McHale and Ray Reunite

February 26, 1985

Ray Williams Joins C's

Fasten your seatbelt and your shoulder strap. Here comes the brother of Gus Williams, the Godfather of trick-or-treat, a man who can keep two teams in a game simultaneously, the player who turned Hubie Brown's perm into a natural curl.



Multi-talented Ray Williams is a Boston Celtic. The Knicks yesterday accepted Boston's offer of two second-round draft picks (1985 and '86), waiving their right to match the $125,000 contract Williams signed with the Celtics last Thursday. Boston coach K.C. Jones says he hopes to use Williams against the San Antonio Spurs tomorrow night.

A 6-foot-2, 30-year-old guard, Williams has not played competitive ball since the seventh game of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Boston last May (he burned the Celts with 22 points in 23 minutes of Game 5). The Celtics hoped to have him at practice this morning and plan to have him in uniform tomorrow night.

Reached at his home in New Jersey last night Williams said, "I'm not sure when I'll be there. I got to get somebody to watch my house and feed my dogs. Those are the main two problems right now."

"I'd like to get him here, get him in shape, and throw him to the sharks," Jones said last night. "I hope he has some kind of conditioning. Why not throw him in there Wednesday?"

Danny Ainge and Dennis Johnson are the starting guards, but both have been working overtime and the Celtics need more offensive punch off the bench. Williams is a 16.9 career scorer. He averaged 14.8 and led the Knicks with 274 personals and 219 turnovers last season. His seven-year career shooting percentage is a Dennis Johnsonian 45.4.

Williams' roller-coaster style exasperated Knicks coach Hubie Brown. A veteran of the Knicks, Nets, and Kansas City Kings, Williams is known as one of the NBA's most inconsistent players.

"I can adjust to any style of basketball," said Williams. "I've always been in a position where someone's been hurt and they've looked for me to do more scoring. There's not too much organized basketball you can play that way . . . I try not to get hung up in all that. I like to let my playing do my talking for me."

"There's a lot of trick-or-treat players in this league," said Jones. "I'm just going by what I see. He's a talent. He can pass, he can shoot real well, and he's got the moves."

Kevin McHale, who played a year of college ball with Williams at the University of Minnesota, said, "Ray is a guy who comes out and plays hard every night. He can create a lot of things. He can take it to the hole, but he looks to pass it off, too. People talk about him having a lot of turnovers and missed shots, but I think people are going to be surprised . . . He's an opportunistic player and very creative. We haven't had anybody that creative. But he's also a very unselfish player."

When the Celts first contemplated signing Williams, Larry Bird said, "I like him as a player . . . He's never played on a team like ours. On this team, if he's got a bad attitude, we'll kick his ass. On our team you can be up and down a little and get away with it."

Williams will fill the roster spot vacated by Cedric Maxwell, who had arthroscopic knee surgery last Friday. Williams will be paid $125,000 for the remaining 26 games of the regular season, but also stands to gain a partial or full share of the Celtics' playoff pool. He will be a free agent again at the end of the playoffs.

Williams said he's seven pounds over his ideal playing weight, but denied rumors that he has a bad knee. "I've been running on a treadmill," he added. "But I haven't really played any basketball except for a month in Nassau."

How long will it take him to be ready?

"That depends on them," he said. "I don't know my role. With me, it's just a matter of playing. I might have a great game the first game, but then I might not have a great game the next night."