reggie williams

Jim Eichenhofer

DALLAS – It’s that time of the NBA season when you usually need a game program around the league, with numerous players changing addresses as a direct result of – or in the aftermath of – the trade deadline. That’s certainly the case for the New Orleans Pelicans, who have added three different perimeter options since only Thursday. All of them may potentially be needed immediately to contribute, because the Pelicans (23-35, 3 games out of eighth place) are in the thick of a playoff race and only have 24 games remaining on the schedule.

A few hours prior to Saturday’s 7:30 tip-off in Dallas, New Orleans officially signed shooting guard Reggie Williams, who joins point guard Jarrett Jack and guard/forward Hollis Thompson as new faces on a team forced to improvise. One thing each member of that trio has in common is fairly extensive NBA experience; Jack leads the way with 11 years and 803 career games under his belt. Williams has appeared in 205 games over eight seasons, while Thompson has four years and 257 games, all spent with Philadelphia prior to Thursday’s New Orleans-Houston tilt.

They’re also all options from beyond the three-point arc: Thompson is a career 38.9 percent shooter there, followed by Williams at 36.6 and Jack at 34.6. The ability to connect from distance could become an even more important skill on a Pelicans team that now has a pair of All-Stars and top-five NBA scorers in DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis.

“It’s awesome,” Williams said of being a shooter and getting to play with that elite tandem. “Now you add another superstar to the mix, hopefully you can get more opportunities. My job is to knock down those shots.”

Williams played five games earlier this season for the Pelicans, while Jack is a familiar face in New Orleans, having played for the then-Hornets for two seasons from 2010-12. Virtually everything has changed since Jack's prior stint in the Crescent City, including the team’s nickname, colors, coaching staff, ownership, practice facility, you name it. With the Pelicans down to only a few available backcourt options following the Sacramento trade, the 33-year-old can provide leadership and savvy. Jack has 24 playoff games under his belt and made his postseason debut with New Orleans in 2011, making a key final-minute floater in Game 4 of the first round vs. the Lakers.

“I haven’t talked yet to Coach (Alvin Gentry) about what position he’s going to throw me into,” said Jack, who’s played plenty of minutes at both guard spots, after Friday’s practice. “I’m ready and willing to do whatever is necessary.”

Other notes after shootaround at American Airlines Arena:

E’Twaun Moore (personal) and Omer Asik (illness) are listed as out for Saturday’s game. In addition to Quincy Pondexter (knee) being out, that means New Orleans only has 12 players in uniform. Second-round pick and rookie Cheick Diallo is with the Pelicans and among those dozen players. …

The Pelicans waived Omri Casspi (broken right thumb) to create a roster spot that was needed to sign Williams. In an extremely bad piece of luck, Casspi was injured while making his New Orleans debut Thursday and will be sidelined 4-6 weeks. “I think he understood,” Gentry said of Casspi’s reaction to the roster move. “We talked about it and it’s just an unfortunate situation. He was going to be a guy who could help us in the shooting aspect and he has good size. But these kinds of things happen. At this stage, it was just really important for us to have that roster spot. Hopefully he can recover quickly and we’ll see what happens.” …

Gentry on the Pelicans’ need for shooting right now: “We’ve got AD and DeMarcus in there. They’re going to create double-team situations. We have to have guys who are going to make shots.”

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Pelicans shootaround presented by HUB International: New Orleans adds three players over 48-hour span

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NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that the team has signed free agent guard Reggie Williams to a 10-day contract. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Williams, 6-6, 210, previously appeared in five games for New Orleans this season after being signed on December 10, averaging 5.0 points while shooting .500 from three-point range, and 1.2 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per game. Williams has appeared in 27 games this season for the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA Development League, averaging 18.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 33.3 minutes per contest.

Undrafted in 2008 out of Virginia Military Institute, Williams has appeared in 205 career regular season games with Golden State, Charlotte, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and New Orleans, averaging 7.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 18.1 minutes.

