Shawne Williams Hoping for Fresh Start With Bobcats

ORLANDO, Fla. -- After a summer league game this week, Shawne Williams might have been wearing a Charlotte jersey. But he walked over and gave Indiana president Larry Bird a warm embrace.

"That's my man,'' Williams said.

Williams used to be Bird's man. As the No. 17 pick of the Pacers in 2006, Williams showed promise in his first two seasons, including averaging 6.7 points in 14.9 minutes per game in 2007-08.

But Williams' legal problems got to be too much for Bird and the Pacers. He had been arrested in the fall of 2007 on a marijuana charge, and in February 2008 a murder suspect was arrested after leaving his house, although Williams wasn't charged. Later, a passenger was arrested in Williams' car on a marijuana charge.

"It had nothing to do with basketball,'' Bird said of getting fed up with Williams and trading him to Dallas in the fall of 2008. "As a basketball player, he's very talented. It was just all the other stuff. It's unfortunate. ... He's always been one of my favorites, too. Just a great kid. But bad decisions.''



Share Bad decisions continued to hamper Williams after he left the Pacers. The Mavericks eventually sent him home, and didn't invite him to training camp last season even though he still was being paid. Dallas traded him to New Jersey last January. He was waived shortly thereafter after it surfaced he had been arrested for possession of a codeine-based syrup with an intent to manufacture, deliver or sell it.

But Williams claims his problems are behind him. And he's trying to make a comeback with the Bobcats in the AirTran Orlando Pro Summer League.

"I feel it's because of me,'' Williams said in an interview with FanHouse about all his troubles. "It's nobody else's fault. It just got to the situation where I made bad decisions. And I feel like I was so close to losing everything in basketball. ... I know I never wanted to be in a situation where I was last year.''

The 6-foot-9 Williams didn't play a second last season. His weight ballooned to 264 pounds after he had been listed earlier in his playing career at 225.

For his latest incident, Williams said he entered into a diversion program where his record could be clean if he stays out of trouble by August. He's hoping his legal problems will be behind him by this fall, when the free agent hopes to again be on an NBA roster.

Williams has been trying to make up for a season of inactivity. He still was overweight when he attended a Bobcats free-agent camp four weeks ago, but since then he said he's dropped 17 pounds to get down to 233.

"When (Charlotte general manager) Rod Higgins saw him (earlier this week in Orlando), the first thing he said was, 'Shawne looks like he's lost some weight,''' said assistant Dave Hanners, coaching the Bobcats in Orlando. "We're running him pretty hard but most of that weight came off before he got (to Orlando). ... I think he's just got to prove to people how good he is and and show people his skills. ... He has to prove that he's mature and he can be every place on time. He's been great. Done phenomenal for us.''

In Charlotte's first summer game, Williams impressed Hanners with eight points, three rebounds and a block in 18 minutes. He didn't play much in the Bobcats' second outing, going scoreless in four minutes.

"I just really want to belong to a family,'' Williams said of getting back into the NBA. "Just trying to get out there and get better. ... This is a brand-new start. Last year I had to take time for all the off-the-court stuff. I'm just getting back to basketball being first.

"You can't simulate (while being out of the NBA) five-star NBA organizations. You've got 10 coaches willing to work with you any time you call. Until you're away from the game, you seem to take that for granted. Once you leave, you see that everything is five-star, and it's right there for you.''

Williams, who entered the NBA after playing one year in college at Memphis, said a lot of his problems have stemmed from hanging out with the wrong people and immaturity.

"I just put a lot of the bad decisions on being young and dumb,'' Williams said. "Lots of stuff could have been avoided. But I'm not going to make no excuses. A lot of that stuff was just the wrong place, wrong time.

"Just not being on an NBA team (last season), how talented I am, I knew I was doing something wrong. ... The draft was four years ago. I'm just trying to get my spot. It's back to the basics.''

Williams said Charlotte coach Larry Brown, who is on vacation in Italy and not with the team in Orlando, has told him there are three open spots available on the Bobcats roster and that Williams has a clean slate with him. Williams said Brown told him he's the type of coach who "always takes players that nobody wants.''

Williams has the ability to get back in the NBA. Just ask a guy who knows a bit about playing forward.

"He has a lot of talent,'' Bird said. "If he can keep it together, he's good enough to play in the league. There's no question about that.''

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter @christomasson