Reggie Williams defied gravity Wednesday, which has to be the most fun he's had since signing with the Charlotte Bobcats in the preseason.

Three weeks removed from surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee, Williams was cleared to start running. But with a catch - he'd need to use the Bobcats' Alter-G machine, which reduces gravity's effect on the legs.

Williams ran for 15 minutes with his legs wrapped in a bag full of compressed air. That allowed him to run on a treadmill without any pounding to his joints.

"Didn't feel like I was running," he said, comparing the experience to space-walk videos. "Then I got out and said, 'Oh yeah - my wind.' "

It's been an odd, helpless start to Williams' career as a Bobcat. A 42-percent 3-point shooter last season for the Golden State Warriors, he was signed as a fix - the Bobcats were the second-worst 3-point team in the NBA last season.

Except he can't do any fixing without playing. He's still at least three weeks away from playing, so he'll miss the first third of a 66-game season.

The Bobcats knew Williams would need surgery when they signed him. Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod Higgins specifically told him not to rush back from the injury, which he suffered while playing in Spain during the lockout.

But it's hard to watch your new team get throttled and not do anything about it.

"I grind my teeth watching every single game," said Williams, who was never drafted by the NBA out of Virginia Military.

He will sit in front of a television tonight to watch the Bobcats play at the Atlanta Hawks. He's trying to learn as much as he can about his new team, but watching is nothing like doing.

The compacted NBA schedule adds to the problem: A month of preseason became two weeks and there are four games a week now, as opposed to 31/2 in the typical NBA season.

"So much of this is about getting to know each other," Williams said of assimilating into a new team. "I haven't been on the floor once with them. They don't know anything about how I play."

Sitting on the bench for home games is of limited benefit.

"I get to watch guys up-close; I can figure out that one of my teammates will want the ball here or that he prefers to post up there," Williams said.