Los Angeles Clippers Mid-Season Grades: Lou Williams

Defense – C

This might be a short section, but do not harp on Lou’s deficiencies too much. He is nowhere near a lock down defender. A defensive rating of 112 is not great by any means.

He can of course do things differently but I do believe Lou conserves his energy on the defensive end for the other end, especially in the fourth quarter. Chris Paul is still the name people use when they say “two-way” guard, but most guards do not even guard their position. That needs to be the disclaimer when we talk about defense for guards.

We rarely see top guards playing great on ball defense and continue to get buckets. It is a long season, and while I think he can improve, his defense will not have him here if he could not get buckets.

He is averaging 1.1 steals a game this season which ties a career high, which is great but a little more effort on the defensive end can go a long way. He did manage to set the team’s single game steal record though with 10, so he deserves some recognition there. He does have DeAndre Jordan backing him up, so his defense can be a little shaky.