D-Will and twitter

[Kevin Glasshands [enjin:6642795]]

This is my first thread, so spare me some criticism.

I don't know how many of you follow Derrick Williams on twitter, but I do. After following him for a while, I notice the immaturity on the way he seems to use his twitter, and the many things that he says.

The majority of his tweets are in regards to the University of Arizona, and a lot to his buddies from there, like he still is in college or something. No real updates to his fans. This seems very unprofessional to me. I know Derrick is young, but many of the other players his age do not do this... Chase Budinger is one good example, I feel he handles his twitter very well, and does a good job catering to his fans. Just a couple days ago he was fielding question from his followers about the off-season, Wolves, etc.

My main issue is that athlete's twitter accounts seems to reflect a lot on their mentality on the court, and their work ethic. Derrick's tweets make me question if he is committed to improving his game this summer or if he is just happy that he made it to the NBA and is fine settling with that.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

It's come to this? This thread is absurd. I follow D-Will along with a ton of other athletes on Twitter and D-Will goes about Twitter in a fine way. He hasn't said anything stupid. He hasn't tweeted a pic of him wearing a Blazers shirt or anything. He hasn't been disrespectful to the T'Wolves organization or personel in ANY way. He's a 22 year old who keeps in touch with his class at Zona. Don't fail to remember that he left school as a sophomore. Do the math. Most of his friends in college are probably seniors this year. From everything I've heard and seen, D-Will's working on his game just like all of our players.

Different people handle their Twitter differently. Chase isn't that active of a tweeter. Younger guys like D-Will and Shabazz use it pretty frequently for all sorts of things. I'm not trying to blow your first thread up Kevin. Lol if it seems that way, my apologies. I just think you're looking far too into things.

[Kevin Glasshands [enjin:6642795]]

Thanks for the opinion Camden. I figured this might be a decent topic to discuss because there really isn't much going on as far a Wolves news goes lately.

I suppose I could be reading too much into it because I may have a biased opinion because I don't really see Derrick embrace Minnesota, and the Wolves a whole lot as far as twitter. But I just feel like I don't see Derrick as having a whole lot of work ethic. Obivously, I have no concrete proof, but Adleman can see things like this, and it makes me wonder if that is why Derrick can't seem to catch much of a break with him.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Actually I've heard the opposite. I've heard that Adelman loves Derrick's work ethic and how much he puts into improving his game. Adelman just didn't particularly like some of the things he did on the court. I don't think he's ever questioned his work ethic, though.

There was also a guy named Dante Cunningham busting his ass off to get minutes and doing all the little things right. Clutch rebounds, hustling for loose balls, hard defense and always one of the first ones back on fastbreaks. Adelman values DC for a number of reasons. It's also a reason why I love Dante on this team. I'm not saying D-Will doesn't do some of these things at times. It's just that Dante earns his paychecks by going all out in those ways I said above.

No worries from me on anything about D-Will. He's progressed each year and has a good head on his shoulders. He seems to be a pretty good guy on and off the court. Not to mention that for every rumor his name pops up in, he's handled it professionally.

[TravisT [enjin:6669699]]

I have to remind myself that these guys are young and are just doing what other people their age are doing. If you look at Bazz, all the old sports writers in town were laughing at him over his Twitter handle, which is warranted I guess, but they fail to show any empathy and realize that he's just a kid that lives a totally different life style from what they're accustomed to. Yes - they represent their teams, but in the end they're free Americans just like anybody else and are free to say and post what they please within the social constructs. I get what you're saying Kevin, but just un-follow him and move on.

[foye2smith [enjin:6593248]]

It is a weird vibe though. I remember Flynn and Johnson were the same way being very 'cuse-centric. Couldn't care less it's just odd how some of these early entries are so tight with their schools. Miss it that much you could have played another year, two, or three. Think it's just the crabby college basketball fan in me. Players like Shane Battier and Tyler Hansbrough are tied to Duke and UNC. Kyrie Irving and Shabazz are tied to themselves.

Derrick Williams has done some dumb stuff on twitter but he's been fine lately. His rookie year he gave us the "I feel like a caged lion" gem and then there was a quickly deleted tweet this last season after a DNP-Coach's Decision along the lines of "Wow! really?"

