Ziaire Williams has an opportunity for a fresh start, and while he is still adjusting to a new team and new city, that doesn’t mean he’s backing down from head coach Jordi Fernandez’s challenge to be a top defender for the Nets.
“Hell yeah,” Williams said about that goal Thursday, on Day 3 of Nets training camp.
The 2021 No. 10-overall pick spent three seasons with the Grizzlies and got lost in the roster before Memphis let Williams go in a cost-cutting move.
However, he attributes his skills to those years and Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins’ emphasis on defense.
“I thank Taylor for the principles he taught me because coming here, I already knew a lot of stuff that they were teaching because of him, and I’m super appreciative for that,” Williams said at HSS Training Center. “So [assistant] coach Steve [Hetzel], you know, he’s our main defensive guy. We’ve been watching a lot of film together, and he’s had a lot of good things to say. And, of course, there’s a couple things I need to work on. So it’s been great, man. But definitely shout out to Taylor. He helped me a lot on the defensive end for sure.”
Williams, 23, is one of many players trying to fit into the Nets rebuild after a 32-50 season and the loss of Mikal Bridges in the offseason to the crosstown rival Knicks.
The Nets’ last rebuilding years were from 2016-2019, and they took discarded talent under their wing and successfully developed them into new players.
They saw D’Angelo Russell become an All-Star in 2018. They turned around Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie into solid players.
Now, they’re taking on the job again, and Williams, who reportedly looked solid in summer workouts, is a new target.
The 6-foot-9 forward believes one of his best traits is causing “havoc” on the court.
He wants to take on anyone from guard to center on defense, and offensively, he thrives on cutting opportunities, as well as on the wing for catch-and-shoot openings.
“A fresh start is good, but at the end of the day, you need consistency because you cannot keep having fresh starts,” Fernandez said Tuesday of both Williams and fifth-year guard Killian Hayes. “You cannot say, ‘Oh, I’m done here. I’ll go somewhere else.’ Sometimes, when you get hit in the mouth, it’s good to recover and then start and look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘What did I do wrong that I can fix myself?’
“The context or the other people, that you cannot control. But you can control what you can do. And a fresh start, I’m good with it, but I’m gonna judge everybody from what I see every day. And it’s not just one day. It’s not two days. You gotta keep stacking days together.”
Williams got more of a taste of the Nets’ flare Thursday during a scrimmage that saw a lot of physicality the day before the team leaves for San Diego to continue training camp.
“I mean, honestly, I feel like I’m still adjusting,” Williams said. “I don’t think I’ll truly say I’m adjusted until we start playing real games, but I’m coming along really well, and learning the plays and chemistry with guys has been better and better. It’s been great, man, so I’m just trusting my work and trusting the staff each and every day. And like Coach [Fernandez] says, just trying to get one percent better.”
He had little time on the court in the NBA summer league in Las Vegas, averaging just 7.8 minutes across three games for 2.7 points per game.
Last season, he had a career-high average of 8.2 points per game on 40 percent shooting, along with 3.5 rebounds, but he shot just 30.7 percent from beyond the arc across 51 games before suffering a back injury March 2 that kept him out for the remainder of the season.
If the Nets like what they see from Williams and want to continue their development project, he is eligible for a rookie extension until Oct. 21. He will earn $6.1 million in the final season of his rookie contract.
