Q. Lou, will you elaborate on why you decided to put 25K up to bond the Atlanta-based protestors out? And can you talk about playing with no fans in the arena, kind of what you expect from that and how that's going to be with you guys?
LOU WILLIAMS: Well, I'll address the second part first. I think playing without fans is going to be interesting. It's going to be different. We always have this time we have to create our own energy, so we literally have to do that now in this environment. We're going to have to create excitement for ourselves, create motivation to play these games and play them at a high level without energy from the fans. So I think that'll be interesting.
Q. The idea for me to put money towards trying to bail out peaceful protestors in the city of Atlanta, I was at home, I was feeling stuck. I did realize that probably protesting in the streets for me probably wasn't my lane, just due to the fact of the type of company that I keep. I know if there was going to be any negative attention turned towards me, it probably would have turned into a bad situation. We declined not to go out in the public and march with the people, but I wanted to have an impact. I wanted to do something, and I wanted to let those people on the front lines know or the people that were peacefully protesting to know that I was with them.
I just spoke to my manager, had an idea that I just wanted to put some money towards getting people home as quickly as they could to get back to their families or get back on the streets and continue to fight the fight. I think it's a job for everybody when it comes to these type of situations, and I felt like that would be mine. That was the first initiative that I started. From there we've done several other things. So that was my idea.
Q. Could you elaborate on some of those other measures? You referenced there were some other things you were trying to do. Can you elaborate on that? And also, because you're from Georgia, did you have any kind of run-in with John Lewis? Did you ever meet him or take anything from his 33 years as a lawmaker in your state?
LOU WILLIAMS: I did not -- unfortunately I never had the opportunity to meet Mr. Lewis. I didn't have an opportunity to meet him, but definitely had an impact on my life, me being from Atlanta, Georgia, me being from the city and understanding the impact that he had. It's kind of unfortunate that at 23 years old in his life, he organized the march on Washington, actually spoke there and was a major part in putting that event together, which was obviously a huge historical event, and he passed still fighting the same fight. We have a long way to go as humans as far as humanity goes, but no, unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to meet Mr. Lewis.
Other initiatives that we've started, there's a young lady in Atlanta, she takes not abandoned food but she takes food from different restaurants, different markets, different grocery stores that go unused and she puts together basically care packages for the homeless and for the less fortunate, and so I put some money behind that initiative. I wanted to stand with her.
There's also an initiative in Atlanta called ATL is Ready For Action. They get behind protests, they get behind police brutality issues, and they tackle those things, so I got behind that initiative, as well.
Q. A question about Noah: Obviously he's the new guy on the block. How is he looking and what have you seen from him in your run so far?
LOU WILLIAMS: I think he's played well this week. We've had a lot of competitive situations where he's been able to show he's a seasoned veteran in this game. He's had some deep playoff runs, he's had some success in his career, and he has an opportunity to get back on his feet after a career-changing injury. I think this is a great fit for him. We've embraced him, he's embraced us, he's embraced our culture, so I think he's a great fit for what we're trying to accomplish.
Q. I'm wondering in the lineups that you play with Reggie since you've brought him on to the team, what advantages does that give you? How much does it help you playing with another ball handler like him?
LOU WILLIAMS: It's good for me. I get an opportunity to play my natural position. I get an opportunity to play off of the ball. Reggie is a playmaker, I'm a playmaker; that gives us two guys that can put points on the board. Obviously he's going to be a better defender than I am on the defensive end, so he guards the guys that I would usually guard in those second groups and gives us a great look.
Q. With the scrimmages coming up this week, I'm wondering what you guys are hoping to get out of those.
LOU WILLIAMS: I just think it's important for us to continue to build. I don't think we have as much time as we think we do, so it's time to start revving the engine up and getting going and getting the guys all on the same page, so I think for the first scrimmage on Wednesday we definitely should start working on that camaraderie that we're going to need, making sure everybody is on the page offensively, defensively, making sure we talk and just working through the basic things that we're going to need to be successful throughout this process.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports