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…