Los Angeles Clippers: 2017-18 player grades for Lou Williams

Strengths

Like fellow bench scoring specialist Jamal Crawford, Williams’ greatest strength is probably his ability to send players to the hospital with broken ankles.

When fans bring up the best ball-handlers in the NBA today, Williams usually finds himself on that list:

Williams’ craftiness with the ball greatly contributes to his deadly offensive game. Without Paul or Griffin around to siphon possessions away from him, Williams put together a borderline All-Star season, averaging a career-high 22.6 points per game — the highest average among reserves — and finishing with a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) above 20 for the second straight season.

These weren’t empty points either; the Clippers scored 8.3 more points per 100 possessions when Williams was on the floor. Take him away, and L.A. would have degenerated into one of the worst offenses in the association.

In particular, Williams excelled in the pick-and-roll, averaging 0.89 points per possession on 9.8 possessions per game. He also ranked 13th among players who logged at least 40 games in points per game on drives (6.8). Williams was also effective on isolation plays (0.93 points per possession) even though he only averages 1.9 possessions in those situations.

When you combine Williams’ knack for getting buckets with his newfound playmaking ability–he averaged a career-high in assists and finished with the second-highest assist rate of his career this season — you get a prolific offensive player.