Blazers sign veteran guard Mo Williams

[Kasey]

From KATU:

Guard Mo Williams tweeted on Wednesday that he has signed with the Portland Trail Blazers.

ESPN reported that Williams’ agent, Mark Bartelstein, confirmed a $5.6 million deal with a player option for a second year.

This will be Williams’ fifth team. He played with Utah last year - his second stint with the team that drafted him in the second round in 2003 - averaging 12.9 points and 6.2 assists in 46 games.

He’s played 635 years in career, averaging 13.8 points and 5.0 assists.

Williams is a solid pick up and will make a great backup for Damian Lillard.

On the other hand, the Blazers now have eight guards on the roster: Lillard, Matthews, Williams, Watson, McCollum, Crabbe, Barton and Harris. My personal feeling is that Harris will be waived by the team during or following training camp, and that one of the remaining guys -- possible Barton -- could see themselves as part of a trade. Stay tuned.

~ MKM

note: the last line of the KATU quote says Williams "has played 635 years" pretty sure they meant games. i simply copied and pasted the article. if that really is years then i'd imagine he has a whole lot of experience to pass down! lol

[SurferGirl]

I like those career stats, but I'm worried about him getting enough time on the court with so many guys battling for minutes. I think we're going to see a trade or two before the season starts. Overall though this is a solid move.

[cleffnote]

I love this trade, it will allow for McCollum to play the two behind Wesley, instead of the point guard back up.

[Kasey]

Aug 7, 2013 21:46:02 GMT -8 cleffnote said:

I love this trade, it will allow for McCollum to play the two behind Wesley, instead of the point guard back up.

that's what i think too. i see the depth chart like this:

pg - Lillard - Williams - Watson
sg - Matthews - McCollum - Crabbe
sf - Batum - Wright - Claver
pf - Aldridge - Robinson - Freeland
c - Lopez - Leonard - Aldridge

i still see Olshey cutting Harris and trading Barton and acquiring a big (maybe two separate moves). that's just my feeling on it.

~ MKM

[Cam]

Great move by Olshey, but how many minutes can we expect?

[Kasey]

hey Cam! great to have you here!

i hope we can get some minutes for Mo. he's good and you don't waste good. then again, maybe this move was intended to minimize Damian and Wesley's minutes even more than we already thought.

i thought it was interesting that Olshey said today that the team was done. personally, i don't want him to ever be done ... until we win a championship at least!

~ MKM

[Cam]

Thanks for inviting me!

[Kasey]

this is intended to be a friendly, no BS forum. knew you'd fit in.

i have to say though, i didn't know you were from Australia! if we get a few more guys from your neck of the woods, i'd be happy to add an NBL forum.

[SurferGirl]

Hi Cam! I agree with you. I hope there are enough minutes to give to someone of Mo's caliber. I guess we'll see.

Welcome to the Forum. I've read some of your blogs on the Blazers official site. When you get a minute, head on over to the Introduction thread and say Hi.

Overall though, have fun!

[Cam]

Thanks I will when I get a chance.

That's a good idea Kass! I thought you would know from my twitter profile lol

[Kasey]

i guess i didn't pick up on it! oops! lol

[Stache]

I hope Mo Williams can be the 6th man that Jamal Crawford never was.

[SurferGirl]

OMG how disappointing was Crawford.

[Cam]

Does anyone know when training camp starts?

[SurferGirl]

Aug 9, 2013 6:14:54 GMT -8 Cam said:

Does anyone know when training camp starts?

I can't find anything on the official start to training camp. I tweeted Casey Holdahl with that question, but he never tweeted me back. I also checked the NBA,com and they don't say anything about training camp start dates. My educated guess would be late September.

[Stache]

There hasn't been an official release for camp dates yet that I have seen, but last year it started on Sept. 25. I anticipate that most guys will be in town a couple weeks before that for informal team practices and lifting.

[Cam]

I'm also guessing around late September. Looking forward to it

[SurferGirl]

I'll keep checking on it. Maybe an announcement will be made soon.