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The Indiana Pacers are expected to sign Austin Toros standout Marcus Williams for the rest of the season, according to sources close to the situation.

Williams, a 6-foot-7 guard, averaged 24.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists in eight games for the Austin Toros this season after beginning the year playing in China.

Williams is probably the D-League blogosphere's favorite NBA prospect just because he's so versatile with the additions he's made to his game since he was at Arizona where he was just a gifted scorer with an attitude problem. Don't worry, though - things have changed.

He was drafted by the Spurs in the second round of the 2007 draft, but didn't make the team and ended up with the Spurs D-League affiliate, the Austin Toros, where he's been developing ever since. While he's become more of a leader, rounded out his scoring to include a more consistent jump shot and is better on the defensive end, his developing point guard skills is what has me most intrigued.

Miller4ever wrote:Hey, let's give it a go. If this dude is 6'7" and can come in and back up AJ Price, it'll be a nice change of pace. Also, I'm sure part of this is Watson insurance. We don't want to lose Watson and have only AJ Price.

Grang33r wrote:Your thinking of the UConn point guard Marcus Williams - http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/4150

The guy we signed has been playing small forward. Played college at Arizona.

Kuq_e_Zi91 wrote:

Grang33r wrote:Your thinking of the UConn point guard Marcus Williams - http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/4150

The guy we signed has been playing small forward. Played college at Arizona.

The report on him says he's been developing point guard skills and often runs point for the Toros.

I'm excited to see what he can do. Hopefully O'Brien gives him ample opportunity these few remaining games of the season. If not, we have summer league to watch him and I'm thinking we keep him on the roster for next season.

Pacers looking at D-League players

The Pacers are considering signing a player from the NBA's Development League for the first time before the season ends.

The Pacers would sign the player to a non-guaranteed contract and he wouldn't play in any of the remaining four games.

The move would allow the Pacers to have the player for their summer league roster in order to see if he might fit into their long-term plans.

PR07 wrote:Would make sense. I mean what exactly do we have to lose?

However, the same site is now reporting he turned down the offer, which makes sense. I mean why limit his options when A. We aren't going to play him this season B. Its a nonguaranteed contract.

mizzoupacers wrote:^ I'm not sure it makes sense to me. Even if he doesn't play in any games this season, he would still be getting paid, and getting paid quite a bit more than he is in the D League. Right? Plus he'd have a pretty much guaranteed invite to an NBA training camp. Why would he turn that down, unless another team is offering him something better?

"We've taken a close look at our options and we're not going to make a roster move at this time," Pacers general manager David Morway told RealGM via e-mail.