Jawad
Williams signs one-year deal with Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed 27-year-old NBA forward Jawad Williams to a one-year contract worth about a million dollars.
The 6ft 9in Williams was a restricted free agent going into his third year in the league before the deal went through. After the Cavaliers offered him a qualifying offer on June 30th,
Williams spoke with several other NBA teams to gauge his options. In the end, the former North Carolina Tar Heel decided to stay with the Cavaliers.
After playing in only 10 games his rookie year where he averaged only two minutes of playing time, the Cleveland-native saw his minutes go up significantly in his sophomore year. He averaged
13.7 minutes in 54 games, six of which he started. His averages for the season were 4.1 points and 1.5 rebounds.
Williams has had a long and interesting ride to the NBA. Although he was never drafted, the Los Angeles Clippers signed him during the pre-season of the 2006-07 season. After failing to
make the final roster, Williams played all over the world, including stints in Spain, Japan, and Israel before getting signed by the Cavaliers in the summer of 2008. And this time, he made the roster.
However, his rookie year was bumpy having had to sign a string of 10-day contracts just to stay in the league. At one point during the year, he joined the D-league with the Rio Grande
Valley Vipers for a couple of months.
Williams is a college champion who started for the Tar Heels when they won the 2005 NCAA Championship. He is now the sixth member of that team to join the NBA, others including Sean May
and Raymond Felton.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to move on from a tumultuous summer in which they lost two-time reigning MVP LeBron James to the Miami Heat. In addition, Byron Scott replaced Mike Brown
as the head coach and they also lost reliable veteran centre Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
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