Lou Williams’ tenure for his hometown Hawks did not have the “fairy tale ending.”
The Hawks traded Williams to the Raptors last month, ending his two seasons in which a torn ACL robbed both player and team. The South Gwinnett High product signed as a free agent in 2012, but played in only 39 games before suffering the knee injury. He got a late start on last season and struggled to return to form and fit into a new system.
“When you come home you hope to finish your career at home and play in front of your hometown crowd,” Williams said Thursday speaking at his youth basketball camp in the same gym where his No. 23 hangs from the rafters.
“You have all the ambition of winning a championship and competing in your hometown. For me, it didn’t work out that way. I ended up having two rocky years. I got hurt and then the next year was probably the worst year of my career. Now, I get traded going into my third year.
“In hindsight, everything happens for a reason. I look forward to the future.”
Williams said the June 30 trade did not come as a surprise. In fact, he was expecting the move. Williams said he got an inclination following his season-ending exit interview with general manager Danny Ferry and coach Mike Budenholzer.
“Honestly, it was kind of expected,” Williams said. “I knew they were going to try to do some things to make their team better and create a better fit for the culture they were creating. At some times, it was kind of blurred if I was part of that whole process. It was good to see that they have bounced back and have gotten a couple of talented guys with being able to sign (Thabo) Sefolosha and (Kent) Bazemore. They got a couple of talented guys, and I’m going to a situation that I’m excited about. I feel like it worked out for both sides.”
Williams holds no ill feelings about how his tenure here ended. He said the lines of communication were always open with Ferry and Budenholzer. He said Ferry told him when he called about the trade that the team wanted to put him in a position to succeed. He called Budenholzer “a class act” and said he always knew where he stood. He said there was never any friction between the two, even during a seven-game stretch when Williams did not play.
With the Raptors, Williams said he was told what to expect.
“Come off the bench,” he said. “Create scoring. Create offense. Play with energy. Play open style of basketball. I look forward to that. That is the type of system that I have always thrived in, that I’ve always been successful in.”
Williams said he speaks to Jeff Teague and Mike Scott daily and expects those relationships to continue. He said he heard from the majority of the Hawks, including Elton Brand, Al Horford and Kyle Korver, when the deal was announced.
Although he will now work north of the border, the 27-year-old Williams always will call Atlanta home. That was the case during his first seven seasons in the NBA, when he played for the 76ers directly out of South Gwinnett. You can expect to find him back here next year, in his old gym, working with the 150 youth that attend the camp he has run for 10 years.
“There are no hard feelings on my end and no hard feelings on (the Hawks’) end,” said Williams, who then ran off to have lunch with the youth.
This is still Lou Willville.
