Ex-Sixer Carter-Williams at career crossroads
The point guard will take on his old team on Thursday with the Bulls. He is on his third NBA team.
A career that began with such promise for Michael Carter-Williams in Philadelphia is at a crossroads as he is ready to conclude his fourth NBA season.
Once considered the face of the Sixers franchise when he was named NBA rookie of the year in 2013-14, Carter-Williams is already with his third NBA team.
As Carter-Williams returns Thursday with the Chicago Bulls for the game at the Wells Fargo Center against the Sixers, the novelty of facing his first pro team has worn off, although it doesn't get totally old.
"I am used to it by now; I have been gone for a few years," Carter-Williams said Wednesday after Chicago's practice at Temple. "I love the guys there, the coaches, the staff, and it is always good to come back."
The turnover has been so drastic since he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in the middle of his second season that the only current Sixer who was on the team at that time is Robert Covington.
Carter-Williams still has a strong affinity for his first pro coach, Brett Brown, who gave the Sixers off from practice on Wednesday.
"I love Coach Brown - he is a great guy, a really good coach," Carter-Williams said. "What he has had to deal with isn't easy and he has been resilient."
The same case could be made for Carter-Williams, who was traded by Milwaukee to the Bulls during the preseason for Tony Snell.
This season, Carter-Williams is averaging 6.9 points, 2.6 assists, and 1.6 turnovers in 19.4 minutes. He has appeared in 41 games during an injury-plagued season.
The uneven playing time, has been difficult, he admits. This season, he has started 19 games but none since Feb. 24.
"I am a competitor, I want to be out there on the floor as much as I can," he said. "It gets frustrating, but it is part of the game."
Unlike his time in Philadelphia, Carter-Williams is at least playing meaningful late-season games. Chicago (38-40) entered Wednesday tied with Indiana for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The top eight will go to the postseason.
The Bulls, like Carter-Williams, have been inconsistent. This is team that swept the Cleveland Cavaliers this season but was swept by the New York Knicks after a 100-91 loss Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
Carter-Williams played 13 minutes, 31 seconds and went scoreless. He could get more time against the Sixers because point guard Rajon Rondo sat out practice Wednesday with a sprained right wrist that he suffered against the Knicks. Coach Fred Hoiberg said Rondo was questionable against the Sixers.
One area that hasn't improved since Carter-Williams entered the league is his three-point shooting. Carter-Williams is a career 25.2 percent shooter from deep, and this season he's hitting 23.0 percent.
"He has hit some corner threes for us, but our big thing is when he gets at the top of the key, to really try to get to the paint and attack," Hoiberg said.
In other words, quit firing threes.
"It is something I am working on every day," Carter-Williams said of his three-point shooting. "As I keep getting better at it, I will get more freedom to take more shots."
Carter-Williams has been to the postseason once, the season he was traded to the Bucks in 2014-15. He appeared in six playoff games, averaging 12.2 points and 4.8 assists in 31.8 minutes.
After averaging 11.5 points and 5.2 assists in 54 games for Milwaukee last season, he was traded to Chicago.
A restricted free agent at the end of the season, he could be moving again. Carter-Williams insists he hasn't thought about his status.
"To be honest, I am trying to be the best I can every day," he said. "Whatever happens will happen."
So much has already happened to a player who won't turn 26 until October. His tenure in Philadelphia seems like an awfully long time ago.
@sjnard
