Where There's a T-Will, There's a Way

http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/_/id/8977910/terrence-williams-playmaking-skills-help-stick-boston-celtics-10-day-contract


Celtics' T-Will playmaking his way
Skilled newcomer Terrence Williams could stick in Boston beyond 10-day contract
Updated: February 23, 2013, 5:31 PM ET
By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com


The question put to Terrence Williams was how he explains his rather uncanny playmaking skills. He shrugged and suggested that reporters would have to check with a higher power who had blessed him with the sort of court vision not often found in a 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame.

But Williams unknowingly answered the question -- not with his words, but with his actions while he spoke. As Williams began answering the question after Friday's win in Phoenix, fellow Boston Celtics newcomer Jordan Crawford, sitting at a neighboring stall, began shouting across the locker room in an attempt to find out if any of his teammates had any body lotion.


Terrence Williams is a great distributor, but he also has a knack for retrieving the ball, with a career defensive rebound rate of 20.1 percent.

Without breaking stride in his answer, Williams reached down to his side, picked up his shower bag, unzipped it and handed over some moisturizer to Crawford. Yes, even off the court, his vision and assist skills are obvious to observers.

Williams, inked Wednesday to a 10-day contract after spending the start of the 2012-13 season in China, has been phenomenal for Boston in two appearances. He averaged 5.5 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists over 18.5 minutes per game, displaying a diverse skill set that could really aid an injury-depleted Boston team moving forward.

It's clear that, if Williams can maintain this sort of immediate impact on the floor, the Celtics will be ripping up that 10-day deal and locking him up for the remainder of the season. It's a small sample, but from what he's shown in 37 minutes of floor time, it's staggering that he has been out of the league to this point.

"I think it's good it's not my first year in the NBA," said Williams, who was drafted with the 11th overall pick by the Nets in 2009. He has also had stops in Houston and Sacramento before being cut out of camp by the Detroit Pistons at the start of this season.

Williams instead spent the start of the 2012-13 campaign playing in China, which aided his maturation process and strengthened his desire to play professionally stateside again.

"I've always wanted to play basketball in the NBA, and I'm finally getting a chance," said Williams. "I just try to play calm and have confidence."

Williams looks smooth on the court and thrives via his versatility. One play in particular Friday night offered the perfect snapshot of what he's capable of on the floor.

Defending the swingman spot -- something Celtics coach Doc Rivers admitted he didn't know Williams could do so competitively before Friday's game -- he crashed the glass for a weakside rebound and pushed the ball the other way. Williams keenly identified that Jermaine O'Neal couldn't keep up with Chris Wilcox as he ran down the middle of the floor, so Williams waited for the guards to commit to their men heading toward the corners before threading a pass to a streaking Wilcox in the lane for an uncontested slam that put Boston out front 28-17 late in the first quarter.

Williams is an excellent rebounder for his size -- hammered home by a career defensive rebound rate of 20.1 percent -- but it's his court vision that you walk away raving about. In two games with Boston, his assist rate is a stellar 26.4 percent, even higher than his career mark of 21.8 percent

Two games is a ridiculously small sample, particularly when one of those games was against the hapless Suns, but the Celtics carry an off-the-charts offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) of 121.5 when Williams is on the floor -- a defensive rating of 99.1 isn't too shabby either -- and he's making good things happen with Boston's second unit.

In recent seasons, the Celtics have rarely operated with a pure backup point guard behind Rajon Rondo. When Rondo went down last month with a torn ACL, Boston had four combo guards to split up those duties but lost one of them when Leandro Barbosa tore his ACL too.

Now Williams is displaying an ability to take on increased ballhandling responsibilities, even as he sticks his toe into the offensive playbook. That has allowed teammates like Jason Terry to play in their preferred shooting guard spots.

"[Williams] played with us. He was with us for about two weeks over the summer -- just in the gym before the season started," Rivers said. "What we liked, he's a point guard. He's more of a point guard than anything else. And he showed that."

Williams admitted he was a bit crestfallen when the Celtics were unable to offer him a guaranteed spot after his summer tryout. Knowing his odds were long as an invite, he camped with Detroit instead and didn't make the Pistons' final roster. That left Williams overseas in China, where he realized his attitude about the game needed to change.

"That's what made everything go downhill -- not being a professional," Williams said of his inability to find an NBA home early in his career. "I was young, 20-whatever, money, and not really caring. I cared about playing basketball, but I didn't care about putting the work into basketball. Now, if you go to China even for a day, you learn how to be a professional. You want to come back so fast."

Williams is playing like he has no desire to break out his passport again (unless you're talking about a midseason trip to Toronto for an Atlantic Division game). The opportunity to play with the Celtics is bringing out the best in his game, particularly those divine playmaking abilities.

"You've got to ask God. He gave them to me," joked Williams. "No, I just try to find people. I think this is a great, great group of guys for me to play with. They're able to make shots, so I'm just getting them the ball. They're doing the hard part; they're making the shot. It's definitely a dream to play with shooters, and I'm just trying to get them the ball when they're open."

And the veterans like Kevin Garnett and fellow Seattle native Terry have been in Williams' ear, trying to keep him focused on this opportunity. It turns out that Paul Pierce has been a longtime influence as well.

"When I was in high school, as a senior, and I committed to Louisville, Coach [Rick Pitino] sent me a lot of Paul Pierce tapes. I told [Pierce] that every time I played against him, I had to watch Paul Pierce tapes. So just to have him, to have Courtney [Lee], who I played with -- guys who are from the same area as me [Terry, Avery Bradley] -- it's definitely big to help my transition."

Williams' 10-day deal is set to expire March 1. He'll get three more games to prove himself, but he looks pretty comfortable already and might be able to settle in even more soon enough.



bob



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We have seen him play for 2 games.

