Can Alvin last a year?
Pain constant as Raptors’ guard makes comeback Veteran missed all of last season with knee injury
Alvin Williams knows pain will be a constant companion from now until he stops trying to play basketball. His knee will hurt to varying degrees every time he takes a step, makes a cut, tries to do the things that came so naturally for so many years. And how he handles that pain, how he feels when he gets up every morning, how his right knee responds to the tremendous pounding and pressure it’s about to undergo, will determine how much — if anything — the longest- serving Raptor can give his team.
“ Right now, I know I can play a little bit,” Williams said yesterday as the Raptors held their annual media day before opening training camp at Brock University today in St. Catharines. “ It’s just wanting to know how an 82game season will go.
“ I can play with the pain, I just have to make sure my leg is as strong as possible so the pain is only as much as it has to be.”
Williams’ battle with knee problems is well- chronicled — microfracture surgery last November, a season lost, another scope last summer, hours and hours of relentless rehabilitation, walking slowly at first, jogging a bit, running on a treadmill and now, finally, getting to do some real basketball work.
He’s nowhere near 100 per cent — probably will never get back to the level he showed in 2001 when he was an integral part of the best team in Raptor franchise history — but there is no question he’s going to give the Raptors whatever he can.
He’s been in Philadelphia all summer working out, hoping he can manage the pain, coax the requisite movement out of his reconstructed joint and hoping he can somehow help is team again.
It was a solitary pursuit.
“ I haven’t played full court,” he said. “ Usually I go out and play with the team at Villanova, but I didn’t do that this year. I just did a lot of conditioning, a lot of drills.” And dutifully reported back to his bosses.
“ A couple of coaches came and worked me out and they’ve seen what I can do,” he said. “ I’m sure I’ve done more than they think.” The question is, though, for how long? How many days in a row can Williams take the pounding that goes with practising and playing? Do the Raptors allow him to play just a few minutes a night and let him take practices off? One thing is for certain; Sam Mitchell would like him to be able to play. A lot.
“I’m anxious for Alvin,” the coach said. “I want things to work out for Alvin. It’d be sad for me as a coach if I never got a chance to coach him after all the years I played against him and respected him ( for) how smart a player he was, how good a player he was, how tough a player he was. I’d like to get a chance to coach that.
“ My coaches have seen him . . . they said he looked good, but the thing is can his knee stand up to the day- to- day grind? I’m sure he’s anxious to find out and see how it’s going to hold up.”
Williams, who turned 31 in August, has been with the Raptors since he was a rookie 10 NBA seasons ago.
That has earned him a large measure of respect from his coaches and his teammates; his heart and dedication have only increased that.
If nothing else, the Raptors will be better off just having him around the team for the example he sets.
“ I’m not very much of a vocal leader but I go out there and I try to play hard, I try to be positive,” he said. “ I’m going to be out there doing whatever the coach asks me to.”
For as long as he can.