Derrick Williams to Heat: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction
The Miami Heat added some forward depth Friday when they signed former No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams to a one-year, $5 million deal, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.
Williams later tweeted confirmation he was Miami-bound.
This comes after Wojnarowski reported Williams “passed on his $4.6 million player option for the 2016-17 season” with the New York Knicks and elected to test the open market as a free agent.
Williams entered the league in 2011 out of Arizona. He played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings and Knicks in his first five seasons and has developed into a solid scorer.
Although he hasn’t lived up to the superstar expectations that often accompany a top-two draft pick, he does have impressive athleticism and can contribute on the glass as a 6’8” forward. Williams is also versatile enough to play the 3 in bigger lineups and the 4 in smaller ones that rely more on quickness.
He earned second-team All-Rookie honors in 2011-12 and followed that up with career highs in points (12) and rebounds (5.5) per game in his second season. The Arizona product signed with Knicks before the 2015-16 campaign and appeared in a career-best 80 games. He finished fifth on the team in scoring, even though he played a mere 17.9 minutes per night:
| 2011-12 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 21.5 | 8.8 | 4.7 | 0.6 | 41.2 |
| 2012-13 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 24.6 | 12.0 | 5.5 | 0.6 | 43 |
| 2013-14 | Minnesota Timberwolves/Sacramento Kings | 23.3 | 8.0 | 4.1 | 0.7 | 42.7 |
| 2014-15 | Sacramento Kings | 19.8 | 8.3 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 44.7 |
| 2015-16 | New York Knicks | 17.9 | 9.3 | 3.7 | 0.9 | 45 |
Williams is still only 25 years old with plenty of upside and can anchor a secondary unit off the bench as a mismatch for opposing defenses. The forward can shoot over or post up smaller defenders and beat slower ones off the dribble, and he will look to consistently do so for his new team.
Williams is also a solid defender thanks to his athleticism and his length. Opponents shot 1.6 percent worse from the field and 3.1 percent worse from three-point range than their normal averages in 2015-16 when he guarded them, per NBA.com.
He may not be the franchise-changing player some expected when he entered the league, but Williams impacts the game in a number of ways and adds quality depth for Miami as it chases a potential postseason spot in 2016-17.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
