While it was certainly a consensus feeling in Cleveland leading up to this past June’s draft that Kyrie Irving was the proper pick to be made by the Cavaliers with their No. 1 selection, the argument was made by some in anticipation of draft night that maybe Derrick Williams would be a better piece to build upon moving forward.
That sentiment was usually chased with the idea that the Cavaliers could maneuver their way into acquiring “the best big” in the draft by way of taking Williams at one, and then end up with “a pretty solid PG too” by snatching up the Kentucky product Brandon Knight a few picks later.
From the moment the Cavaliers won the lottery and the right to pick first overall, I felt personally that the only way they could, should, or would go is the way they did – by drafting Irving first. It did play out, however, that the Cavaliers could’ve ended up with that tandem of Williams and Knight – probably – if they had chosen to go in that direction. The Pistons ended up selecting Knight eighth, four spots after the Cavaliers drafted Tristan Thompson, and Derrick Williams’ name came off the board at two just after Kyrie Irving finished dapping it up with David Stern. It’ll be about three years before anybody really knows the type of dividends that will come of the investments made on draft night, but for the moment you can count Derrick Williams as a guy who’s happy he wasn’t picked first by Cleveland.
In an interview with Marc Spears of Yahoo!’s ThePostGame, Williams said he was “relieved” Cleveland didn’t take him first overall because “there’s a lot of shoes to fill in Cleveland” and he wasn’t necessarily looking forward to that pressure. This from ThePostGame yesterday:
ThePostGame: When did you know you wouldn’t be the first pick in this year’s draft?
Derrick Williams: Probably about a few minutes before David Stern announced it. I was relieved, especially when they called his name. I just think that with going to the team that has the No. 1 pick is a lot of pressure. The whole organization is coming down and putting everything on your shoulders. I’m not saying I wasn’t ready for that. But there is a lot of shoes to fill (in Cleveland), especially with the team now. It’s a better fit for me in Minnesota. I’m sort of glad I got picked No. 2 because you have a young team, you have a base, you are people that are young with experience. We have a great young core and hopefully we can build off of that.
In fairness to Williams, it is certainly logical to be glad he went where he went because there’s no changing that at this point. The T-Wolves certainly do have some young pieces, and he’ll play a pivotal role in the reconstruction of that team moving forward in the Twin Cities to be sure. It is interesting, though, to hear him reveal that he really didn’t want to involve himself with the pressures and expectations associated with being the number one pick by the Cavaliers at this transitional point in the organization’s history.
Williams also added that even though he grew up in LA, LeBron James has always been his favorite player, even though he likes Kobe too.
TPG: Did you grow up in Los Angeles as a Kobe Bryant fan?
Williams: I was a Kobe fan. I like the Lakers in general just growing up out here and having that winning tradition all the time. I grew up as a LeBron (James) fan. That was my favorite player. It’s crazy that we are all on the same level now.
Crazy indeed. It’s also crazy to think that Minnesota won’t have to move Michael Beasley in order to allow Williams to play the majority of the minutes at Beasley’s position without having to worry about Beasley going Beasley as he sits off to the side waiting to give D-Will and Kevin Love breathers. Williams went onto say he talked to B-Easy about that though, and it should work out just fine.
TPG: How are you going to co-exist in Minnesota with all those forwards: Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Brad Miller, Anthony Randolph and Anthony Tolliver?
Williams: We have people that play the same position, but we don’t have people that don’t like each other or are trying to go after each other because they play the same spot. You want to fight for the minutes. I’m not saying we’re not going to do that. We have two people that play the same spot and play so versatile who are athletic, like to run and like to get in the open court. I think it’s really good. (Beasley and I) both notice that. When we are on the court at the same time, it’s hard to guard us. Not too many teams have two similar players on their team and that’s going to help us. We might give up some size but we make it up with speed, quickness and causing a lot of mismatches.
It will be interesting to see how that dynamic with all those bigs ends up playing out up there to be sure. In the meantime, however, I think it’s time that the “Cavs should’ve drafted Derrick Williams” debate be shelved for all eternity; Derrick Williams himself is glad that it didn’t happen.
Photo: ESPN.com
