Hollinger Disappointments

[jemagee]

Excerpts from the john hollinger espn.com column on early season disappointments - 15 surprises so far this season none were thad young -

2. The $70 million gang
Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala and Emeka Okafor all got some serious cash as restricted free agents this summer. Each is a high-character guy with a good rep around the league, each is in his early 20s ? and each has done exactly squat to justify his new contract so far. The weird part is that each of their teams seem to be going out of their way to ignore them offensively.
...
Meanwhile, Iguodala has adjusted to life as the second banana while much of the offense flows through new free-agent pickup Elton Brand. He's shooting only 38.1 percent while his turnover ratio has shot up; more mysteriously, he's lost nearly a steal a game from last season. The high-flying wingman hasn't seen nearly as many chances around the rim, hurting both his percentages and his per-game total

4. Lou Williams, Sixers
One of the underrated reasons the Sixers have been a mild disappointment thus far is that Williams has yet to provide the instant offense off the bench that he delivered so consistently a season ago. The combo guard is only 6-for-23 on 3-pointers and is shooting 35.6 percent overall; he's also seen his turnovers spike.

Part of the problem might be that he's simply trying to do too much. Williams' 29.0 usage rate is absolutely massive, especially for a player on a team with other quality offensive options, and in contrast his 12.2 assist ratio is barely half of last year's mark. It might help him to calm down a little, share the ball and focus on quality rather than quantity. It's tough for a 22-year-old to make that adjustment, but if he doesn't we might see a very different adjustment -- the Sixers cutting his minutes.

[Skates]

Hollinger needs to realize that Iggy is or will be our third scoring option for the foreseeable future.  Once Iggy recognizes that he can be a primary offensive option, but not a primary scoring option, and concentrate on doing all of the other stuff he does very well.  Lou is very disappointing so far, but he is young and has talent, if only he had a well-defined role.

[tk76-]

Lou will play better for the next coach.