CAVS GUARD GOT BIG ASSIST FROM SLOAN

[RonnieBrewer (Reverse Layup)]

CAVS GUARD GOT BIG ASSIST FROM SLOAN

Peter Vecsey
Last updated: 1:49 am   March 27, 2009
Posted: 1:30 am         March 27, 2009

CLEVELAND -- Five and a half years removed from the episode, there's still
alarm in Mo Williams' voice when describing his introduction to Jerry Sloan's
methods of coaching and communication.

It was the first drill of the first day of Jazz training camp in 2003-04.
Despite two stellar seasons at Alabama and optimistic auditions with 14 clubs
-- stirring widespread projections he'd be drafted anywhere from late lottery
to the rear of the first round -- Williams was chosen No. 47 (his 374G, one-
year deal was non-guaranteed) by the Jazz, a team he had not worked out for.

Before the draft, Isiah Williams had told his son he deserved to be a top
pick but cautioned him "to expect the worst." As much as Mo didn't want to
expect the worst, it happened, thus turning his world upside down.

"It's amazing!" the All-Star guard declared at lunch last Friday following
Cavaliers practice. "Think about it: If you're drafted in the first round
you have 2-to-3 years to develop. But if you're drafted in the second round,
you're forced to develop almost immediately or you're out of the league."

Williams had been the man at the same Jackson, Miss., HS (Murrah) that
produced Lindsey Hunter and Othella Harrington and had been the man (16.4
points) at Alabama. He'd always been the best that he could be.

Everything Williams did prepared him to become an NBA player. Yet here he
was, basically trying out for a coach purportedly tough on rookies.

"Yeah, I was [ticked], because I knew I was better than many of the guards
chosen ahead of me -- arguably Kirk Hinrich, T.J. Ford and Luke Ridnour but
indisputably Marcus Banks, Reece Gaines, Troy Bell and the illustrious
Derrick Zimmerman -- but I did not have a chip on my shoulder."

That came later after Williams made it and it's still there, he underlined.

"All that was on my mind was showing up in great shape, staying healthy and
doing whatever it took to learn the game at the professional level," he said.
"I was fighting for my sporting life."

On day one of practice, Sloan directed the Jazz to stretch and then called
for a three-man weave. Fresh from re-signing (six years, $84 million) with
the team, Andrei Kirilenko jogged through the drill while everyone else
sprinted. Next time it was his turn, the same thing happened, at least at
the outset.

"I'll never forget Sloan's reaction," Williams said with a shudder. "He came
storming onto the court screaming, 'Damn you, Kirilenko, you think just
because you've got an $84 million contract you can do whatever the bleep you
want to do out here! Well, I've bleepin' news for you . . .' "

Williams said Sloan's earthy message was the best thing that could've
happened to him . . . and the team, a consensus pick to go nowhere fast,
yet finished 41-41.

"Man, if Sloan was gonna get on Kirilenko like that, I knew damn well what I
had to do," Williams said. "I was like Speedy Gonzalez. I did exactly as told
and then some. The funny thing is, everything I'd heard about Jerry turned
out the opposite."

Well, almost, anyway. Sloan pushed and got on players, no doubt, Williams
accented.

"A lot of bad words come out of his mouth. But, if you do it right the next
time, in his next breath, he'll praise you just as heatedly. A lot of coaches
don't understand; they beat you down without picking you back up," Williams
said.

It's impossible to appreciate how much Williams' acquisition from Milwaukee
during the off-season has meant to LeBron James and the league-leading 58-13
Cavs without understanding his eagerness to be educated by Sloan. Williams
always has been impervious to situational stress; he's credited with seven
game-winning/changing shots in Cleveland and countless others during his four
seasons in Milwaukee.

More remarkably, maybe, is Mo is undaunted by imperial peer pressure; most
secondary scorers gladly defer to the franchise player on big shots rather
than risk inviting his wrath with a miss.

And then there was his extraordinary embrace of the opportunity to learn an
especially successful pick-and-roll system, as well as a readiness to dig in
on defense that Cavs coach Mike Brown is putting to good use.

"Jerry taught me how to be a point guard," he said. I asked him what that
entails: "To think versus rely simply on instincts . . . time and possession
. . . teammates needing to be spoon-fed . . . not giving the ball to a big
man on the break unless he has a free lane . . . creating space --separation
-- which is the object of the pick-and-roll, and then reading and reacting."



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03272009/sports/moresports/cavs_guard_got_big_assist_from_sloan_161508.htm

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◆ From: 220.134.61.183
推 CarlosBoozer:伴君如伴虎
推 happyreach:他算是這幾年爵士選秀轉他隊比較有發展的吧
推 DK47:獨成那樣子，好意思說是史龍教你的
噓 DK47:推錯，應該要用噓的。
推 pepstarkirby:我覺得他沒有陸聞說的那麼誇張....騎士當初找他來就
→ pepstarkirby:是希望分擔得分，我覺得他做的很好@@
推 semicoma:但竟然因此進明星賽 如果人氣換算成能力 算是頗被高估的
推 GilberArenas:D@mn you, Kirilenko...威猛先生應該找老史隆代言
推 monmo:插個話 AK說他的傷還沒有全好... 那就少爆走險中球吧
→ monmo:Youtube上有Sloan談Boozer 可惜我耳機太爛聽不清楚
→ monmo:看有沒有熱心人士願意幫聽... 我還蠻想知道詳情的
推 tonometer:有網址嗎
推 species:給個網址+1
→ monmo:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8HkfvwmBEs
→ monmo:同系列還有AK跟Deron談這2場連續對太陽
推 CarlosBoozer:Damn you Kirilenko 應該算是很輕的字眼了 @@?