williams

[SRF <sfarrell@dixie-net.com>]

Excuse my French, but Williams must have pissed Pitino off withlack of D
and/or outside shot.  EW could have brought a lot more than this.  I am
still trying my best to trust RP, but, as a therapist, I stress to THINK
before acting.  Maybe I should enroll RP in my therapy groups......




Celtics send Eric Williams to Nuggets


  NBA Chat

                 DENVER -- Denver and Boston, the busiest NBA teams this
off-season, got
                 together Thursday and completed a deal that sends
Celtics forward Eric
                 Williams to the Nuggets for a pair of future
second-round picks.

                 Speculation is that the Celtics traded Williams to
clear salary cap space to sign
                 another free agent, and the Nuggets were happy to
oblige. Williams is scheduled
                 to earn $949,600 next season, the last year of his
three-year contract.

                 "We're extremely pleased to obtain such an outstanding
young player," said
                 Allan Bristow, the Nuggets' vice president for
basketball operations. "Eric is
                 very athletic and gives us an offensive lift as well as
an aggressive defender."

                 The 6-foot-8 Williams was one of the top players on the
disappointing Celtics
                 last season, averaging 15 points and 4.6 rebounds in 72
games. He scored at
                 least 20 points 17 times, including a career-high 31
points against Philadelphia in
                 March. 

                 Boston's first-round choice in 1995 out of Providence,
Williams averaged 10.7
                 points as a rookie and was named to start in the NBA
Rookie Game, where he
                 scored 15 points. 

                 In exchange for Williams, the Celtics received a 1999
second-round pick, which
                 Denver obtained from Orlando in a draft-day trade that
sent center Jason
                 Lawson to the Magic for guard Eric Washington. Boston
also gets Denver's
                 2001 second-round pick.

                 The trade was the fourth by the Nuggets since the
season ended. Denver also
                 acquired forwards Johnny Newman and Joe Wolf and the
rights to forward
                 Danny Fortson from the Milwaukee Bucks for center Ervin
Johnson. 

                 In another draft-day trade, Denver acquired the rights
to Bobby Jackson from
                 Seattle in exchange for the rights to James Cotton.