Initially, the team didn’t know what they had.  Sioux Falls quickly found out and eventually the NBA did as well.  Now Reggie Williams is using the NBA Development League to pave the same path again.  After four years in the NBA, featuring two years each with Golden State and Charlotte, Williams is back in the proving grounds as a member of the Tulsa 66ers.

In that 2009 draft, Sioux Falls picked Clemson forward Raymond Sykes in the first round and swingman Pete Campbell out of Butler in the second before settling on Williams in round three.  Sykes ended up playing two seasons in Sioux Falls before taking the international route.  Campbell left Sioux Falls after only seven games because of personal reasons.

The wider view of the whole 2009 draft class, Williams was pick number 45.  Only one player of that group has spent more time in the NBA than Williams, current NBA forward Alonzo Gee of Cleveland.    Only seven players of those 45 eventually got a call-up to the NBA.

Williams surely knows there is a market for his talents after leaving Charlotte as a free agent, the Houston Rockets signed him to a multi-year contract and invited him to camp.  Williams found himself as one of the last cuts and was not on an NBA roster to start the season.  Earlier this month Memphis brought Reggie in for a workout, but the Grizzlies went on a different path.

Now the road back to the NBA leads through Tulsa.  In his first game back in the NBADL, Williams did not disappoint with 26 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals as the 66ers lost to Iowa 123-93 on Sunday.

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