all his offensive brilliance, coaches perrenial playoff underachievers.
October 11th, 2008 at 5:28 am
frankie says:
…does anyone else think that dagomar talks out of his ass most of the time?