Deep Sixer

LAS VEGAS - Lou Williams, the 76ers third-year point guard, came to Las Vegas to make a statement and he has done that in an emphatic manner.
It could be argued that Williams has been the best point guard at the Las Vegas summer league.
A second-round pick in 2005, Williams has been blowing by first rounders and any other defenders in his way. In Tuesday’s 98-95 OT win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Williams won the battle with Jordan Farmar, the Lakers first-round pick in 2006. Williams had 29 points and as he has done all tournament, he got to the free throw line frequently, hitting 16 of 22 foul shots.
Williams is still turning the ball over too much, six times against the Lakers, but he said he is experimenting in the summer and his turnovers will be high.
He had a better than 2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio for the Sixers last year with 110 assists and 46 turnovers.
Farmar didn’t exactly have a bad game either, scoring 18 points, dishing 11 assists and shooting 7 for 10 from the field.
And that brings up something that Williams has to pay more attention to – defense.
Still, he is using so much energy running the team and in the summer he has to do so much more than he would with the Sixers. And in the summer he has been resting at times on defense.
On offense, there has been no resting. Against the Detroit Pistons, he had 32 points in a 91-89 overtime loss. It was a game in which the Pistons tried multiple defenders on Williiams. In fact at different times, Detroit used its first round picks on Williams, Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo.
What Williams is doing is demonstrating a quick first step and also the ability to draw contact, which is why he had attempted 56 foul shots in the first four games.
While summer league is a far cry from true NBA games, players who dominate in this venue usually have a chance to make some sort of impact when the varsity games begin. Those who disappear in the summer are frequently MIA in the NBA.
Williams played well at the end of the year for the Sixers and he has carried that into this year. He has approached the off-season in a serious manner.
“Something like this will give me even more confidence,” Williams said.
And it wasn’t like he was lacking confidence to begin with.
The Sixers said when they drafted him that Williams was a project who would need time to develop.
Considering that he won’t turn 21 until October, Williams is younger than many of the rookies who are competing here. He’s also at the age where he realizes steady playing time behind Andre Miller is a realistic goal.
And in Las Vegas, he’s showing that he feels he deserves consistent minutes when the real games begin