By FRED KERBER
Last year, Earl Calloway pretty much mopped the floor with Derrick Rose in Rose’s Summer League Debut in Orlando.
So don’t get too crazy about Terrence Williams shooting 1-of-8 in his first time on the floor as a Net. Williams didn’t. Neither did coach Lawrence Frank.
“Defensively, he was good, very good,” praised Frank who begged, pleaded, implored and bribed his Nets to defend last season. “And I thought he was the best passer out there on our team.”
And Williams did other things Monday. He rebounded – grabbing nine. He blocked three shots. He had two steals and collected two assists. He did a little bit of everything.
Except shoot.
“The thing is he didn’t get a lot of shots in the flow of the offense,” Frank, who really did sound unconcerned (along with a tad tired as he flew back from a coaching clinic in Greece in time to attend the Summer League), said via phone. “I’m sure as the week goes on he’s going to simply get more comfortable and get better opportunities.”
One problem is that the Nets and Sixers have sort of gone halfsies on the team. It’s a combined team – the Nets have Williams and Chris Douglas-Roberts, the Sixers have Jrue Holiday and Marreese Speights. And then there’s a bunch of other guys.
The Sixer duo combined for 37 shots. The two Nets got 20 (CD-R was 6-of-12, scored 20, shot 11 free throws). But with a dual coaching staff, it’s tough. Everybody wants to call plays for their own guys.
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Williams officially was signed by the Nets earlier in the day. “It’s good in case, God forbid, something happened,” the 6-6 wing from Louisville said.
Williams gets $2.06 and $2.214 million in the first two years of his rookie pact. The third ($2.369 mil) and fourth ($3.143 mil) years are at team option.
“I really didn’t even know it was officials until someone said, ‘Congratulations.’ It feels good to be a Net,” Williams said in a phone interview, noting one drawback.
“Everyone can go on the Internet and find out what I make.”
Life is tough.
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Nets first summer league game went overtime. There is electrocution. There is water boarding. There is overtime in Summer League.
Williams could have prevented it but he missed a jumper in the closing half-minute from about 19 feet.
“It was short. I didn’t know how much time was on the clock. But it’s the same shot I’ll shoot tomorrow with confidence,” he said. “I look at everything from an overall standpoint. There were a few in-and-out shots, but I’m going to continue to shoot. I’m not going to get down about that (pre-OT shot). I’ll just come back with a different mindset.”
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The final was 75-67, Pacers. Tyler Hansbrough scored 17 for Indy team. . .Nets/Sixers face Utah Tuesday at 5 p.m. . .Games can be seen, sort of, on Orlandomagic.com. Small window shows the court and two announcers, Dante and Galante, are pretty funny with no desire to be there. .Williams gave big credit to Chris Douglas-Roberts for helping him ease in and feel comfortable. . .Numerous folks inside Nets say same thing: don’t hope for Wednesday signings in free agency. Nets figure to wait until the dust settles and maybe grab someone who thought they were worth lots for less. Or maybe they can do something with the likes of Linas Kleiza, Jamario Moon, Hakim Warrick, Chris Wilcox and Melvin Ely. Ideally, they would love a 2-for-1 as they have 15 contracts.