Lou Williams dealing with rehab

ATLANTA - Lou Williams was always perpetual motion. Whether bopping to a song while sitting at his locker, jumping up and down on the sideline before a game or anxiously shaking his legs back and forth while sitting on the bench at the beginning of a contest, Williams always was trying to expend his plentiful amount of energy.

The motor, for now, is idling. On Jan. 18, Williams, formerly of the 76ers and now with the Atlanta Hawks, tore the ACL in his right knee, shelving him for the rest of this season, at least. He had surgery on Feb. 7 by Dr. James Andrews and is looking at a long rehabbing process before he can think of a return to his hometown team.

"It's just basically the rehab process, just dealing with bending the leg, activating the muscles again. Same old, same old every day," Williams said before Wednesday's game between his new and former teams. "This is my first major sports injury when it comes to knees and ankles, so this is brand-new stuff to me."

Williams, who signed with the Hawks as a free agent last summer, was the team's third-leading scorer at the time of his injury, averaging 14.1 a game. Last season, he led the Sixers at 14.9 despite never starting a game.

He said he doesn't really follow his old team that closely, though he and Evan Turner still talk. He is now in the unfamiliar role of cheerleader, in addition to long days of rehabbing. Williams spent time at Andrews' facility in Gulf Breeze, Fla., with other rehabbing athletes.

"It was encouraging, especially being able to spend some time after my surgery with RGIII [Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III], some time with Marcus Lattimore [South Carolina running back], and those guys have been dealing with these type of injuries and they've come back to have some success, especially Marcus, where he's torn [the ACL in both of his knees]. I was watching him train, and he was going through everything like it was another day at the office. I was very encouraged by that.

"The great thing about [Andrews'] facility is that you can look across the room and see somebody who is 2 months out of surgery and see somebody who is a week out of surgery. Even [Rajon] Rondo, when he came down, I was a week ahead of him in the scheduling, so he was asking me a bunch of questions like, 'When am I going to feel better? When am I going to be able to do this and that?' So you're in a roomful of people that have different timelines but are dealing with the same exact thing that you're dealing with.

"I'm actually surprised how I've been dealing with the situation. Like I said, when somebody tells you you're going to be out for 6 months, at the least, that's one of those things where if you start worrying about it you'll start driving yourself crazy. I'm going to take it one day at a time and I'm just embracing the situation."

All Jrue Holiday could do was raise his eyebrows and shake his head. The question posed to him was about the progress of rookie Arnett Moultrie.

Moultrie entered Wednesday's game against Atlanta having made 13 of his last 14 shots over the previous four games, including a 5-for-5, 10-point effort Tuesday against Boston. He was the first big man off the bench again Wednesday, seemingly having replaced Lavoy Allen in that role.

"I don't think people really understand how active he really is," Holiday said. "How athletic he is, how well he can really play . . . I guess the amazing part is there was one time last week [in practice] where I was like, 'Wow, that dude is really athletic.'

"I knew he could jump before but when you see spurts here and there . . . He can really help us. He brings energy from the jump. He's definitely a live guy, who is getting rebounds and fighting for rebounds and somebody who is going to play at the rim."

A welcome sight for a team that doesn't have many players like that.

Guard Nick Young, nursing a sprained left ankle, did not make the trip, which will continue with games Friday in Miami and Sunday in Orlando. On another front, though there were some reports of Jrue Holiday turning an ankle against Boston, there seemed to be nothing to it. Holiday was in his usual spot in the starting lineup Wednesday against the Hawks and was moving fine.

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