ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks Wednesday traded veteran guard Charlie Criss and rookie forward Al Wood, the team's No. 1 draft choice last season, to the San Diego Clippers for guard Freeman Williams.
Williams, San Diego's leading scorer, has averaged 16.5 points per game in 37 games this year. The Portland State graduate is eighth in the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage, averaging 32 percent.
'Freeman adds a number of dimensions to our team,' said Hawks coach Kevin Loughery. 'First, he's one of the NBA's top outside shooters. Second, he can handle the ball well enough to play lead guard or can team with other guards at the shooting spot to increase our scoring range as a team.
'Third, his presence can allow us to play our other players, like Rudy Macklin, for example, at their natural positions where they are most effective.'
In his fourth NBA campaign, Williams was drafted in the first round by the Boston Celtics in 1978, the eighth overall pick in the draft. His draft rights were then traded by the Celtics to San Diego. He also was the top Clippers' scorer last season with a 19.3 average and he has a career mark of 16.3.
Criss, 31, the NBA's smallest player at 5-foot-8, was averaging 8.7 ppg in 27 games but his playing time had dwindled recently. His best season was his rookie year in 1977-78 when he averaged 11.4.
Wood, a former North Carolina star, had averged 4.8 ppg in 19 games.
Williams will join the Hawks this weekend, the team said.
'He's an outstanding player,' Clipper coach Paul Silas said of Wood. 'You have to be, to be the fourth player chosen in the draft. He's a great shooter and he's very intelligent about the game. And he knows how to win.'
'What can you say about Al Wood?' said San Diego general manager Ted Podleski. 'He was considered the top senior in the country last year.'
Of Criss, Podleski said: 'He is an experienced, team player. He is as exciting as all get-out. He makes the fans' blood pressure rise every time he steps on the court.'
The general manager said he hoped the acquisition of Wood and Criss will 'excite a lot of people in the city and put aside a lot of rumors.'
Clipper owner Don Sterling was fined $10,000 by the NBA last month for certain remarks to reporters. Sterling implied that it was to the Clippers' benefit to finish in last place so his team would be awarded the top pick in the college draft after the season.
