The day after Shawne Williams debuted with the Nets in practice, he spent the next week sidelined thanks to a bout with the flu.
That story summed up Williams’ tenure with the Nets, as he alternated between being ineffective and injured before eventually getting traded to Portland at the deadline as part of the Gerald Wallace deal.
The Nets won a bidding war with the Knicks for the lanky swingman, signing Williams to a two-year deal for $6 million. But Williams signed late in training camp, and that, combined with him immediately contracting the flu bug, left him behind in his conditioning when the season began.
But the bigger problem for Williams was a lingering left foot injury from several years earlier. He tried to play through the injury, but it clearly affected his mobility and his shooting.
Like many of his teammates, Williams was directly impacted by the loss of Brook Lopez. With absolutely no post game to speak of, the Nets’ opponents pressed out to the 3-point line – the one strength of the team’s offense. That impacted Williams as much as anyone on the team, as he saw his shooting percentage from behind the arc drop from 40.7 the year before with the Knicks to 24.1 this season.
Williams eventually elected to have surgery to repair the foot issue in late February, when it was clear that both the Nets weren’t going to make a serious playoff push and his play was suffering because of it. Soon after, Williams was dealt along with Mehmet Okur and what became the sixth pick in this year’s draft to Portland in exchange for Gerald Wallace.
Shawne Williams 2011-12 statistics (all per game averages):
Games: 25
Minutes: 20:36
Points: 4.5
Rebounds: 2.7
Assists: 0.6
Steals: 0.4
Blocks: 0.4
Field Goal Percentage: 28.6
3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 24.1
Free Throw Percentage: 72.7
Performance Efficiency Rating: 4.96