http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13371163p-14212769c.html
(The majority of the article - about Bonzi - is in the Kings forum)
...
Williams meets the press
Williams got the press corps rolling with a nifty line that surely helps him get off to the right start in Miami, where he's expected to feed the ball to Shaquille O'Neal, run the floor and not berate reporters who he is convinced are out to get him.
Williams looked like a buffoon last season when he yanked a pen out of a columnist's hand and chewed him out.
"I want to apologize to you guys," he told Miami reporters Wednesday. "I had a box of pens I was going to bring you guys to pass out, but I forgot."
Feeling the Heat
No doubt, Miami wound up with the best trade of the summer, pulling in an exceptionally skilled forward in Antoine Walker, a dazzling if sometimes erratic floor leader in Williams, and a defensive stopper in James Posey. Miami was within moments of reaching the Finals this past season and now has upgraded, with the chance to still re-sign three-point specialist Damon Jones, though he's likely headed elsewhere.
Maybe it was heatstroke or just a wave of new Heat stroke, but Heat president Pat Riley was so excited he couldn't stop gushing about Williams.
"Outside of Steve Nash and Jason Kidd, there isn't a better open-floor, half-court playmaker in the league," Riley said. "He's athletic, explosive, a gym rat. He's a great, great player."
Williams still growing
Williams said his game has matured.
"My rookie year (in Sacramento) I was playing with Chris Webber and Vlade Divac and guys that have really good hands," he said. "I could get away with a lot of bad passes. I have toned it down a little bit because I think I had no choice."
He added that the learning curve was steep in Sacramento.
"The worst thing that could have happened to me was being drafted in Sacramento seventh (in 1998). They didn't have any backup point guards to teach me."
Mobley is the man
Cuttino Mobley got what he wanted: a fat contract, a place to work on his part-time acting or billboard ads, and a chance to impact a team.
In his introductory news conference with the Los Angeles Clippers, Mobley said he was the "missing piece" to a team starving for a playoff berth.
And Mobley confessed that after he torched the Clippers in Los Angeles late last season, Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy put a bug in his ear about a possible partnership.
"I was talking to coach after the game, and I was telling him how much I loved Chris Kaman," Mobley said of the Clippers center. "He was like, 'We love you, too,' and coach was encouraging me to come (to Los Angeles as a free agent) and I was thinking about it.
"And when the summer came along, it was just a matter of him and I hooking up and the whole situation happening."
Interjected Dunleavy: "It wasn't like I was recruiting him."
Mobley, who signed a five-year, $42 million deal, said that joining the Clippers had never crossed his mind before that night in March.
Baseline jumpers
* Nick Van Exel will sign a free-agent deal with someone - Houston, Dallas, Miami? - and will provide Van Slick playoff moments. He's not finished yet.
* A year ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves were sure they were close to a title. They flopped, and their biggest player move this summer has been signing Nikoloz Tskitishvili.
* Golden State, a team on the cusp of the playoffs, has made no summer acquisitions outside of the draft. Their talent core is that solid.
* Last season, Latrell Sprewell deemed a $21 million extension with Minnesota to be an insult (he has a family to feed, remember?). He's nearly off the radar now, his plummeting stock pulling him under.
* Shaquille O'Neal said his new $100 million deal with the Miami Heat "allows me to address all of my family's long-term financial goals." This from a man who has career earnings of more than $300 million.
* One of the last men to wear No. 42 for the Kings, before Bonzi Wells this coming season, was Walt Williams in the early 1990s, and Walt's initial season was his career best.
* New Lakers forward-center Kwame Brown: "I just thank God that I'm out of Washington."
The Bee's Joe Davidson can be reached at (916) 321-1280 or [email="jdavidson@sacbee.com."]jdavidson@sacbee.com.[/email]
(The majority of the article - about Bonzi - is in the Kings forum)
...
Williams meets the press
Williams got the press corps rolling with a nifty line that surely helps him get off to the right start in Miami, where he's expected to feed the ball to Shaquille O'Neal, run the floor and not berate reporters who he is convinced are out to get him.
Williams looked like a buffoon last season when he yanked a pen out of a columnist's hand and chewed him out.
"I want to apologize to you guys," he told Miami reporters Wednesday. "I had a box of pens I was going to bring you guys to pass out, but I forgot."
Feeling the Heat
No doubt, Miami wound up with the best trade of the summer, pulling in an exceptionally skilled forward in Antoine Walker, a dazzling if sometimes erratic floor leader in Williams, and a defensive stopper in James Posey. Miami was within moments of reaching the Finals this past season and now has upgraded, with the chance to still re-sign three-point specialist Damon Jones, though he's likely headed elsewhere.
Maybe it was heatstroke or just a wave of new Heat stroke, but Heat president Pat Riley was so excited he couldn't stop gushing about Williams.
"Outside of Steve Nash and Jason Kidd, there isn't a better open-floor, half-court playmaker in the league," Riley said. "He's athletic, explosive, a gym rat. He's a great, great player."
Williams still growing
Williams said his game has matured.
"My rookie year (in Sacramento) I was playing with Chris Webber and Vlade Divac and guys that have really good hands," he said. "I could get away with a lot of bad passes. I have toned it down a little bit because I think I had no choice."
He added that the learning curve was steep in Sacramento.
"The worst thing that could have happened to me was being drafted in Sacramento seventh (in 1998). They didn't have any backup point guards to teach me."
Mobley is the man
Cuttino Mobley got what he wanted: a fat contract, a place to work on his part-time acting or billboard ads, and a chance to impact a team.
In his introductory news conference with the Los Angeles Clippers, Mobley said he was the "missing piece" to a team starving for a playoff berth.
And Mobley confessed that after he torched the Clippers in Los Angeles late last season, Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy put a bug in his ear about a possible partnership.
"I was talking to coach after the game, and I was telling him how much I loved Chris Kaman," Mobley said of the Clippers center. "He was like, 'We love you, too,' and coach was encouraging me to come (to Los Angeles as a free agent) and I was thinking about it.
"And when the summer came along, it was just a matter of him and I hooking up and the whole situation happening."
Interjected Dunleavy: "It wasn't like I was recruiting him."
Mobley, who signed a five-year, $42 million deal, said that joining the Clippers had never crossed his mind before that night in March.
Baseline jumpers
* Nick Van Exel will sign a free-agent deal with someone - Houston, Dallas, Miami? - and will provide Van Slick playoff moments. He's not finished yet.
* A year ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves were sure they were close to a title. They flopped, and their biggest player move this summer has been signing Nikoloz Tskitishvili.
* Golden State, a team on the cusp of the playoffs, has made no summer acquisitions outside of the draft. Their talent core is that solid.
* Last season, Latrell Sprewell deemed a $21 million extension with Minnesota to be an insult (he has a family to feed, remember?). He's nearly off the radar now, his plummeting stock pulling him under.
* Shaquille O'Neal said his new $100 million deal with the Miami Heat "allows me to address all of my family's long-term financial goals." This from a man who has career earnings of more than $300 million.
* One of the last men to wear No. 42 for the Kings, before Bonzi Wells this coming season, was Walt Williams in the early 1990s, and Walt's initial season was his career best.
* New Lakers forward-center Kwame Brown: "I just thank God that I'm out of Washington."
The Bee's Joe Davidson can be reached at (916) 321-1280 or [email="jdavidson@sacbee.com."]jdavidson@sacbee.com.[/email]
