For Williams, time to play

HOUSTON - Slightly more than halfway into his second season directly out of high school, Louis Williams is finally getting a taste of what it is like to be in the 76ers' substitution rotation.

It remains unclear whether he has earned these modest minutes, or whether it is simply time for the coaching staff and the front office to monitor the progress of the 6-1, 20-year-old guard, but here he is.

In the last three games, he has been on the court for 11, 6 and 11 minutes as the relief man at the point, supplanting the veteran Kevin Ollie. He hasn't done anything dramatically productive, but he hasn't done anything blatantly wrong, either.

"The coaching staff was very clear about mixing things up, putting different guys out there," said Williams, who is likely to be in the rotation again tonight against the Houston Rockets. "I was hoping [coach Maurice Cheeks] would call my number."

Williams was a fresh-faced 18 when he joined the Sixers last season as a second-round draft choice from South Gwinnett (Ga.) High, in the Atlanta area. At that point, the Sixers were sufficiently confident in his potential to provide him with a 2-year guaranteed contract that pays him $664,209 this season and includes a team option for $770,610 for next season.

He won the 2005 Naismith Award as the national high school Player of the Year and was a McDonald's All-American and a two-time Georgia Mr. Basketball as a shooting guard, scoring 3,338 points; South Gwinnett was 103-16 during his career. But other than summer leagues and a three-game stretch with the Fort Worth Flyers in the NBA Development League, he has barely gotten on the floor.

He averaged 4.8 minutes in 30 games as a rookie.

"Last year was a brand-new experience - I was still kind of shell-shocked, seeing guys go to other teams [ahead of him in the draft]," said Williams, who had initially committed to the University of Georgia. "I was [wondering] if I'd be able to compete. This year, I have more confidence in what I'm able to do. Any time I can get out there, I'm ready to go."

He said he has added about 10 pounds to his frame, climbing "to a solid 186, 187 pounds." He put in extra time last season with then-developmental coach Doug Overton, and has been more animated this season in practice and pregame drills with assistant John Loyer.

"I'm more comfortable, but every time I step out there I try to make it my best appearance," he said. "I'm a lot more confident; no second-guessing myself."

He feels it in his decision-making, "being sure about the pass I want to make, the shot I want to take or pushing the ball."

"Things I would second-guess [as a rookie] are second nature now," he said.

As the second-youngest player in the NBA, behind the Los Angeles Lakers' Andrew Bynum - who is exactly 1 year younger - he has also learned the value of patience.

"Playing 4 years as a shooting guard in high school, making the transition to the point, I've gotten used to it," he said. "It's been difficult coming from an environment where you win a lot of games, play a lot of minutes and then you're back at the bottom of the totem pole and have to work your way back up."

At the same time, he said, "I feel like I fit in a little more now. I'm more comfortable with the guys. I mean, [veteran forward] Alan Henderson is one of my favorite guys to talk to and we're 12, 13 years apart [actually 14]. I don't think I'm 'the kid' anymore; I feel like everybody's equal."

Andre Iguodala scored 24 points - his fifth straight performance of at least 20 - in Saturday's 104-89 victory in Atlanta. Andre Miller, coming off Friday's triple-double in a loss to Cleveland, had 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, while Samuel Dalembert put up 19 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high seven blocks; it was also just the second time this season that Dalembert went without a personal foul . . . The Sixers have suddenly won four of the last six games and their last two on the road; they've shot at least 47.3 percent from the floor in seven of eight, but have been crushed 69-27 on the offensive glass in the last four . . . Former La Salle University star Steven Smith, who began the season as a rookie free agent forward with the Sixers, has landed with the Anaheim Arsenal in the Development League; he was averaging 4.7 points and two rebounds in his first three appearances. *