It would not be fair to make any judgement about what his contribution will be. I do think that he will get another 10 day contract.

I like what I have seen so far but a 2 game sample size is not really meaningful.

Therefore I did not vote because I would have choosen a catagory like Not Sure but that was not an option.

dboss

Hes made a big impact and has morphed into a team player with the same athleticism I saw in his rookie year. I see him playing better and better as he learns to play with all his new teamates.

Way too early to say. He has lots of talent....lets hope he has the head to keep it together. Time will tell.

With respect to Williams, his progress (at least in the playmaking area) may depend on the rest of the team as much as on him. The majority of his assists so far have occurred when the team was doing a great job of spacing the floor. That always makes passing lanes more accessible. So far, he has demonstrated the ability to take advantage of a well-spaced floor. My guess is that he'll perform best when he has a couple of outside snipers playing along with him.

I'm also anxious to see how he fares as the point on a few transition possessions. Just by the way he plays with his head up—in addition to his sense of timing and often being able to see over the heads of point guard opponents—my guess would be that he should be pretty proficient on the break.

One thing we shouldn't be too quick to criticize is turnovers by Terrence. If he's to become a competent ball distributor in the NBA, there will almost certainly be a trial-and-error period while he adjusts to the possibilities and limitations confronting a point guard in the NBA.

Having been a point guard junkie ever since Bob Cousy committed his first turnover on the parquet, having a guy like Williams come along right now is like an early birthday present for me. It'll be interesting to see whether point guard duties turn out to be a major or a minor element in Terrence's repertoire.

Sam

Just thought I'd add this onto this thread.

http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2013/02/pitino_terrence_williams_good_fit_for_celtics


Pitino: Terrence Williams good fit for Celtics
February 28, 2013


By Steve Bulpett / Boston Herald


The Terrence Williams that Rick Pitino talks about seems an entirely different guy than the one who’s now on his fifth NBA team in four seasons with a recent stopover in China thrown in.

But Williams’ coach at Louisville thinks he knows why there has been so much travel, and he sees the not-so-merry-go-round coming to a pleasant stop. The former Celtics coach believes Williams, now on a 10-day contract, will find a home here after failed hopes with the Nets and brief runs with Houston and Sacramento, a training camp stint with Detroit and questions about his basketball character.

“You know, I had a great experience with him,” Pitino told the Herald in a phone interview. “He spent four years with me, and I had a really wonderful experience. He was the type of young man that whatever I asked him to do, he did.


“He was really low maintenance for me to coach. And I was surprised that I heard different in New Jersey. You know, if I asked him to not shoot and go out and get me 15 rebounds create eight or nine assists, whatever I asked him to do, he did. And it was that way for four years. He was a pleasure to coach.”

Pitino and Williams had a close relationship. The coach believes the lack of such ties in Williams’ early NBA days hurt his development.

Said Pitino: “What I told him after this latest thing where we went to China is, ‘Terrence, these guys aren’t going to get to know you like they do in college, where if there’s something wrong at home with your family, you have people who want to know all about it and help you. It’s the pros, and you’ve just got to understand that.’

“And although he wants to come across as a tough guy, he’s anything but that as a person. Now, he’ll play tough on the basketball court, but he wants friends and he wants really to be liked and he wants people to take an interest in him. That’s just the way he is. He was very, very popular in our town, very popular with his teammates. He just probably didn’t understand (how things are in the NBA), but I think he understands it now. I think he’s got a good grasp on that now.”

The Celts, he added, could be the right team at the right time for the versatile 6-foot-6 swingman who may be of most value as a point guard.

“He’s not going to give anybody any trouble; I know that,” Pitino said. “I mean, he’s learned from going to China. He’s matured. And like a lot of these guys, he’s had a tough background. He never had a whole lot of hugs growing up in his life. But I really do think it’ll work out this time, and somebody’s going to get a real good basketball player who’s all about winning, and that’s what really the Celtics are all about, so I think he’ll fit in great.”

Pitino has asked close friends Walter McCarty and Celtics travel and equipment man John Connor to look out for Williams, and Jason Terry has said he’s known him for years from their Seattle ties and plans to be his guide.

And no less an authority than Kevin Garnett has already lauded Williams’ basketball brain and said he’s liked his game from back in college.

“He’s got a very, very high basketball IQ,” said Pitino. “T-Will’s a very smart basketball player. If Doc (Rivers) tells him to do something, he’ll understand everything about the play and how it sets up. He’s very good in film; he knows what to do. And there aren’t very many athletes I’ve coached in my life as good as him.

“A lot of people just think he’s a freak athlete, but he’s a very, very smart basketball player. He knows how to play the game.

“The reason he was so easy to coach is that he was very, very unselfish. He was always about the team. He liked being in the spotlight, but he didn’t care whether he scored 30 or he scored seven. It was all about winning the game, and whatever you asked him to do, he did it. He was a stat-filler every game — you know, 11 rebounds, 13 points, seven assists, three steals.

“And he was consistently doing that for us when we were a No. 1 seed.”

As for the Celtics, Pitino may not follow them enough to know where their playoff seeding stands from one week to the next, but he still counts Paul Pierce among his friends, and he still has positive feelings for the franchise where he sustained his only career blemish, a situation for which he has blamed himself.

“I don’t follow it as much anymore, but I root for the Celtics,” Pitino said. “Celtics fans might not believe that, but I do. Any time I see them in the playoffs, I’m rooting for them.

“When I went down to see them play against the Heat in Miami, Pat (Riley) knew that, and he put me in the Celtics’ section. I still have a lot of friends there, from Paul to Johnny Joe (Connor) to some of the front office people. So certainly I root for them, and now that T-Will’s there it’s an added bonus.”



bob


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