Every team in America would have taken Young over Willis and rightfully so. Willis didn't do much to warrant an opportunity. When he's gotten in, he hasn't always produced.
Cal Has Accepted Willis' Limitations
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Every team in America would have taken Young over Willis and rightfully so. Willis didn't do much to warrant an opportunity. When he's gotten in, he hasn't always produced.
That has nothing to do with the discussion at hand. You're moving the goalposts not a surprise
This has turned into an unproductive topic. Most of us don't like bashing any of our kids. Let's just agree to pull for Derek to play his very best basketball over the remainder of his Sr season, contribute to another FF run, and create some wonderful memories for all of us.
Archie is a different animal.
I just don't get how people say Cal plays the 5 star guys because they're 5 star guys when a guy like SKJ isn't getting minutes over Willis or Humphries.
Willis has had some good games. But you have to earn PT in practice, no? I have a hard time believing that the other guys weren't productive in practice, that Cal just let them figure it out in games--but everyone feels like Willis deserved to find his way during games.
Because everything Derek Willis is accused of being, James Young was on steroids. Despite that, he got every opportunity to play.
Based on what?
Young was doing as a freshman what Willis has done inconsistently the last 2 years. If Willis was good for 14 points as a freshman, I think Cal would have given him more run. Willis is playing every game now, some more than others, but consistency isn't exactly his middle name.
I feel like when Willis has shown he can get on the court and contribute, he's gotten the minutes.
That comparison is a bit disingenuous. Young and Willis have played almost the identical number of minutes. When you look at their stats per 40 minutes, I actually prefer Willis. Young was a volume shooter and not a particularly good one. He shot 40.7% from the floor, 34.9% from 3 and 70.6% from FT's. He did score a little more but he took 13.9 shots per game compared to Willis who took 10.8. Young leads 17.7 to 15.4 in points per 40. Willis wins in rebounding at 8.7 to Young at 5.3, in other words, more than 50% more rebounds per 40. Young leads in assists, but they are both bad per 40 with Young at 2.1 compared to Willis at 1.2. Young is worse with turnovers as well, at 2.3 compared to 1.7. Finally you have blocks and steals where Young is much worse at .2 and .9 per 40 while Willis is 1.6 and 1.3. Willis also wins in PER at 19.6 compared to 16.6 and in Win Shares at 5.8 compared to 4.7.
I don't mind if Cal wants to call his players out at times, but he needs to be sure he's doing it fairly and to the ones who deserve it. For example, never in a million years would he have said this about Poythress...a guy who started all four years and was given every opportunity possible. Poythress was probably the biggest disappointment of the Cal era. There's something about Willis he just doesn't like.
I didn't want to exaggerate, but that may be true.
Probably hundreds of thousands for sure.
@Blueaz
I'll give you a pass on the "snowflake" thing this time . . . only because you aren't up to speed with the rest of the class. You will be after reading the story below, which is something the rest of us covered months ago. Just catch up first.
[Vaught: Girlfriend helped Derek Willis realize coaches were only trying to make him better]
KSR; In an interview with Larry Vaught for LEX18.com, Derek Willis’ girlfriend, Keely Potts, explained how she helped Willis better understand his UK coaches.
As she tells it, Willis didn’t always feel the love from John Calipari and the assistants, even though they were only pushing him to be better. In fact, Willis thought his coaches hated him until three months ago, when, coincidentally, his game took off.
From Vaught’s story:
“I kept telling him that is what Cal (John Calipari) is doing, what K.P. (Kenny Payne) is doing, what Robes (John Robic) is doing. He didn’t really understand it until honestly January. He looked and me and said, ‘I thought they hated me.’”
She still remembers being in the car with him when assistant coach Kenny Payne sent him a text asking if he wanted to come work out. That thrilled Willis.
“He was like, ‘K.P. doesn’t hate me. I think he likes me. He wants to work out with me.’ I was like then go work out with him,” Potts said. “He was just really excited. Now he understands they were not doing it to be mean to him. They were doing it to better him and his mental and physical states.”
That’s interesting and all, but my favorite part of the story is Potts saying Willis’ first words to her were, “I think I follow you on Instagram.” That’s #goals.
But the whole “I thought they hated me” part is pretty telling of Willis’ first two and a half years in Lexington, and how accepting their coaching made him one of Sports Illustrated‘s “10 Most Surprising Players” in 2015-16.
Girlfriend of the Year?
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How many games did Willis even play his first two years?
Not disagreeing with you but saying one year vs Willis' four years is misleading considering he didn't play hardly at all his first two years.
My biggest concerns are how Willis weathers the storm that is Cal and the lack of development for some five stars on the defensive end. I do think Cal is biased toward Willis (and others) when compared to some five stars, but the five stars miss out on valuable teaching also. From what I have seen, it appears the five stars have leverage that Willis doesn't have or doesn't know how to use. As an example, Monk could simply quit and wait for the NBA draft. As a result, Cal has allowed Monk to go games, while playing horrible defense, but sat others very quickly for defensive issues that are far less than Monk not playing defense. This is a major issue of one year players that impacts everyone involved. As a reminder, Monk wanted held accountable and asked Cal to do so. Monk and Willis both are not getting what they need from coaching at times, because Cal puts himself in position to be held hostage.
How many think Willis performance this year may be more about sitting on the bench behind a freshman that doesn't add any more than the senior Willis
Willis is a definite head case he's a troubled young man. He lived on a reservation and that is no picnic for the natives
Do people not get better in the off-season and in practice?
You act like he'd figure it out in games, but he's practicing against NBA talent every single day. You'd think if he were going to come in and average 20, he would still be good.
If Cal refused to play Steph Curry, Curry would still light it up when he got the chance.
Sometimes Willis does that. Sometimes, he sucks.
Willis could been good for 14 points a game if he could have jacked up 450 shots at any point in his career. He couldve shot 40% from the field, 34% from 3, while being a turnover machine who didn't play defense if given the opportunity at any point too. I promise
Playing is the one thing that the players control. You earn those so if you're not playing, you are not earning them. Time doesn't stand still so the more aggressive player that is doing what his coaches ask of him is going to play more. I hope no one really thinks the coaching staff has it out for their own players and trying to lose games on purpose.
He has had the green light from day one to shoot at will, he passes up a lot of shots that he could take. I want him to take more, I'd like to see him create his shot also but that might be asking too much of him.
Not sure if it was Cal's plan to use DW the way he did tonight, or if it just played out that way.