Last year, Reggie Williams spent Christmas in his apartment in
Sioux Falls, S.D. In the morning, he put on a pair of boots and a
sweatsuit and walked through a foot of snow to buy groceries from a
Wal-Mart across the street. He and roommate Leemire Goldwire, his
teammate in the NBA Development League, cooked and ate Christmas
dinner together. By that evening, they were glued to the couch
waiting for the tipoff of the Denver-Portland game on ESPN,
dreaming about the day they’d get their shots in the NBA.
OAKLAND
Last year, Reggie Williams spent Christmas in his apartment in Sioux Falls, S.D.
In the morning, he put on a pair of boots and a sweatsuit and walked through a foot of snow to buy groceries from a Wal-Mart across the street. He and roommate Leemire Goldwire, his teammate in the NBA Development League, cooked and ate Christmas dinner together. By that evening, they were glued to the couch waiting for the tipoff of the Denver-Portland game on ESPN, dreaming about the day they’d get their shots in the NBA.
“It seems like just yesterday,” Williams, 24, said. “Now, I’m spending Christmas in California, in beautiful weather, and about to play on national TV. My family can watch me play.”
Saturday night, Williams again will be waiting for the tipoff of a game involving Portland on ESPN (and CSNBA). But this time, he’s playing in it. The Warriors host the Trail Blazers in the nightcap of the NBA’s five-game Christmas Day slate.
And not only is he on the Warriors, he has solidified himself as a key contributor. He said it’s not lost on him how far he’s come.
This time last year, Williams was an overlooked star in the D-League, watching other D-Leaguers get called up to the big show ahead of him.
“My dream was to play in the NBA,” Williams said. “So for me to play on Christmas Day and on national TV, that’s a pretty big achievement.”
The Warriors’ landing a spot on the Christmas Day schedule_a position usually reserved for elite teams and players_also could be considered an achievement. The Warriors haven’t played on Christmas Day since 1984. The franchise has been in 10 Christmas Day games since it moved West in 1962, all of them on the road.
They almost weren’t on the 2010 list. In March, each team submits a list of 30 dates during the upcoming season that it does not want to play a home game. According to a team official, Golden State had Christmas Day on its no-home-game list. But the league called and asked the Warriors if they wanted to play on Christmas, and team officials said yes.
Williams certainly has jumped at his opportunity. He went undrafted in 2008 out of Virginia Military Institute, played a season with the French club Dijon and then joined the D-League and called up by the Warriors in March 2010. He is still 30 games shy of a full NBA season, yet he is a key reserve for the Warriors. Williams has emerged as one of the top second-year players in the league and one of the Warriors’ offensive weapons.
Williams is likely to see a decrease in playing time, however. He has started the last six games and averaged 18.2 points in 37 minutes while point guard Stephen Curry recovered from a sprained right ankle.
But Curry is expected to return to the lineup Saturday night. He practiced full tilt Friday. It was his first full-contact action since rolling his right ankle_for the fourth time this season_at San Antonio on Dec. 8. Curry’s ankle has had more than two weeks of rest and treatment. He said he will work out Saturday to see how it feels and decide pregame if he will play. So, the likelihood is Williams will return to his role as a scorer off the bench.
But he isn’t complaining. Last year, the day after Christmas, Williams had 31 points to lead the Sioux Falls Skyforce to a win over the Springfield Armor. The announced attendance was 2,530.
Saturday night, Williams will play before more than 19,000 fans at Oracle Arena and a national TV audience.
“Man,” Williams said, “That’s a pretty good Christmas gift.”
Notes: The team hired Lloyd Pierce as an assistant coach to replace Stephen Silas, who left the Warriors to be his father, Paul’s, top assistant in Charlotte. Pierce, 34, was player development coordinator during Mike Brown’s last three seasons as coach of Cleveland. A San Jose native, Pierce played college ball at Santa Clara. Assistant coach Calbert Cheaney will move up to No. 2 assistant behind Jerry Sichting on Keith Smart’s staff. … Centers Andris Biedrins and Dan Gadzuric didn’t practice Friday. Forward Brandan Wright practiced and is expected to be available on Saturday night.
– Story by Marcus Thompson II, Contra Costa Times
