With the loss of captain Colin Doyle for the entire season due to shoulder surgery, many questions arose about what exactly the Rock were to do on offense without Doyle and leading score Garrett Billings who are sidelined with injuries. Well the answer got a lot clearer last Friday afternoon when the Toronto Rock signed future Hall of Famer Shawn Willliams to a one-year deal. The 40 year old Williams is a veteran of 17 NLL seasons, spanning 257 games, where he scored 444 goals and 708 assists for 1152 points.
Williams is arguably the best possible replacement for Doyle on the left side of the Rock offense—while the players have a lot of difference to their games, they both also share a lot of similarities. Williams and Doyle are both extremely good play makers, with outstanding floor vision and the ability to make the players around them better. They’re both veterans, who bring boat loads of leadership, championship experience and offense to any team the suit up for.
Where they differ is in their size, Doyle stands 6’3″ and weighs around 220 pounds, where as Williams comes in around 5’11”, 195 lbs. Doyle’s size advantage allows him to back defenders down, and be a playmaker from a post position, similar to the power forward in basketball. Whereas Williams likes to run his style of offense from the top of the 24 foot circle.
Williams is a bit more fleet of foot, and has a little more speed then Doyle at this stage of their careers. Both are pass-first guys, but are equipped with deathly accurate shots, and an uncanny finishing ability both in tight and from the outside. Williams should have no problem running the pick and roll offense with guys like Josh Sanderson, Kevin Ross and Stephan LeBlanc, he actually has experience playing with both Sanderson and Ross while he suited up for the Brampton Excelsiors during their last Mann Cup run. So that bodes well as far as chemistry and quickly gelling goes.
As far as what changes in the Rock offense, I really feel, not a whole lot changes. As I said I think Williams is arguably the best possible replacement for Doyle. I think Williams veteran mentality, coupled with his overall skillset and ability to be “The Guy,” a secondary scorer or a depth guy on offense allows the Rock to run their offense similar to the way they effectively ran their offense last season. While Williams’ point totals have gone down in the NLL the past three seasons from 68 to 65 to just 49 last season, Williams did average 3.8 points per game during the summer season with Brooklin Redmen, where he saw a larger role then he did during the NLL season with the Bandits.
Williams is a player that adjusts to all situations—if he gets more opportunity, he’ll undoubtedly rack up more points, he’s just that skilled, if he see’s a secondary role, he’ll still get his fair share of points, they just won’t be the gaudy like numbers players like Shawn Evans, Cody Jamieson and Garrett Billings put up. Whatever the case, Shawn Williams is the ideal replacement for Colin Doyle on the left side of the Toronto Rock offense in 2015.
