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Posted June 7, 2007
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2007 “Huge” for Troy Williamson
Two
touchdown receptions in two seasons. The number catches your attention
like a Paris Hilton off to jail headline. Vikings wide receiver
Troy Williamson, the seventh player selected in the 2005 NFL
draft, has been experiencing self-inflicted “restraints,” not able to
break loose and fulfill the hype that followed him out of South Carolina
after his junior season.
Prior
to the draft a prediction expert even said Williamson was the best
player available. His extraordinary speed and explosive bursts were
going to ease the loss of Randy Moss for 2005 and beyond.
Instead, Williamson has produced two touchdowns; both in his rookie
season, and developed a well deserved reputation for dropping balls.
Dean Dalton was a Vikings assistant coach when Williamson was
drafted. Now an NFL media expert, Dalton was asked last week if the
coming season could be career-ending if Williamson, 24, doesn’t change
his performance.
“Well, no,” Dalton answered. “He’s still a very young receiver but
it’ll be a huge year for him to rejuvenate his career. He took a huge
hit from the fans and all the pundits because he had a sub-par year.
…His first year here he had an excellent technical coach, Wes
Chandler, teaching him how to be a receiver because he was so raw
coming out of the University of South Carolina. And then he didn’t get
the same detail oriented teaching a year ago when he really needed it.
If you look at his track record his rookie year, he improved as the
season went on. He only had two drops the entire year and at the end of
the year he was making explosive plays.
“Last year he had numerous drops and his confidence level just fell off
the cliff. What you saw there was that he had self doubt and he was so
raw that his technique work was poor. Now he’s got another teaching
style position coach in George Stewart which I thought was a
great off-season move by (head coach) Brad Childress. …He will
maximize Troy’s physical talents and help him become a receiver. …”
Dalton said that in 2006 there were expectations Williamson could become
the team’s No. 1 receiver. The team lost Nate Burleson to free
agency before the season and neither Koren Robinson nor
Williamson emerged as Burleson’s successor. “So that No. 1 hole was
then forced upon him (Williamson) and he wasn’t ready as a receiver to
take that spot,” Dalton said. “He’s a good speed complementary guy. A
good No. 2 and that’s where he belongs. So now he’s back in that role
and that should help him.”
Can
he become a No. 1? “Yeah. I think he has all the potential in the
world and he has the work ethic,” Dalton said. “He’s a good kid who is
gonna stay passionately committed to improving himself as a football
player. … “
Dalton talked to Sports Headliners after he had watched Williamson at
the team’s mini-camp last Friday. Dalton credited the Viking
organization with supporting Williamson during the off-season including
with eye tests. He said Williamson caught thousands of balls and
impressed him with his work ethic. All of that, and with the addition
of Stewart’s coaching, likely will produce “a much more mature and more
refined Troy Williamson this year,” according to Dalton. “I saw just
today his confidence level is back to where he was as a rookie,” Dalton
said.
Was
Williamson worth the No. 7 pick in the 2005 draft? “He could justify
that pick with his improved performance because he’s such an explosive
athlete,” Dalton said. “He can bring a dynamic to the offense that was
sorely needed a year ago and he wasn’t able to do it. Hopefully he can
bring that dynamic…to this offense next year.”
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“Last year he had numerous drops and his
confidence level just fell off the cliff."
Dean Dalton on Troy Williamson
Troy Williamson
Brad Childress
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Conley May Fill Big Wolves Need
Although the Timberwolves are desperate for a power forward or center in
the June 28 NBA draft, they could draft 6-foot-1 point guard Mike
Conley from Ohio State. The best of the bigs, including 6-foot-10
Al Horford from Florida, figure to be gone by the time the Wolves
pick at No. 7. If the choice is 6-foot-11 Joakim Noah, also from
Florida, or 7-foot Yi Jianlian, from China, the Wolves are
advised to go for Conley.
Conley is a true playmaker who would allow the Timberwolves to move
Randy Foye to shooting guard, a more natural position for
him. Conley could easily have benefited from more than one year of
college basketball, but he’s already a top 10 draft prospect. He
receives high marks for his shooting, drives to the basket, play making
and character.
Noah
is a minimal player offensively. His lack of shooting range and poor
shooting form were reasons he averaged 12 points per game his senior
season. Jianlian is suspect because of his physical strength and the
limited competition he’s faced in China.
Disappointment
has often characterized the public’s reaction
to the Wolves’ drafts. Since 1989 when the franchise began the
Wolves have only had five high impact players they acquired throught the
draft, Pooh Richardson, Christian Laettner, Kevin
Garnett, Stephon Marbury (draft day trade for Ray Allen)
and Wally Szczerbiak.
The
drafts from 2000-2004 were not productive bringing Igor Rakocevic,
Loren Woods, Marcus Taylor, Ndudi Ebi, Rick Rickert
and Blake Stepp to Minneapolis. Wolves fans engage in a
frustrating exercise of identifying productive and even star players the
Wolves could have drafted.
Their
latest poster player is Cavs rookie Daniel Gibson, a 21-year-old
rookie from Texas, who scored 31 points including five-for-five on three
pointers to help Cleveland defeat Detroit in game six of the Eastern
Conference finals earlier this week. Gibson was the 42nd
pick in the 2006 draft and available to the Wolves when they chose
forward Craig Smith, another promising player. Gibson may draw
comparisons with San Antonio all-star point guard Tony Parker,
the 28th pick in the first round of the 2001 draft (Wolves
had no first round pick that year).
San
Antonio, the team playing Cleveland in the finals and in pursuit of a
fourth NBA championship since 1999, offers players that encourage
comparisons with the Wolves. Manu Ginobili, the
star guard who excels in clutch moments, was drafted in the second round
of the 1999 draft, the 28th pick. The Wolves used their two
first round choices on Szczerbiak and William Avery. The Spurs
starters include two players who weren’t even drafted, defensive stopper
Bruce Bowen and center Fabricio Oberto.
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Kevin Garnett
Ndudu Ebi
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Worth Noting
ESPN.com grades only seven high school football players in the nation’s
class of 2008 higher than Cretin-Derham Hall wide receiver Michael
Floyd whose college choices will include Notre Dame, Ohio State and
Minnesota.
Ken Lien, who for 31 years has been a
committee member or chair of the Mr. Basketball Committee,
includes the following players on the watch list for the 2008 Mr.
Basketball award: Armond Battle, Jordan Taylor, Dakota
Tidd, Terrel Clark, Sedrick McBounds, Cody Schilling,
Trent Johnson, David Hanson, Anthony Tucker,
Jerry Swezzy, Nick Haugen, Jared Berggren and
Andrew Brommer.
Dan Vandervieren, the former Hopkins center who left Purdue earlier
this year, might be headed for Colorado State’s basketball team.
Legendary vendor Wally the Beerman has been selling beer at local
baseball games for 37 years. The new Minneapolis baseball stadium opens
in 2010 and Wally could celebrate 40 years of selling. “I’ll be there
for at least one game,” he said.
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John M. Williams, DDS
Cosmetic & Family Dental Care
612-521-7611 |
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