cavalo
Years ago
Jason Williams
Alright, I know from reading these posts for a while now that I will be starting a contentious thread, but I want to share my two cents about this Sixers team member.
Here goes... It seems as though the majority of posts regarding Jason seem to bag him and how it is a 'disgrace' (my choice of words) that he is even playing with the Sixers. I think somewhere along the line everyone forgot that he is a ROLE player on the team. I'm sure we could all name a stack of role players and what they contribute etc and compare them to Jason, but roles are different on every team. Obviously Jason has been given another contract as Phil and the other powers that be believe he can contribute something. I seriously don't think they expect him to score 20 points a night, 8 rbs & 6 ass. like it sometimes sounds like people on this forum thinkJason has never showed he can do that at NBL level, and probably never will (OK, he never will!).
What he can contribute are some solid minutes as a back-up guard. Due to the fact he has been with the Sixers so long, he knows the offences inside out, is an excellent PASSER of the ball within the offence, even though he does make poor decisions every now and then with the ball, can knock down the three and something which I think goes a little unnoticed and unapplauded is his work ethic on the court. He is always busting his butt in D (even though he doesn't have the quickest legs in the league, but remember he ends up guarding people like CJ, Rucker etc who blow by anyone anyways one on one) and is full of energy and helps get the team a little more pumped up (Kings game as a recent example).
These are the positive points which I have raised about him. I'm sure everyone who will reply will post twice as many negatives. Also, Jason is not a '7 year rookie' - where did this term get coined?? I don't want to make this sound as though I am comparing, just merely stating a fact, but notice how Phil in the last 3-4 games has switched from subbing Ng on first to Jason at the guard position? And before I forget, where do the comparisons of Newley and Williams come from? Don't blame Jason for not having Newley here in Adelaide (as silly as that could possibly be!) I could be wrong, but wasn't Jason one of the last players to get a spot on the team this year? Plenty of time to get Newley on board. Once again, Phil and the boys saw that they could get a back-up ROLE PLAYER on the team in Jason who can contrbiute in the 10-15 minutes he gets a game (if he's lucky).
I just think we should appreciate him for what he is, nothing more, nothing less - a ROLE player, like the many others we have had over the years and which every team needs.
