Derrick Williams of Minnesota Timberwolves willing to wait for his opportunity – NBA Update
Derrick Williams came into the league last season with the aim of being the rookie of the year. We all know how that went. Now going into the second year of his career, the power forward is struggling to find good minutes under
head coach Rick Adelman.
But unlike most NBA players, the youngster is doing well not to moan about his reduced minutes;
"I'm not the coach. I don't control the minutes," said Williams, who is averaging 9.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. "I just control whatever I can control. Show up in practice, keep working hard, staying after practice and
lift weights, things like that. That's what I've been doing."
The highest ever pick to have landed at Minnesota; Williams started all 66 games in lockout shortened last season, but failed to impress Adelman on both sides of the court, especially on the D. He put in a lot of work during the
off season to improve his game and also slimmed out a bit in a bid to move to the small forward position, rather than playing after franchise player Kevin Love at 4. The Wolves however shut that window by acquiring Russian star Andrei Kirilenko in the off-season.
Adelman did give Williams major minutes at the start of the season, mainly because of the hand injury to Love, but the second year player failed to capitalize on the opportunity. Adelman put Williams on the bench as soon as Love
made a comeback and since Nov.16 he has not featured for more than 16 minutes in a game. To make the matters more frustrating for Williams, Adelman has been introducing veteran Dante Cunningham as the first change to Love.
The young forward, who was in the loop for a possible trade to Los Angeles Lakers last June, is taking all this in his stride though;
"I'm a patient player," he said. "I just have to do with what I have. If I get 10 minutes, I get 10 minutes and I just try and do what I can with that. Just try to keep working. Just because you're not playing, you can't stop working.
Just pushing myself a little harder."
Tags: