Williams trying to find playing time with Kings

MIAMI – When halftime arrived at AmericanAirlines Arena on Tuesday night, 10 Kings had played for at least one minute.

Shelden Williams, however, wasn't one of them.

The newly acquired forward hasn't seen much action since he was traded to the Kings from Atlanta on Feb. 16, averaging 7.2 minutes in five games. And while he is surely seen by the organization as a possible piece for the future, the transition toward actual impact may take awhile.

For starters, there's the timing. Joining a team with less than two months left in the season does little for easy integration. There's the logjam, too, as starter Mikki Moore has established his role, center Brad Miller is in the midst of one of his best seasons, and much of the leftover minutes will typically go to rookie center Spencer Hawes.

Williams and Kings coach Reggie Theus discussed these matters and more during a heart-to-heart chat at practice on Monday, with both parties walking away encouraged despite the obvious challenge ahead.

"His conversation with me gave me the sense that he's motivated, and he just wanted to get a sense of 'Do I have a chance to play minutes here?' " Theus said. "I liked the fact that he came to me and asked me those questions."

Even if the answer isn't ideal. Theus told Williams that he can't promise minutes, but he issued the same challenge to Williams that he had to his teammates before him.

"He has something we don't have on this team," Theus said of the second-year player out of Duke. "Outside of Ron (Artest), we don't have anybody around the basket who has any physicality, and we need that. We need to have a strong presence down there. I told him that defense and (strong play down low) will get him moving forward right quickly."

Williams – who had seven points and four rebounds in nine second-half minutes against the Heat – already won over one of his more-prominent teammates, as Artest endorsed his brutish style after just one game.

"That was nice because that's a guy who's been in the league so many years now," Williams said. "He knows how to play, how to compete consistently night in and night out. That's what I do, too. I'm going to bring it hard and have energy."

Hawes shines – Hawes' point was a valid one.

Since he was a kid, the Kings' rookie center was telling the media after the Kings' 107-86 loss to Miami, he'd been taught that starting strong is key for any basketball team. And he had done just that, finishing two dunks and burying a long-range jumper that led to his career-high 16-point outing on 7-of-10 shooting. Unfortunately for the Kings, Hawes was one of the few. Nonetheless, his production in 25 minutes left Theus pleased with the latest developmental chapter.

"I thought Spencer played very well tonight," Theus said. "I thought he was the really the only one who showed up to play."

About the writer:

• Read Sam Amick's Kings blog at www.sacbee.com/blogs.