Williams will wear No. 5 and is available to play in tonight’s game at Dallas.

new-orleans-pelicans-sign-reggie-williams-to-10-day-contract

New Orleans Pelicans sign Reggie Williams to 10-day contract

Pelicans.com

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that the team has waived guard/forward Reggie Williams.

Williams, 6-6, 210, was originally signed by the Pelicans on Dec. 10, 2016. In five games, Williams averaged 5.0 points and 1.2 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per contest.

New Orleans’ roster currently stands at 14.

pelicans-waive-reggie-williams

Pelicans Waive Reggie Williams

LOS ANGELES – Reggie Williams did not get many opportunities to contribute significantly in either of his previous two NBA stops, but that likely won’t be the case for him on his fifth different team overall. The southpaw shooting guard, who joined New Orleans (7-16) officially Saturday at the squad’s shootaround this morning, will need to be ready to play immediately, given that the Pelicans are expected to have a maximum of 10 players available against the Clippers tonight (9:30 p.m. Central, Fox Sports New Orleans, WRNO 99.5 FM).

Three players are already out for New Orleans, while two others (a recent starting backcourt tandem of Jrue Holiday and E’Twaun Moore) are not expected to play due to toe injuries. That leaves a threadbare group of players that includes rookie second-round pick Cheick Diallo, who has only appeared in two official NBA games. In other words, the 30-year-old Williams will need to lean on his 200 games of NBA experience as he rapidly adjusts to a brand-new team and teammates.

“It’s great,” Williams said when asked about the opportunity that’s likely awaiting him after being signed out of the D-League. “You get on any level, the first thing we want to do as basketball players is play. Guys say you’re being thrown into the fire, but I look at it as I’m playing basketball. For me, I’ve been here before and had this experience before. As a new guy (or very young player), maybe I would be more anxious, but for me having this experience is going to calm me.”

Williams last averaged double-digit minutes in the NBA during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, when he logged 22.6 per game for Charlotte. He played last season in Russia, but before that was used sparingly by Oklahoma City and San Antonio in 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively.

Other notes from Saturday’s shootaround:

Williams (career 36.3 percent from three-point range in 534 attempts) on how he describes his game for people who may not be familiar with it: “Scoring the ball, shooting the ball, hopefully being able to get in the paint and make plays for other guys. Just have a consistent flow and improving myself.” …

According to Basketball-Reference.com, 53 percent of the 6-foot-6 Williams’ career minutes have come at shooting guard, with 39 percent at small forward (the remainder were at point guard or power forward). That versatility will come in handy, because not only does New Orleans only have a max of 10 players on hand, but based on a theoretical depth chart that does not include Holiday nor Moore, the Pelicans don’t have much backup experience at either the two or three spot (behind recent starters Buddy Hield and Solomon Hill, respectively). Anthony Brown filled those roles over the past two games, but he was waived, creating the roster spot for Williams.

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Pelicans shootaround presented by HUB International: Reggie Williams signs with Pelicans, must be ready immediately

Vice president of digital media for New Orleans Pelicans.

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that the team has signed guard/forward Reggie Williams. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.  

Williams, 6 feet 6, 210 pounds, most recently played for the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA Development League. In 11 games this season for the Blue, Williams has averaged 17.1 points, shooting .459 from the field, including .419 from three-point range, 5.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 33.3 minutes per contest. His signing marks the sixth GATORADE Call-Up of the season from the D-League, and the second by the Pelicans.

Undrafted in 2008 out of Virginia Military Institute where he was a two-time NCAA Division I scoring leader (2007, 2008), Williams has appeared in 200 career regular season games with Golden State, Charlotte, Oklahoma City and San Antonio, holding averages of 7.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 18.3 minutes per game.

Williams will wear No. 5 for the Pelicans and be available for their game tonight in Los Angeles against the Clippers. New Orleans’ roster currently stands at 15.

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Pelicans sign Reggie Williams

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