Williams: ‘Excited’ for Broadway opportunity
Hey, you want an athlete, go sign a dunk contest winner. So the Knicks did. Troy Williams, a listed 6-foot-7 small forward recently released by the Rockets, officially signed his 10-day contract with the Knicks on Wednesday and practiced with the team in Tarrytown. Among the items on Williams’ résumé is the 2017 D-League Dunk Contest championship.
“Great fit, great opportunity, great coaches, great team, great players, everything. I like it a lot. I’m really excited,” said Williams, claiming he can supply “athleticism, another person that can run the court, hustle, defend, all that.”
Williams, who averaged 5.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 34 career games with the Rockets and Grizzlies over the past two seasons, caught the interest of several teams when Houston waived him to make room for Joe Johnson.
“Their interest level here was a little bit higher than everybody else’s,” Williams said of the Knicks.
“Troy’s an athletic kid. He got right out there today and you could see some of that athleticism,” coach Jeff Hornacek said. “He can get back. ... He’s going to add to the defense and he doesn’t have a bad shot so if he gets a good look, we think he can make them.”
Losing is tough on everybody, especially those who have won. So this season has hardly been a bed of roses for Courtney Lee, who went to yhe Finals as a rookie with the Magic. Now, little is left to play for — except the future.
“It’s definitely frustrating because that was our goal, to come in and make the playoffs and we started off pretty well heading toward that goal,” Lee said Wednesday. “Then adversity hit with a lot of injuries. … The only thing we can do is just try to get better, continue to compete, try to develop the young guys and come back strong next year and attack it again the same way.”
Before the league announced Dallas owner Mark Cuban was fined $600,000 for “public statements detrimental to the NBA” Wednesday, Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek was asked about Cuban’s statements which claimed “losing is our best option.” The Mavs are 18-40 and even farther away from the playoffs than the Knicks or Nets.
“Unfortunately, I think the league has gotten to that point where once you’re out of the playoffs, ‘Can you get the best draft pick possible?’ But sometimes it’s paid off and you get a top pick, but it doesn’t always pay off,” Hornacek said. “So I don’t think you ever want your players to think you’re just tanking games to try to get a high draft pick.”