The incredible value of Duke’s Mark Williams

Insight from David Thorpe and introducing Bonus Wins--a new advanced metric

BY HENRY ABBOTT

It doesn’t take much imagination to picture Duke’s Mark Williams—an athletic and mobile big with a 9-9 standing reach—helping an NBA team. TrueHoop’s David Thorpe says Williams is fundamentally sound and has the potential to be for the NBA what he was for the ACC: the defensive player of the year and the anchor of a team that makes a lot of noise in the postseason. LANCE KING/GETTY IMAGES

This week, we will feature extensive pre-draft insights from David Thorpe, who will break down an array of prospects with analysis you can get only on TrueHoop.

One thing David said captured my attention: After the first four big-name players, the most likely player to contribute meaningfully is Duke big man Mark Williams.

Interesting.

When he said that, here at TrueHoop we were also busy developing a new way to analyze NBA players: Bonus Wins. These are the surplus wins a player brings a team, above and beyond what you’d expect, as judging by salary. 

These two ideas blend in intriguing w…