Where Are They Now, 2010: Part 74
June 1st, 2010
– Shawne Williams
As mentioned in the previous post, Williams fell out of the league in January. Dallas knew they had made a mistake in trading for him, and knew they’d compounded that by exercising his fourth-year team option without doing their homework on his play and personality; rather than compound that mistake by waiving Williams to open up a roster spot for Jake Voskuhl, they kept him on the roster (but away for the team) until they could find somewhere to salary-dump him. New Jersey became that team, and the Najera/Humphries/Williams trade saved Dallas about $3 million in luxury tax payments. Rather that than Jake Voskuhl.
Williams didn’t play for either the Mavericks or the Nets, and did not sign elsewhere after being waived. On January 13th, Williams turned himself onto authorities to face four charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture/deliver/sell, and four charges of conspiracy to manufacture/deliver/sell a controlled substance (specifically, codeine). As far as I can tell from online court records, Williams was sentenced to a diversionary program. Nonetheless, his NBA career is almost certainly over, and four years in, he still doesn’t have a basketball career to call his own. It’s been nothing but bad stuff so far.
– Walt Williams
Williams last played in 2002-03, when he spent a year playing power forward for the Dallas Mavericks. In the seven years hence, he served as a postgame analyst for Wizards games on Comcast Sportsnet for a couple of years, and is now a sideline interviewer for Maryland games.
– Corliss Williamson
Williamson retired in September 2007 when he still had something left in the tank, which you don’t often see. He became an assistant coach at Arkansas Baptist College for three years, and recently made his first big step up the coaching ranks when he was named the head coach at the University of Central Arkansas (better known as Scottie Pippen’s alma mater.)
– Kevin Willis
Willis is 48 years old and is probably retired for good this time. He now runs Willis & Walker, a clothing company still awaiting a website that sells custom jeans to athletes.
– Roderick Wilmont
Ex-Indiana swingman Wilmont spent the year in the D-League, playing 48 games with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and averaging 9.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. However, he shot only 36% from the field, 32% from three and 71% from the line, and took 450 shots to score his 464 points. Nevertheless, Wilmont is best defensively, and the stats don’t (can’t) reflect this.
– Lamayn Wilson
Former Troy forward Lamayn[e] Wilson has had an eight-year professional career that’s encompassed all the usual haunts; France, Italy, China, Germany, etc. This year, he played with Turk Telekom (guess the country), averaging 15.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 50% three-point shooting in the EuroCup, alongside 12.8/5.7 in the Turkish TBL. If your team needs Jumaine Jones, but can’t afford to get Jumaine Jones, Lamayn Wilson is your backup plan. But bear in mind that the three-pointers will be cast up, whether they go in or not.
– Kennedy Winston
Former Alabama scorer Kennedy Winston moved to Lottomatica Roma this season, after spending last year on the benches of Turk Telekom and Real Madrid. He was one of Roma’s best players, averaging 14.3 ppg and 3.2 rpg in the EuroLeague, alongside 13.4 ppg and 3.9 rpg in Serie A play.
– DaShaun Wood
In 2008-09, Wood played for Benetton Treviso, and struggled offensively while trying to define himself as strictly a pass-first point guard. He averaged 6.9 points and 2.9 assists in 25 minutes per game, but did not play this year due to an operation to remove a bone spur from his right knee.
– Loren Woods
Ex-NBA big man Woods has taken his forehead halfway around the world, spending this season with Mahram in Iran. He has been in and out of the team a few times – at least, that’s what I can gather from my unbelievably limited knowledge of Persian – but he was there for the Asian Club Championships that concluded two nights ago. Full statistics are unavailable, but Mahram won the tournament, and Woods recorded 15 points and 14 rebounds in the finale. Jackson Vroman top scored with 21.
In the seventh-place playoff game between Philippines enigma Smart Gilas and Saudi Arabian team Al Hilal – yes, they have a seventh place playoff game in the Asian Club Championships – ex-NBA guard DerMarr Johnson put up 37 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 steals for the Saudis. They lost anyway.
– Qyntel Woods
His NBA legacy isn’t pretty; too much pot, too much legal trouble, too much dogfighting, and too little realised potential. But since leaving the NBA, Qyntel Woods has managed to established a strong career for himself. Woods has played a season and a half for Polish powerhouse Prokom Gdynia, and while the Polish league isn’t amongst the best in Europe – although it’s not bad – Gdynia are a perennial EuroLeague team. If you’re in the EuroLeague, you’ve got a good gig, and if you do well in the EuroLeague, then you’ll get noticed. Woods has done especially well there this year, averaging 16.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, ranking third in the competition in points and seventh in rebounds. He has also averaged 14.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists in only 25 minutes per game in the Polish league, and even though he’s not a particularly good three-point shooter, he’s improved, cranking up five a game and hitting them at 35%.
Woods will not return to Prokom next season and will be a free agent. He has been linked to Real Madrid, but even in spite of his NBA improvements, an NBA return is not likely.
Finally….
– Ben Woodside
Without the size or athleticism for the NBA, Woodside was always destined for Europe, where his style of play is tailor-made. He has begun his professional career in France, and this season for Gravelines-Dunkirque, Woodside has averaged 14.5 points and 4.7 assists per game in the French league, alongside 12.5 points and 3.2 assists per game in the EuroChallenge. And he has a blog that details some of his adventures along the way.
Only one part left now.
