By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
In recent years, Europe has been losing many of its stars as they leave to play in the NBA and chase their dream in the “magical world.”
But there are players who take the opposite route, as they want to find in Europe what they didn’t find in the NBA or what the NBA didn’t find in them. Seven years ago, the 27-year-old Derrick Williams was selected with the 2nd overall pick and now he becomes a “European” for Bayern, who are hoping they’ve struck gold.
And it’s not like he’s an unknown. When a player for whom a lot of noise was being made in the NBA a few years ago comes to Europe, it’s not a small thing, with the Bavarians wanting to fill the gap created by the unfortunate Milan Macvan, for whom some time will pass before he’ll be able to help the Munich team.
Arizona opened up the way for him
The two years Williams played college basketball in the colors of the Arizona Wildcats allowed him to take off and head for the NBA. In the 2010/2011 season, the Californian forward was in beast mode with 19.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 56.8% in three-point shooting and, as a result, he made all the First teams and his reputation immediately reached the teams of the best league in the world.
The Timberwolves selected him with the 2nd overall pick in the 2011 draft, behind only Kyrie Irving! However, the fact that the doors of the NBA were now wide open for him didn’t mean that he was going to leave his academic studies behind and, during the lockout of 2011, he continued taking summer classes in order to finish his degree.
The three years in Minnesota, the Kings and the changes
The Timberwolves trusted him with the No.2 pick and he stayed in Minnesota for two seasons (2011-2013). In his rookie season, he scored an average of 8.8 points and was chosen to the All-Rookie Second Team, while in the second season he averaged double digits (12 points), showing he could justify expectations.
In November of 2013 he went to the Kings, where he stayed for another two seasons (2013-2015), and from that point on he started changing teams very often.
One season in the Knicks, half a season in the Heat, and the very important experience in LeBron James’ Cavaliers, who were the current champions at the time (2016/2017) and where, as he stressed, he learned a lot, though without having a significant role in the rotation of Tyronn Lue’s team.
So, in December of 2017, he made the decision to go to China and the Tianjin Gold Lions, an experience that, as he says, was useful, as he came to know that there was… basketball outside of the USA too.
In March, he returned to the NBA through a 10-day contract with the Lakers, with whom he played two times, and then Bayern gave him the opportunity to be… revitalized. Now he’s coming to Europe for the first time, with the Bavarians hoping to extract from him, among other things, his excellent shooting ability from the three-point line, as his career average is over 40%.
Why he didn’t make it and the motivation
Those who see that he was selected with the 2nd overall pick in the draft will definitely wonder why he didn’t have the career that corresponded to his potential and his skills. In the USA it’s been reported that one of the biggest drawbacks that halted his progress was that he wasn’t in the right teams at the right time (since it’s all about timing), while it’s not clear whether he’s a 3 or a 4 according to the NBA’s standards.
Having played in six teams in the “magical world,” he didn’t manage to find the environment – in terms of the team or otherwise – to unfold his talent as he would have liked, while, taking under consideration that those six teams were over seven years, he didn’t have the required stability in his career to go as far as he could.
Despite that, others doubting him is always what… fed him. In high school, and then in college, no matter how well he played, many thought that he couldn’t get to the NBA. But he worked hard and reached the No.2 of the draft by building up his motivation through that same doubting.
There are still doubts now, after six teams in seven years. One of the reasons the dynamic forward came to Europe is that he doesn’t want to wait around for his destiny to come to him, but for him to shape it. He didn’t want to wait and see if and when an offer from an NBA team would come along, for a non-guaranteed contract.
The 27-year-old Derrick Williams wants to play in order to prove his worth, since, like he says, “sometimes you just have to keep playing and when the chance comes, grab it.”