MVN - Most Valuable Network

Golden State Warriors: Land point guard from the Nets

Williams will at least add much needed depth at the point

The Warriors have been busy recently with the Summer League victories that they’ve been piling up, but in the midst of all of the ‘basketball’ stuff, they were able to pull off a trade that will help keep Monta Ellis playing at the two-spot.  Williams, a point guard out of UCONN, was drafted in the first round at pick 22 in the 2006 NBA Draft.  This is a great pickup by the Warriors, and if they become as good as the Bay Area hopes, the pick won’t be as steep as it seems.

The trade is the standard NBA-confusing type.  The Nets get a lottery protected (picks 1-14) pick in 2011, OR lottery protected (picks 1-11) in 2012, OR lottery protected (picks 1-10) in 2013, OR if they don’t use any one of those picks they get the Warriors 2013 and 2015 second round picks.  Sheez!  Got all that?  The Nets get to choose if they want the pick or not, so hopefully they’ll have no choice but to accept the second rounders.

Nets President, Rod Thorn, had this to say about Williams:

“Marcus is a good, young ballplayer with outstanding skills.  This transaction allows us to acquire another future asset, and we wish Marcus the best in his basketball future.“

The future asset looks to be guard Keyon Dooling from the Orlando Magic whom they got for cash considerations.

Chris Mullin had this to say about the move to acquire Williams:

“We are happy to add a player like Marcus to our roster.  We felt that we needed to acquire another point guard and a player who is capable of running our offense and expanding our depth. We feel that Marcus can contribute to our cause next season.“

The following is an excerpt from the Warriors’ press release relating to Williams:

“Williams, 22, was a member of the NBA’s All-Rookie Second Team with New Jersey following the 2006-07 campaign, when he averaged 6.8 points and 3.3 assists in 79 games (16.6 mpg). He was selected to play with the rookie squad in the 2007 Rookie Challenge during All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas and his season assist total (260) represented the third-most all-time for a Nets’ first-year player. His rookie season was highlighted by a career-high 27 point performance against the Suns in Phoenix (11/24/06).

Last season (2007-08), Williams averaged 5.9 points and 2.6 assists in 53 games with the Nets (16.1 mpg), highlighted by a season-high 25 point performance 2/20 vs. Chicago and career-best 13 assist outing 2/23 vs. Indiana. Additionally, the 6’3” guard averaged 11.7 points and 4.6 assists in 17 outings last season when logging at least 20 minutes. He missed the first 23 games of the campaign due to a fractured fifth metatarsal in his right foot.“

While with the Nets, Williams wasn’t exactly a star, but any point guard playing behind Jason Kidd is going to get overshadowed a little.  If Monta really is the starting point guard this season, he won’t play the entire game at the point.  Having C.J. Watson and Marcus Williams will give the Warriors a serious player at the position when Nelly decides to play small ball.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under C.J. Watson, NBA News, Warriors transactions, 2008 offseason, Monta Ellis, Players, Marcus Williams, Golden State Warriors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.