Marcus Williams (photo. Sebastian Artz)

Dime: For your career, what’s the status for you as far as trying to get back into the league?
MW: I been talking to my agent and we both kinda came to the realization was I’m not so much looking for an NBA team because I would rather play somewhere and get the same amount of money that I would get in the States and be a third-string or a second-stringer that’s playing 15 minutes a game. I don’t wanna go to be in the NBA just to be in the NBA. Like I like basketball and I wanna play.

Dime: What do you remember about your time in UConn? As you’ve become a professional, has your role changed or stayed the same like it was at UConn?
MW: At UConn was one of the best years of my life. I mean that was fun. And all of the guys that are on my team, I still kinda keep in touch with them. But my role at UConn when I first got there…I really didn’t have one. I had guys around me who could score and I would make plays for them and those guys were scoring. So my assists would add up so now I guess I’m considered a passer. But in college, I was a scorer so I could always knock down open jump shots. I could always create for myself.

And now where I am in Russia, I was top five in scoring, I was first in assists. So I kinda just had the ball in my hands most of the game anyways. So I guess you could say it’s the same role in college as it is now: score when you can and make plays when you can’t score.

Dime: With a guy like Deron Williams trying to come player overseas, a lot of people were wondering if he would get star treatment. What do you think?
MW: I think he’ll get treated like everyone else over there, if not worse. He’s a big-name going over there, and they might kinda try to prove their league is just as competitive as the NBA. You don’t know what someone’s motives are. I dunno, I think he’ll be treated the same as everyone else does.

Dime: For you, what kinda stuff do you like to get into during the summer? And when will you head back over to Russia to start playing?
MW: My summer pretty much consisted of working out, hanging with my friends – I mean I haven’t seen them for 10 months – so hanging with my friends, playing video games. Not doing too much, just gym and regular stuff, going shopping, playing video games, hanging out.

I will probably head out in probably mid-to-the end of August.

Dime: Okay. And you stay out there for 10 months.
MW: From August to…well maybe not 10 but nine, from August until May.

Dime: You mentioned you play a lot of video games. Which ones are your favorite?
MW: Call of Duty. NBA 2k. Madden. College football.

Dime: Do guys overseas play as well? Are there hobbies similar to the people you hang around with here or is it different?
MW: Not the sports games. They play a lot of shooting games. Call of Duty is about the only game I’ve seen that a majority of the people play.

Dime: As far as what you do overseas, I’ve heard a lot of teams have itineraries for what they do every day. They control your entire day or parts of it. Is that the case with you guys?
MW: I think that’s only on the road. But sometimes we will practice twice a day. We’ll do a shooting session early and then practice later on. That’s probably the only schedule we have. We eat on our own. We got time at home for ourselves. We’re not programmed like that at home.

Dime: For you, you mentioned for youself that the NBA would be nice but you really just want to play. What would be a successful year for you next year?
MW: With the season coming up? Probably to get to a Euroleague Final Four and try to win your country championship and just be a big part of that.

What do you think?

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