[zigzag22 [enjin:6591633]]

Fun topic and a lot of solid responses, but I agree with Camden that if you are judging the work ethic or character of a person by a few posts of 160 characters or less on social media, then maybe you should be reevaluating yourself before you evaluate another human being. I too have Twitter, Instagram, etc. and people like Russell Westbrook and Paul George post some material that could be classified in the D-Will category of "young and naive," but I've yet to see anyone question those two players' work ethics and overall character.

[Monster]

So using social media to keep in touch with people you went to college with is immature? I knew I hadn't grown up yet. lol. Come on this seems a little bit silly he spent what was likely 2 of the best years of his life there and probably doesn't get many opportunites to keep up with his college pals. I don't see this as being a big deal at all.

Seriously Williams was a little questionable his rookie year hanging out with Beasely and Adelman didn't like how he seemed to like the NBA lifestyle and the fact that derrick had aspirations other than basketball but I believe Lip reported that Williams was a very hard worker in his 2nd year and won Adelman over in that regard. Williams seems mature enough he has his own store open has handled the trade rumors very well and I haven't heard him say anything negative since his rookie year. So what if he still likes Zona its a pretty good place to be from and has one of the best all-time coaches (who highly endorsed Williams) still hangs around there.

Williams has always said positive things about being here. I don't think attitude or maturity are issues for the guy. If you want to rip on him look to what he has or hasn't done on the court their is plenty to draw from.

[Kevin Glasshands [enjin:6642795]]

So using social media to keep in touch with people you went to college with is immature? I knew I hadn't grown up yet. lol. Come on this seems a little bit silly he spent what was likely 2 of the best years of his life there and probably doesn't get many opportunites to keep up with his college pals. I don't see this as being a big deal at all.

Seriously Williams was a little questionable his rookie year hanging out with Beasely and Adelman didn't like how he seemed to like the NBA lifestyle and the fact that derrick had aspirations other than basketball but I believe Lip reported that Williams was a very hard worker in his 2nd year and won Adelman over in that regard. Williams seems mature enough he has his own store open has handled the trade rumors very well and I haven't heard him say anything negative since his rookie year. So what if he still likes Zona its a pretty good place to be from and has one of the best all-time coaches (who highly endorsed Williams) still hangs around there.

Williams has always said positive things about being here. I don't think attitude or maturity are issues for the guy. If you want to rip on him look to what he has or hasn't done on the court their is plenty to draw from.

While I do see where you're coming from, I think we can both agree that the way you handle social media is and should be a little different unless you have 145K followers.

I have always been interested in the social aspect of sports, and all the stuff that goes on within the team that we don't see. It's nice to see which guys are friends and like to hangout off the court. I specifically remember earlier this summer the picture Rubio posted of him, Steamer, Barea, Cunningham, and Lou in Puerto Rico it led me to wonder where some of the other guys were.

I am a firm believer that there is a correlation to the guys you do or don't hangout with and the way you perform on the court. The more close nit a team is off the court the better the chemistry on the court.

I do not mean to rip on DWill, but I am curious after Beasley his first year who would be identified as his closer "friends" on the team and even outside of the team does he have any player he would consider mentors? Both of these would only be positives for his development.

[Monster]

I see more where you are cominf from but you haven't convinced me Williams is handling his social media incorrectly. Unless he is doing inappropriate posts acting like a jerk etc I don't see what the problem is. Social media has a lot of uses and it evolves every few weeks.

I agree with you Chemistry is very important and its very underrated. Its also a very overrated thing too. I think your interest in social media and following players is interesting I'd like for you to keep posting your thoughts when you happen upon something you find interesting or significant but I would caution you to be careful what you read into things. A lot of very good pro athletes leave their team and basically their organization and do their own thing and it seems to be part of their success. Matt Birk is just one example.

I don't really care if Williams is habging out with Rubio or not. I am mostly interested to know if guys are hanging out with good people and probably more significantly steering clear of people that will not help them or even damage their career.

All in all their isn't a guy I am more interested to see play the first 20 games of the season than Williams. He is a mystery man right now. What weight will he play at what position? how many minutes? Will he be any good progressed his game etc? I hope he shows us something and progresses as much as he did last year it would mean a pretty solid step forward.