Holly MacKenzie - Raptors.com

A decade into his professional career, Lou Williams still loves lacing up his shoes as much as he did on Day One.

“It’s just fun playing basketball,” Williams said. “It’s still very basic to me. Any time I can play basketball I enjoy being out on the court.”

Williams’ family shares his appreciation for the game and is thrilled with how things have turned out for him over his career.

Prior to moving to Toronto to begin this season with the Raptors, Williams returned to his home in Atlanta to find his loved ones setting up a surprise party in celebration of his 10th NBA season.

“It’s not an easy thing to be in this league 10 years,” Williams said. “Especially with me being a second-round pick, the 46th pick, and an undersized guard, to carve a lane for myself and have a career, for my family to realize that and appreciate that, it meant a lot to me.

“A lot of the time people only see the superstar lifestyles,” Williams continued. “There are other guys [in the league] who have carved out pretty nice spaces for themselves. For my family to go along with that ride, it’s great for me.”

Williams’ high-school coach and some of his former teammates flew in to Atlanta to be there for the celebration. The milestone gave Williams an opportunity to reflect on his draft-night experience and all that’s happened for him since. Drafted straight out of high school in 2005, the same year as current teammate Amir Johnson, Williams was just 18-years-old.



A video posted by Lou Williams (@louwillville) on Sep 9, 2014 at 3:56pm PDT



Williams: "I walked out of my own draft party"

“I watched myself get drafted by myself,” Williams recalled. “I walked out of my own draft party because I was a little frustrated. I saw my name flash across in ESPN Zone [in Atlanta] in the lobby by myself. After the Hawks had the first pick in the second round… They picked Salim Stoudamire. I didn’t know what my future held after that. I didn't think I was going to get drafted. I wasn’t in a partying mood anymore. I was sitting in the lobby of ESPN Zone and they had a TV there.

"I was sitting there watching, playing on my T-Mobile sidekick at the time," Williams continued. "I was texting my best friend. He went to the University of Georgia, that’s where I had signed my letter of intent. I texted him, I said, ‘I guess you’ve got to go ahead and get my dorm room ready.’ He texted me back and he was like, ‘Nah, you probably will get picked by the Sixers here LOL.’ I texted him back, ‘Yeah right,’ and then it flashed across the screen.

“I didn’t get a call. I was by myself. Nobody called me and told me anything. I just heard people clapping.”

Williams is known for his ability to put points on the board in a hurry. He’s also one of the league’s best at drawing contact and his attitude has won over his new teammates in Toronto.

“He’s always got a metaphor or analogy for something,” DeMar DeRozan said. "He’s got the utmost confidence. When you have a teammate like that, that mindset, it rubs off on you. I always listen to him, if he has anything to say to me. I try to learn from him. It means a lot.”

Although Williams couldn’t have predicted ending up with the Raptors, he's embraced the city and his new squad.

For a hoops junkie like DeRozan, having Williams around is just another basketball mind to teach him.

“He’s been in the league lot longer than me and he came in from high school,” DeRozan said. “He played with [Allen] Iverson. You know he has a lot of knowledge going on in his head from players he played with. There’s always something you can gain from that.”

Whether it’s game time, a locker room conversation or post-practice at Air Canada Centre, Williams continues to make the most of each day he gets to wake up and play professional basketball.

“This is an interesting group,” Williams said. “In the past maybe two or three years, this is the most I've talked to my teammates off the court in a very long time. We’re always in a group chat, talking about games that are on, talking about guys stats, just having a pulse for the league. These guys are serious about winning. We keep track of everything around here.”