ORLANDO – Patrick Williams learned long ago that plans can easily go awry.
So while the Friday plan is to get him back on the practice court in Miami, give that knee one final test, and then hope he can make his return from the injury Saturday against the Heat, it sounds good on paper.
“After being out for a while, just want to check all the boxes, so to speak,” Williams said of his injury on Thursday. “Lot more injuries happen when guys are trying to rush back more than anything, so just trying to be careful in that aspect of it.
“You guys know I’ve dealt with my fair share of injuries already, so doing what I can to prevent what I can. The knee itself feels good, the quad tendon feels good. Want to get back knowing we’re in the homestretch of the regular season. I want to be able to be full-go swinging by the time we get to that play-in tournament.”
Williams missed his eighth consecutive game with the latest setback, but even before that he had lost his starting job to rookie Matas Buzelis.
That wasn’t exactly in his plans, either.
That’s why the lingering questions surrounding Williams have to do with him finding some sort of consistency to his offensive game, some aggressiveness.
Living up to the hype of being the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 draft died a slow death a few years ago, so that’s no longer where the bar is set.
Not a point that Williams was exactly debating.
He knows that while many in the outside world want to see him play like a top pick, injuries have slowed his journey down.
He’s had two season-ending surgeries (wrist in 2021-22 season and foot last year), and now the knee has been the latest obstacle.
“Sometimes there’s things you can’t prevent,” Williams said. “My wrist, couldn’t prevent that, my foot, couldn’t prevent that. This one you really can’t prevent. So it’s somewhat frustrating. I knew from early, obviously after the second (major injury) that development for me may look a little bit different. It may not be as clean as we wanted it to be, and I was OK with that. I knew it would be a challenge. Now I’m trying to develop anyway I can, on the court, off the court.”
And coach Billy Donovan still sees a positive path forward for Williams. It would be nice if that path started again Saturday in Miami, but that remains to be seen.
“For Patrick he’s been a really elite defender, but the one thing that has been ‘inconsistent’ has been the finishing around the rim and him being a guy that’s a scoring guy,” Donovan said. “We have to embrace who he is as a player, with the mindset that we’ve got to keep helping him get better. I still think at his age there’s still room for growth and development. Who he is can be a very productive player for us. Is he on the precipice of being an All-Star right now? No, he’s not. But he can certainly be a key, very valuable piece.
“I get where he was picked, like (second-rounder) Ayo (Dosunmu) doesn’t have those expectations on him. Patrick does because of the pick. That doesn’t mean to me he can’t get better or be a major contributor.”
Barking calf
The hope was to have Nikola Vucevic (right calf) back against the Magic, but the injury is progressing slower than first thought. According to Donovan, they need to get Vucevic through an entire workout without feeling tightness in the calf.
Text message
According to Donovan, he had a text exchange with Dosunmu Wednesday night and the guard told him his season-ending left shoulder surgery went well.