How good is Amir Johnson’s Celine Dion impression? When was the last time Dwane Casey cried at the movies? Every day until the season starts, we throw a Raptor in front of a green screen and ask him the tough questions. Today, Lou Williams weighs in on the coolest basketball shoe ever made and dreams of teleportation.
Know Your Raptors: Lou Williams | Kyle Lowry | Bruno Caboclo | Chuck Hayes | Jonas Valanciunas | Amir Johnson | Tyler Hansbrough | Landry Fields | Terrence Ross | James Johnson | Patrick Patterson | Lucas Nogueira | DeMar DeRozan | Greivis Vasquez | Dwane Casey
When Masai Ujiri shipped Rudy Gay to the Kings last December, the return he got for his high-volume star was a supporting cast. The addition of key pieces like Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson—both of whom re-signed this summer—turned a second unit ranked 16th before the deal into the fifth-best bench in the league after it.
It was a massive turnaround, a key part of the Raptors’ Atlantic Division title and first-round playoff berth. But the team was still missing something on its second line.
Toronto’s bench averaged just 26.2 points per game in the regular season last year, a mark good for 28th league-wide. Heading into the off-season it was clear the team needed a substitute capable of creating his own shot so the offence wouldn’t stagnate when Kyle Lowry left the floor. So this summer, Ujiri went out and got one.
Part of the trade that sent John Salmons to the Hawks, veteran guard Lou Williams is coming off a pair of frustrating years in Georgia. Signing with Atlanta ahead of the 2012-13 season, Sweet Lou came out hot, pouring in 14.1 points per game off the bench before tearing his ACL less than 40 games in. The road to recovery was a long one and though Williams suited up in 60 games for ATL last year, he lacked the explosiveness that has long been his on-court trademark.
Now fully healthy, Williams is eager to contribute to a second-straight Raptors’ playoff run and already looking like his old self—exactly what the Raptors need.
2013–14 Stats: 10.4 Pts/G, 2.1 Reb/G, 3.5 Ast/G, 40.0 FG%, 34.2 3P%, 24.1 Min/G