Louis Williams: Toronto’s Consistent Wild Card

By Joshua Howe | Feb 24, 2015

Nov 21, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard Lou Williams (23) celebrates a basket against the Milwaukee Bucks at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors beat the Bucks 124-83. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /

After Louis Williams went down with a torn ACL back in 2013, it looked like he might never reach the level he was at during the 2011-12 season, when he finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

The Toronto Raptors took a chance on him this season, hoping that his recovery had reached such a point that he’d be able to perform at that level again. After last season’s finish at the hands of Paul Pierce and the Brooklyn Nets, it was evident that Toronto needed a stronger bench to boost their chances of success in the playoffs.

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And now they have it.

Williams is having a career season. Not only has he reached that previous height of 2011-12, he’s surpassed it in a tremendous way. The average numbers, however, don’t seem to tell you that.

Just take a look:

Louis Williams 2011-12: 14.9ppg, 2.4rpg, 3.5apg, 0.8spg, 40.7 FG%, 36.3 3FG%, 81.2 FT%, 26.3 minutes
Louis Williams 2014-15: 15.4ppg, 1.8rpg, 1.8apg, 1.2spg, 40.2 FG%, 34.5 3FG%, 86.0 FT%, 24.6 minutes

Pretty close, right? His 2011-12 season actually looks a bit better from a distance. But you have to dig a little deeper and consider what it is that Williams does and has done for the Toronto Raptors.

For example, he shoots more threes with the trey-happy Raps, putting up nearly six attempts per game. In that 2011-12 season, he took only around four shots from deep. That makes his three-point percentage look a lot better, doesn’t it?

Williams also doesn’t have to do as much for this Raptors team as he did when he was with Philadelphia. Toronto thrives on passing the ball around the perimeter to get open threes, and when the ball is handled it’s often in the hands of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.

Lou is merely in the game to score, and he knows it. Perhaps this is why his game has improved. He doesn’t have to worry about doing anything except putting the ball in the hoop. And since Dwane Casey allows for a lot of freedom on offense, he’s allowed to run and gun to his itchy-trigger hand’s delight.

I mean, he’s taken nearly every single end of quarter shot this season for Toronto and nobody on the Raptors seems to care.

Williams is capable of and has often this season displayed his invaluable ability to sway games in his team’s favor just by coming off of the pine and hitting a few quick buckets. When the starting unit has struggled, it’s been the notable combination of Williams and James Johnson that has brought the squad back.

This season, Lou has recorded 13 games in which he has scored 20-plus points; including one where he dropped a career-high 36 on Cleveland. He’s also accounted for 4.8 win shares (3.7 of which are accounted to his offense) so far and his true shooting percentage is the highest of his career at 56.5 percent.

One of the other main candidates for the Sixth Man award is Jamal Crawford, and even he is paling in comparison to Williams this season. His true shooting percentage is 54.0 and he’s accounted for 3.4 win shares on the Clippers.

Crawford also hasn’t had a single game this season where he’s scored 30 points. Williams has had two.

While it’s beginning to grow increasingly obvious that Williams should win the Sixth Man award this season (his team is in second place in the East to boot), what’s more important lies in the aftermath of the 82-game slog.

Williams is going to be key to the Raptors’ playoff run and might even be the determining factor in how far they end up going. In a tight playoff game, things can change in an instant and having the kind of firepower Williams provides coming off of the bench is a blessing.

He’s one of the few players capable of carrying an entire game as well (or at least a quarter or two) if he gets hot. He can get his own shots, is one of the best in the league at baiting guys into fouling him on the pump fake and can hit literally any shot if he’s in the zone.

Seriously, he fades on half of his shots anyways.

Lou is Plan B when things don’t work out with the starters, and he’s been a reliable force so far. The league average for PER (player efficiency rating) is 15.0. DeMar DeRozan, the team’s best player, has a PER of 15.8, which is OK. Williams has a PER of 20.2, which is surprisingly impressive.

This Raptors squad is better than last season’s. If you put this team into the same playoff series last year, they likely would’ve finished off the Nets in that Game 7 or maybe even sooner. It’s still mind boggling how much better the Raps are without the corpse of John Salmons taking the shots Lou is taking.

For playing the role of the team’s wild card, Williams has been extremely consistent overall. Now all that remains is carrying that consistency over into the postseason. He played in the playoffs last season (Yeah, I know, I don’t remember him, either) and only put up about eight points a game while averaging 19 minutes over a seven-game stretch.

He’ll look to correct his woes this season in The North. Get ready, Raptors fans. I can guarantee you at least one game in an upcoming series where we’ll all be shouting, “LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!”

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