Former NBA player Alan Williams has decided to sign a one-year deal with the NBL’s South East Melbourne Phoenix, the team announced in a press release. This marks the fourth overseas stint of Williams’ career.
At 6’8″ and 265 pounds, Williams has carved out a role as a bruising big man. He started his career in China after going undrafted in 2015, spent time with the Suns from 2016-18, then played for the Nets in 2018/19. After that, he made a brief return to China and played three seasons in Russia.
Williams played 67 games during his time in the NBA, averaging 6.2 points and 5.5 rebounds in 13.0 minutes per contest. The 29-year-old also shot an efficient 51% from the floor.
Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Kings big man Domantas Sabonis and Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas are now allowed to join the Lithuanian national team during practices, as relayed by EuroHoops. As the report notes, an agreement exists between the NBA and FIBA that allows players to join their team 28 days before major FIBA tournaments and 14 days ahead of the Olympics.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo discussed the Greek national team, offering an honest assessment of where the club stands. “Judging from yesterday’s practice, we are not yet ready for a medal, but we have our chances,” Antetokoummpo said, according to EuroHoops. “It doesn’t matter what the world expects, it’s what the team expects. In all the competitions I’ve been to with Greece, we didn’t even reach the quarterfinals. We’re not ready for medals or cups. We need to create chemistry and the right atmosphere. Let’s go and do our best. I have realistic goals, I need to get better. We have three weeks to bond. I will adapt to what the national team needs from me and not the opposite. Our coach [Dimitris Itoudis] is doing an amazing job and we have to do the best we can.”
- Sam Vecenie of The Athletic re-drafted the 2021 NBA draft class, examining where players like Scottie Barnes should have landed. The top three selections in the real draft, of course, were Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green and Evan Mobley. Barnes was selected fourth, while Jalen Suggs was chosen fifth. In his re-draft, Vecenie swapped Barnes and Green, while moving Franz Wagner up to No. 5.
Ima need Giannis to chill out & remember that Greece definitely was winning medals before he got on the team. Like right before he got on the team. I guess he didn’t totally throw his team under the bus but for a team that hasn’t even played a game yet he came mighty close. I understand he (& his agent/team) wanna tamp down expectations but I mean you’re the best basketball player in the world, there’s always gonna be high expectations
I appreciate Giannis’ honesty and bluntness, and he didn’t say anything wrong or bad…
I can def respect that. Main thing that matters is what he/Greece does on the court tho. I think he’s gonna be great but obv he feels like his team not up to par just yet
It’s just his form of Greek motivation
Aka don’t Greek tragedy
Yes the Greeks are prideful and take personal challenges head on…. But you gotta admit the Greek program has fallen off a bit the past 5 years or so.
One of the worst things that sportswriters do in their offseason downtime is the concept of the “re-draft.” It is utterly ridiculous. Sure it is easy to go to basketball reference and sort by win shares and say that is the way it should have happened (which is pretty much what they do). But they usually fail to take into account opportunity and playing time.
Scottie Barnes got Rookie of the Year in part because there was no one else in Toronto that scored. I am not discounting Barnes, he is obviously a great player and took advantage of his opportunity, but if he had been selected by just about any other team, he would not have had the opportunity.
What a terrible take in Scottie Barnes. The raptors had 5 players who scored more ppg then Scottie. Pascal was all NBA, Fred was an all-star. Scottie Barnes won rookie of the year because he was the best rookie. If he was on any other team that wouldn’t have changed.
Well said Rae. This guy didn’t watch a single Raptors game
Im a raptor fan and even I can admit Scottie was well insulated by a championship level core. All the raptor fans crying that Fred is in the way of Scottie’s development don’t really know how development works.
I went into the draft saying that Scottie Barnes might end up being my favorite player of all time when his career is over, which pretty much shows what I think of him. I was a really big fan of Mobley as well. Green I liked more than I might typically like similar type of players too. I just felt like he was above a lot of similar players, including those older than him. Case I liked b/c of his versatility, and just the way he seemed like he made everything look so easy, but I also noted that almost felt like it wasnt a great thing about him. I wasnt sure how much effort he was actually playing with, but that just shows how good he was. For me, ai felt like his positions essentially would be determined by who else is on his team
So even if I liked these guys in a certain order, I felt like fit is what mattered the most, as I typically do. I could have seen Houston going with any of them, really. The fact they had multiple picks also changes the potential strategy, and also knowing that they were going to make John Wall sit, and then move Wood would have also potentially changed my opinion
I went into the draft saying that Scottie Barnes might end up being my favorite player of all time when his career is over, which pretty much shows what I think of him. I was a really big fan of Mobley as well. Green I liked more than I might typically like similar type of players too. I just felt like he was above a lot of similar players, including those older than him. Case I liked b/c of his versatility, and just the way he seemed like he made everything look so easy, but I also noted that almost felt like it wasnt a great thing about him. I wasnt sure how much effort he was actually playing with, but that just shows how good he was. For me, ai felt like his positions essentially would be determined by who else is on his team
So even if I liked these guys in a certain order, I felt like fit is what mattered the most, as I typically do. I could have seen Houston going with any of them, really. The fact they had multiple picks also changes the potential strategy, and also knowing that they were going to make John Wall sit, and then move Wood would have also potentially changed my opinion
…damn I dont know how that happened