» Blog Archive » Williams perseveres to prove his work ethic
  • Nov
    8

    Williams perseveres to prove his work ethic

    By Geoff Lepper
    48minutes.net

    OAKLAND — As her only son languished in professional purgatory, Michele Williams kept imparting messages of encouragement.

    “They pay you all this money to be professional,” Warriors point guard Marcus Williams recalled his mother saying. “So even if you are frustrated, you really can’t be.”

    Williams had reason to disregard Mom’s advice. When he was acquired from the New Jersey Nets in July, it looked like a perfect opportunity for the UConn product to shed the labels he’d earned for being a less-than-stellar defender and not-very-active worker

    Instead, Williams performed so poorly during training camp that he not only stayed firmly planted behind incumbent C.J. Watson but also dropped behind rookie off-guard DeMarcus Nelson on the depth chart.

    “You’ve just got to be professional,” Williams said. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

    Some good finally came Friday, when Williams was resurrected from the inactive list by coach Don Nelson. He made his Warriors debut in Golden State’s 109-104 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies and finished with four assists in 10 minutes.

    Nelson said before the game that Williams was being activated because he reached the appropriate levels in terms his contract’s weight clause — 10 percent body fat or 210 pounds.

    But Williams isn’t sure that’s the whole story.

    “I don’t think” it was all about the weight, Williams explained. “Coach said my work ethic was kind of bad.”

    There was a simple way to change that view, which is why Williams started showing up an hour before practices and shootarounds for extra workouts with rookie guard Anthony Morrow under the supervision of Mark Grabow, the Warriors’ fitness guru, and staff member Rico Hines.

    “It’s non-stop continuous running and getting shots up,” said Williams, who figured, “I’m not playing anyway, so I might as well get some extra work in, some game speed work in, just so when my name is called, I can step in and play and not be out of shape.”

    Friday, Williams kept pace with his teammates. He had three assists during a 5 1/2-minute stint during the second quarter, the prettiest being a cross-court, 40-foot dish to Kelenna Azubuike for a layup as the Warriors attacked after a made Grizzlies basket.

    Williams came on in the third quarter as part of a smallball lineup for Nelson — the first time Williams had played with that group, even including practices — which did not lead to great results at the defensive end. Memphis rookie O.J. Mayo pulled up for an easy jumper over Williams, and Williams was caught on a switch trying to front Darrell Arthur, who converted a lob pass into a layup.

    Offensively, Williams did not get into the lane as often as Nelson was hoping (“I thought he was just OK,” was the coach’s assessment). But he remains the Warriors’ best option for a pass-first point guard.

    “I think I could have done a little more,” Williams said. “I think the first two jump shots I probably forced. With those two plays, I could have maybe probed or tried to get into the paint to create a shot for someone else. I’m just trying to get a lot of reps in practice so when I get into games, it’ll be natural, getting into the paint.”

    ** DeMarcus Nelson came off the bench Friday — for the first time this season — and played only 9:31. The way Don Nelson was talking Saturday, it sounds like that be a relatively permanent condition, at least until DeMarcus Nelson makes defenses take his jump shot a little more seriously.

    “You see the way they’re playing DeMarcus now: They’re not guarding him,” Don Nelson said. “That makes it harder for him, when teams start keying on him. As a starter, you’re more of a focal point than you are coming off the bench. That’s another reason I brought DeMarcus off the bench. They don’t know when he’s coming in the game; some players might forget how they’re going to play a certain guy, or all sorts of different things. It’s the same for any young player. They’re going to be tested.”

    ** Watson is gamely trying to play through a torn ligament in his right elbow, but it seems to be clearly affecting his shooting. Watson went 7-for-11 from the free throw line Friday (including three misses in the fourth quarter). So when was the last time you missed four FTs in a game, C.J.?

    “Probably in the D-League,” Watson said. “I was 20 for 24.”

    ** On the injury front: Corey Maggette (strained left hamstring) is officially considered “doubtful” for Sunday’s game in Sacramento. The team had no update on Al Harrington (back spasms). And Don Nelson revealed that Stephen Jackson is having another painful bout of turf toe in his always-tender left foot. Jackson did not practice Saturday, although he’s not, at this point, expected to miss any game time.

    Contact: geofflepper@48minutes.net

10 Responses to “Williams perseveres to prove his work ethic”

  1. ajbry November 8th, 2008 at 11:40 pm

    Jack’s turf toe is from overuse.
    Nellie is killing his value.

  2. whatever dude November 9th, 2008 at 12:14 am

    i blame Nellie for global warming.

  3. Phil November 9th, 2008 at 12:23 am

    LOL!! Rico Hines is still on the Warriors staff? God bless Baron Davis for hooking up his homie with a job. THought that fool would have followed Dizzle back to lala land.

  4. David E November 9th, 2008 at 5:33 am

    The reason Williams got pulled in the fourth quarter, it seemed to me, was that he didn’t fight through a screen at the top of the key. He not only did not fight through it, he moved back and rested, completing losing contact with his player. I thought this was his worst play of the game because it showed a lack of effort on his part. He was out instantly.

  5. Joe November 9th, 2008 at 6:36 am

    “I don’t think” it was all about the weight, Williams explained. “Coach said my work ethic was kind of bad.”

    I can’t believe he hasn’t been told numerous times in his short career that his “work ethic” is a problem. You read it in any scouting article written about him.

    Sitting Williams down until he makes weight is good parenting. Love and Logic 101.

    IMHO, GSW didn’t pick up his option because they don’t think he’s mature enough to play in the NBA.

  6. ajbry November 9th, 2008 at 10:07 am

    Danny Granger sucks so bad.
    Jack should totally make more money than him.

  7. Inevitable November 9th, 2008 at 10:11 am

    “And Don Nelson revealed that Stephen Jackson is having another painful bout of turf toe in his always-tender left foot”

    Al with back spasms (supposeably) Maggette with hamstrings Ellis with the moped accident. Aside from the fact that we could be mistaken for a NBDL team, the team looks weak on paper. We have to accept the fact that this is a rebuilding team, I dont care what they say but when you lose to the Grizz 2 times in 5 days and one at home, you are not a playoff team.

  8. ajbry November 9th, 2008 at 10:11 am

    And he needs a star point guard, he can’t create his own offense in the Nellie system all the time. Especially with all those minutes….

    What would really help Jack be a max money number one player would be like one league leading scorer, one All Star point guard, and one top-10 rebounder all taking some of this pressure off of him. And a guy off the bench who could make 3 pointers every now and then. Also, I really think a team that could play great defense with lots of blocked shots would help him cherry pick for some of those easy lay-ups he’s SO SWEET at. Maybe we should play Biedrins, Randolph, Wright, and Maggette all together. That’s our best rebounding team. Azu blocks more shots than Maggette by a ton but we didn’t pay Maggette all that money to just sit on the bench as a back up 3. Ellis would really make the difference for Jack, too.

    Man, Jack is SO SWEET!

  9. dan November 10th, 2008 at 12:53 am

    Marcus W sucks. If he is so good, the Nets would have kept him but instead they traded for Devon Harris. Just STFU already Marcus, you suck

  10. Gwyneth Palthrow July 7th, 2011 at 10:58 pm

    This is an glorious posting and i’m very sure that it would have consumed a good amount of your top quality time to produce such an exclusive and latest page. Follows your site and will be beneficial if you may provide far more periodical and organized blogs methods for newcomers like us.

Leave a Reply

Subscribe

Categories

Recent Articles

 
Theme by AZ Money Web Design
Powered by WordPress