Q&A with early entrant Williams By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 05/21/06 Marcus Williams is already waist-deep into the pre-draft process with the NBA draft still more than a month away. The former UConn star has already worked out for one team and has auditions for three more scheduled before the NBA's June 6-10 pre-draft camp in Orlando. When you're the unquestioned best point guard in a draft considered ultra-thin at the position, there's no better place to be than showing your wares to prospective employers. Williams, who declared for the draft after his junior season, is projected to be picked anywhere from fourth to 20th. Talent isn't the question with the Los Angeles native, who averaged 12.3 points and 8.6 assists last season for a team that flirted with the No. 1 ranking all year. Character concerns, however, have dogged Williams since last August, when he and his UConn teammate A.J. Price were charged with larceny for trying to sell stolen laptops from a school dorm. Williams was suspended from school for the first semester and is still completing 18 months of probation, in addition to community service. "He handled it, got over it, paid his debt to the school and satisfied the courts, and now he's on track to play in the NBA," Raptors scout Bob Zuffelato told reporters after Williams worked out for Toronto on Thursday. Williams made time to speak with AJC reporter Sekou Smith. Q: How do you feel like you performed in your workout with Toronto, and where else do you have workouts scheduled? A: It was OK. I could have shot the ball better. But you always feel like you could have done more. That's just how I am. I'm also scheduled to work out for Houston, Boston and Minnesota. Q: Has the process already begun to take a toll on you? A: It's been pretty hectic and a little tiring. It's a long two months between [declaring for the draft] and the actual draft. But I've got a great situation. I've been working out basically down the street from my house with [former Duke star] Jay Williams, [Missouri early entry candidate] Thomas Gardner and [Memphis early entry candidate] Shawne Williams. Q: So what can you give an NBA team as a rookie at one of the most critical positions on the floor? A: I think I can go to any team that needs a point guard and step in right away and run the team the way the coach wants it to be run. I'm not the world's greatest athlete. I'm not the fastest guy or the most athletic guy. But I have a feel for the game and my knowledge of the game is what I think sets me apart. That's always been my game. I think I have to outsmart a lot of people to be as effective as I can be. Q: You say you're not the best athlete, but you have the size (6-3, 205) and frame that would have allowed you to play other sports. Plus, you went to Crenshaw High (the same school baseball greats Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis attended). Did you play any other sports growing up? A: I played football and baseball. I played football until ninth grade and I played baseball all the way through high school. But I found that my niche was in basketball. Q: How strange was it leaving L.A. after your junior year for rural Virginia (to attend Oak Hill Academy)? A: At first, I wanted to go home every day. It was just culture shock, a real shock to the system. But once we started practicing and playing games and traveling, I was fine. It made me grow up a little bit, and it really got me prepared to go to college. Q: How do you handle the flip in dynamics — from being pursued during the college recruiting process to basically auditioning for NBA teams between now and the draft? A: It's basically the same thing to me. In high school, whether it was with your team or in the summer, you were always playing in front of coaches. So it was really auditioning then. And it's the same thing now. You just have to seize the moment every time you get out there and do what you do best. Q: From the inside of the process looking out, how do you expect the draft to play out, knowing that there's a long-held theory that you draft potential over a specific need? A: One of my assistant coaches told me once that potential is the worst word anyone can use. You've got to be able to go out there and do it now. There are no guarantees. But I'm sure the draft [order] depends on what teams need. Q: There were three point guards among the top five picks last year — Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Raymond Felton. All three had fabulous rookie seasons. Was it a coincidence or something more? A: Those three guys just know how to play the game. Deron was one of the smartest players in the country last year at Illinois. Chris (of Wake Forest) was the same way, and he showed he could take it to another level this year. And Raymond won a national championship at North Carolina, which is what we're all playing for. So I think it was really about those three guys. They just did their thing. 資料來源 http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0521insidenba.html --

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