Jul
13
Elliot Williams Practices With Summer Squad, Cleared For Everything But Full Contact
By sarahhecht Posted in: ElliotWilliams, summerleague
It’s been five months since Trail Blazers guard Elliot Williams injured his shoulder during a team practice in Boston. The shoulder required surgery and sidelined him for the remainder of the shortened 2011-12 season, a time when the team struggled and Williams could’ve seen extended minutes on the floor.
Instead, Williams has been diligently and patiently healing and rehabbing. Somewhat under the radar due to his lack of exposure, the high-flying Williams is becoming anxious to show his talents to Rip City.
I had a chance to catch up with the 6-5 Memphis alum at a summer league practice this week. Drenched in sweat, he’d been through almost a full practice with the squad heading to Vegas and his high spirits were contagious.
Laughing through the entire interaction Williams walked through the stages of his rehab, “I started by just doing strength stuff with Jay [Jensen] like pressing against his hand, but I got stronger and stronger to enough where he moved to weights. Now I’m doing like push-ups things and just getting stronger and stronger. And now it’s basically just getting your motion back and shooting more. I’m starting to shoot a lot, coming in the gym and getting a lot of shots up, getting you shoulder back into the shooting motion.”
As of today his rehab has progressed to doing everything pre-injury except live contact, a clearance he expects to get from Jensen come late August or September. That’s the time expects to really start feeling 100-percent.
“When you’re 100-percent you gotta go through the motions, you gotta play to actually know if you’re really 100-percent,” Williams said. “I feel great, just trying to get stronger and go through rehab still. But my strength is there and I’m ready to start playing.”
Time is the biggest factor in Williams’ push to get back on the court, a goal that now falls into the sooner rather than later category.
Interim Head Coach Kaleb Canales gave Williams’ progress his endorsement with a smile. He was asked how Williams looked during practice and all he could do was laugh, “He looked like Elliot.”
To me, that says it all. See you soon EWill.
Feast your eyes of a photo gallery of summer league practices
here.