Armed with a legendary name and a partially guaranteed contract, many people expected Patrick Ewing, Jr., to make the Knicks’ roster.
Count Shawne Williams among them.
“I’m not gonna lie . . . I really thought it was a long shot,” Williams said after yesterday’s practice. “I knew I had to work, but they told me it was going to be between me and him, and that I’d have an opportunity. Once they told me I had an opportunity, I just took it for what it was, and I just tried to go show them everything I could do in the limited minutes I played.”
Williams, who signed with the Knicks two days before training camp began, received a second chance at a NBA career Sunday when the Knicks released Ewing in favor of the former first-round pick. The athletic small forward beat out Ewing thanks to the flashes of offensive potential he showed in the preseason. Williams was 4-for-7 from the field in 19 minutes over four preseason games.
“Both of them played great,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Both of them deserved [to make it] . . . it’s just a matter of making the choice.
“[Williams] can play the 3 or 4, and he shoots the basketball extremely well. He was our best shooter in preseason, and he makes shots.”
Williams was drafted by the Pacers — then run by Knicks president Donnie Walsh — with the 17th pick in 2006 out of Memphis. But after multiple marijuana-related arrests, along with limited on-court success (5.2 points per game in 126 games), it looked as if his career was probably over after he missed last season following knee surgery.
“It was a letdown for my family,” Williams said. “It was a letdown for me, too, but it takes a toll on your family, you know, when they anticipate something from you and you just disappear from the circuit for a while.”
In an attempt to deal with that disappointment, Williams nearly ate himself out of a chance at a comeback by putting an extra 40 pounds on his 6-foot-9 frame. But after deciding to take another shot at playing, he went down to IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla., and got back down to his playing weight of 225.
“One day I just woke up and me and my agent had a talk and I just felt like this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” he said. “So I’ve just got to do everything possible to make it happen.”
Now, after getting a second chance, Williams is hoping to take advantage of any opportunity he gets to step onto the court.
“I just feel like my journey’s just beginning,” he said.
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D’Antoni said he would finalize his starting lineup for tomorrow’s season opener in Toronto after today’s practice. . . . Anthony Randolph showed flashes of his massive potential in a scrimmage during yesterday’s practice. On offense he made a couple of shots from the perimeter, and also was aggressive in taking the ball to the basket. Defensively, he blocked a shot and got a couple of steals that set up easy baskets. . . . Eddy Curry (strained right hamstring) worked out on his own, and D’Antoni said he will likely return to contact drills next week.