Derrick Williams Shines in New York

It’s no mystery that Derrick Williams had struggled to shine playing for the Timberwolves and the Kings. It seems he just needed the right team and coach who believed in him.

Derrick Williams declared for the 2011 NBA draft in his Junior year. Many fans wanted him to stay another year, but the NBA was screaming his name.

Williams was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves as the number two pick overall in the 1st round of the 2011 NBA Draft. Williams had just come off of an exciting and successful season in the NCAA with the Arizona Wildcats. The Cats had come within a few points of making their way to the final four under head coach Sean Miller, losing to Connecticut in the Elite Eight 65-63. Williams is famous for coming up with some clutch shots to help win each game. Not just dunks, but three-point shots.

After Williams had been drafted, the NBA locked out the players for 161 days. The lockout ended with a ratified agreement on December 8, 2011. Not the best way to start your NBA career, Williams made the most of it and played with his future fellow NBA players in pick-up games in Manhattan Beach, CA, among other things.

More from Cats in the Pros

• From Arizona Wildcat to New York Yankee, Austin Wells gets called up
• Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s FIBA World Cup performance is reminiscent of Kobe Bryant’s
• Rawle Alkins a star in the Drew League this summer
• Former Wildcat Scooby Wright wins Second USFL Title
• The Edmonton Elks have re-signed former Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate

At the beginning of his 2013 season, Williams was traded for Luc Mbah a Moute by the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Sacramento Kings. New city, new coach, new team, back in his home state of California. It seemed like the Kings would provide an excellent situation for Williams, but it still wasn’t exactly the situation he needed to blossom. When it was time to resign with the Kings, Williams had options. He chose to talk to the Knicks organization.

The New York Knicks General Manager Phil Jackson and head coach Derek Fisher discussed the opportunities for Williams, who was an unrestricted free agent at the time. In New York City, Williams would learn how to play in the famous ‘triangle offense’ which brought Jackson a ton of success. On July 9, 2015, Williams signed a multi-year contract with the New York Knicks. He has a player option for the 2016-2017 season.

Moving from the West coast to the East coast couldn’t have been easy for the former Wildcats power forward. But what may have made the move easier was that this was the first team that Williams chose to play for and the first team who actually had a solid plan for Williams to develop and be successful. He was very enthusiastic about the prospect of playing for the Knicks and learning what the famous NBA legend with 11 championship rings had in store for him.

Williams, who plays both power forward and small forward, would be joined by Jackson’s once controversial but now brilliant first round draft pick, power forward Kristaps Porzingis. Both players proved themselves in the pre-season, but Porzingis won the starting job.

Williams has scored in double figures in six of the last nine games and on December 29th against the Detroit Pistons, he scored his second highest season total 18 points. Even more impressive, was that he scored 16 of the 18 points in the fourth quarter that included a three-pointer, seven of nine free-throw shots and some exciting dunks. The kind of dunks Wildcats fans are used to seeing and the kind of dunks that change the momentum of a game.

Williams performance helped the Knicks beat Stanley Johnson’s Detroit Pistons 108-96 and break a four-game losing streak. It warmed this Wildcat fans heart seeing Johnson and Williams exchanging pleasantries on the court after the game. The two never played with each other in college, but now Johnson has had the privilege to defend Williams in the NBA.

Here are the full highlights from the Knicks game against Detroit Pistons:

The 15-18 Knicks are currently in twelfth place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference but are working hard to earn more wins than losses the rest of the season.

Williams backs up Porzingis on the depth chart, so he comes off the bench. After the game, Porzingis was happy the Knicks won but not exactly overjoyed that he wasn’t playing in the fourth quarter. It seems coach Fisher went with the hot hand to break the Knicks losing streak. Let’s hope after Tuesday night’s game, Williams will get more play time.

More wildcats: Nick Johnson is Back in Action!

We wish Derrick tons of minutes and success in the future! And, we are happy he is being appreciated for his basketball chops by his coach, his GM and his New York City fans.

Beardown Derrick!