Shammond a Starter?

 7/25/02

WALTHAM - Shammond Williams has played more games than he can remember at Boston Garden. Really. Growing up in Greenville, N.C., Williams was a regular at a green asphalt playground court that kids affectionately called "the Boston Garden." That's where he developed the quickness and outside shooting ability that attracted the Celtics. But until Boston completed a five-player trade with the Sonics Monday, the closest Williams came to the former site of the real Garden was driving past on the bus.

Now, Williams may become an important fixture at the place Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce affectionately nicknamed "the Jungle." The role of starting point guard is open, with competition for the spot expected at training camp. Although Williams was a backup to Gary Payton in Seattle, he did have a brief stint as a starter during the 2000 playoffs. It was during those two games - when Williams was successful going against John Stockton - that he thought he found a place in the starting lineup, joining Payton in the backcourt. It was the benching (with no explanation) that immediately followed that forced Williams to think about a better future away from Seattle. Like Vin Baker, Williams expressed the desire to play somewhere else and got his wish.

And Williams's move could work out better than he imagined. He has a good shot at becoming the team's starting point guard next season, though it's more than likely Boston will bring in a veteran free agent point guard with a minimum contract to fill one of two remaining roster spots. Still, Williams plans to spend as much time as possible in Boston this summer, learning the Celtics offense and what the coaching staff expects.

"Boston has tried to trade for me over the years, but nothing ever happened," said Williams. "Once it went through, it felt great and I was ecstatic. I was like, `Finally, I'll be somewhere where they want me, they appreciate me.' Now, the ball's in my court. Now, I have to go out and help this team reach the goals that they want me to reach. I look forward to that and I feel I'll be able to do that . . . They already have a great team and with the addition of Vin and I, you have a lot of weapons out there. You have a lot of guys capable of doing a lot of things offensively, on any given night."

Williams comes by his talent naturally (he is a cousin of Minnesota's Kevin Garnett) and with a little help (he spent four years developing at North Carolina, where Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Jerry Stackhouse, and Rasheed Wallace were teammates). He brings 3-point shooting ability that has ranked among the league's best. He shot 45.9 percent from beyond the arc during the 2000-01 season, third best in the NBA.

He scored a career-high 28 points against the Lakers in April 2000, including a career-high five 3-pointers. That performance propelled him into the starting job for the beginning of the postseason, where he recorded a playoff career-high 23 points against the Jazz with the help of four 3-pointers. In the second game of the series, he had 10 assists, which equaled his career-high. And don't forget the season-high 21 points he scored at Boston last February, when Williams and Walker playfully exchanged verbal jabs.

But the biggest challenge for Williams next season will not be scoring, but making the right decisions and getting the ball to Pierce, Walker, and Baker. Playing limited minutes for Seattle, Williams only averaged 1.7 assists last season, though that will certainly change if he sees a lot of time. This summer, Williams is conditioning himself to be more of a distributor than a scorer. He knows that if he does his job at point, it will put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses.

"The hardest thing for me is going to be keeping those guys (Pierce, Walker, Baker) happy," said Williams, a self-described gym rat. "I don't worry about scoring. When you have those guys beside you and on the inside, it makes the game that much easier. Maybe I can order another set of eyes so I can distribute the basketball evenly to everybody.

"Me and Mr. Wallace (Celtics general manager Chris) talked (Monday) and he told me that they're looking for me to compete to be the starting point guard. I look upon it as just coming here and playing the basketball that I'm capable of playing, not trying to tweak the team so I can shine, but to make the team become a better basketball team with me being on the floor. I've played with a lot of great players in my lifetime, and I've distributed the basketball to a lot of great players. I don't think that's the tough part. The tough part is I am a young guy and I haven't really been a consistent starter in the NBA. Maturing and learning are going to be the most important things for myself."