MW or MVP?

Marvin Williams doesn't deserve to start for the Hawks. I just saw him contribute to a frustrating loss on the road against Chicago, and I'm pissed off. He's just not good enough, and his limited skillset does not mesh well with the team. Yeah, when a player is shooting like 60% on 18-22 footers for a 3 or 4 game stretch, that's fine and I think most teams will take that. But when the shooting is inconsistent, you have to make up for that by driving the ball and making plays or hustling your tail off for rebounds. Marvin Williams has a 1% success rate of scoring a basket, getting fouled, or assisting an easy layup when he drives towards the hoop. He is just that bad off-the-dribble. And for a guy of his athleticism and length to average 5 rebounds, that's pretty pathetic. So when his shot isn't falling, and it usually takes 5 or 6 misses each game for him to realize that his shot is off, he'll just float around or hastily drive the ball in which usually ends up in a turnover or a blocked layup attempt.

I think the problem with Marvin is his arrogance. Have you ever seen him walk? He looks like a freakin' duck! He has so much swagger it's ridiculous when you think about how he plays. He thinks he's the shit because he was a great college player on a championship team and starts in the NBA, has no idea that he is worthless compared to the two PGs picked after him, and does not feel compelled at all to work extra hard to prove his worth. All of this has led to him marginally improving his shot and rebounding each year while Deron Williams and Chris Paul have been making leaps and bounds each year in their playmaking and leadership. While both of those players are already in MVP discussions, Marvin is still in some people's "biggest draft bust" list and the problem is, do you see him improving his game much in the next few years? I sure don't. He'll just keep swaggering around like a duck and never look around at all the critics accurately describing how bad he is. I say we sell him high now, not that any team is high on him but I think we can still manage to get a decent player in his replacement. I can see a team being lulled into believing Marvin's upside (or mirage of one). Still, it would be better than keeping him as a starter so that everyone is constantly reminded of how badly Billy Knight screwed up in that draft, and then try to dump him off in a few years as a meaningless add-on in a trade.

So since we have established Marvin Williams does not deserve to start (I barely think he should even come off the bench, and only when the other guys are tired or in foul trouble), here are 2 solutions for the starting five:
1. Mike Bibby-Joe Johnson-Josh Childress-Josh Smith-Al Horford: If the 2nd pick of the '05 draft sucks, why not start both 1st-rounders of the '04 draft instead? Josh Childress as a 6th man works well because he provides desperately-needed energy and great scoring percentage and rebounding, but couldn't he be just as good, if not better, if he were starting alongside fellow '04 1st-rounder Josh Smith, Bibby, Joe, and Horford? With Marvin starting, J-Smoov already had to move to the 4 so J-Chill wouldn't change that, and he'd be a great scorer and rebounder, and Mr. Baseline would receive easy layup passes from Bibby and Joe to start the game instead of having to wait for more than half a quarter for Mike Woodson to realize that Williams is contributing nothing on offense or defense. J-Chill is averaging practically the same amount of steals (0.9) and blocks (0.6) as Marvin (1.0, 0.4) with fewer minutes, and his shooting percentage is ridiculous. In any case, we better not ever trade Childress because he'd average 30 on 60% shooting starting on a decent team. As for J-Chill's 6th man role, I think Salami can be a decent fill-in as an offensive spark off the bench, and Jeremy Richardson should play more.
2. Mike Bibby-Joe Johnson-Josh Smith-Al Horford-Zaza Pachulia: Woodson has been experimenting with Horford and Zaza on the court at the same time, and I like it every time I see it. We have great offensive rebounding in Zaza and great defensive rebounding in Horford, and both have decent short-range jumpers and good passing, esp. Horford. This would move Horford back to his natural 4 and J-Smoov back to his natural 3, though with two other big bodies on offense J-Smoov may not have as much space to maneuver for his great inside moves. In any case, the Hawks let other teams get way too many offensive rebounds and put-backs and Marvin isn't helping anything. J-Chill can still come off the bench as one of the best 6th man in the league, and Marvin can be the 9th man behind Richardson.



You can't mention Marvin's failings without mentioning Chris Paul's achievements. He's my MVP for this season over Kobe, Lebron, and KG. I mean, this guy is absolutely sick, capable of going for 35-17 every night. I mean, he made David West an All-Star. Who? And is that Tyson Chandler I see hustling and making plays? I'm confident that Chris Paul can go to any lottery team and make them a playoffs team instantly, and make some role players All-Stars in the way he did so with David West. West would still be unheard of if he wasn't playing with Paul. Like everyone who was fawning over Steve Nash the last few years, with stats of how he improves his entire team being shown for every nationally broadcasted Phoenix game, I feel the same way about Chris Paul. In fact, I still think he's underrated and not talked about enough about how good he is. His Hornets are currently the top team in the ridiculous West and still no one is talking about them. I have yet to see him perform in the playoffs, but if he can match what he's doing in the regular season, I think he can carry his team to the finals. Kobe has Gasol, Bynum, and Lamar Odom on his team. Lebron is playing .500 ball in the Eastern conference. KG has Pierce and Allen and a stacked steam similar to the Lakers. I expect either Kobe or Lebron to take the prize, but ultimately Chris Paul is just that much better of a basketball player and teammate, and if he doesn't win this year he should win the next three.