I’ve been reading some really excellent player posts lately titled “The Evolution of…X”, with X being a player’s name. Two recent examples that come to mind are this Lebron James piece over on BallerBlogger, and this Andrew Bynum piece over at Empty the Bench.
After watching last night’s game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Sacramento Kings, it was obvious how much another player has evolved this season, that’s Mo Williams. After being traded from Milwaukee to Cleveland, there were a lot of folks excited about having another scoring threat in the Cavs lineup by figuring that should free Lebron from being double and triple teamed, and add a much needed scoring punch to the Cavaliers offense. You see, Cleveland had been one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference the last few years based on sheer defensive prowess and Lebron’s offensive ability. But Lebron alone was not enough of an offensive threat to get by teams like the Boston Celtics who have both the defensive intensity and couple that with three or four offensive juggernauts.
What we have seen since the season started, and the Cavaliers began assembling this amazing record, is that Mo Williams at the point is creating more ball movement, more scoring, and surprisingly has not hurt their defense at all. With Lebron getting so much defensive attention at the point forward position he’s playing, Mo Williams has been getting quite a few open looks and has even become quite adept at either cutting to open space (a-la Rip Hamilton), creating his own shot or drive (a-la Allen Iverson), or knocking down the outside shot (a-la Ray Allen). Now clearly Williams isn’t doing any of those things quite as good as the players mentioned in brackets, but he is doing enough at all of those things to get noticed.
Mo Williams is evolving, he’s producing, and the Cavaliers are winning. It may be because he’s more open due to playing with King James, or it may be the added confidence of finally being a contributer on a highly successful team. But whatever the reasons are, no one can deny that Mo Williams is playing the best ball of his career. And as the season goes on he seems to only be getting better. Could he be the missing piece to the Cavaliers and Lebron James breaking through this year to win it all?
Check out the Mo Williams highlights from last night where he dropped 43 points, 8 boards, and 11 assists……good work brah:
