Gabby Williams is in the Bay Area, and while she didn’t make her Valkyries debut in the preseason game against her former squad the Seattle Storm, she did make her presence felt.

Williams finally had her introductory press conference on Saturday, flanked by general manager Ohemaa Nyanin and head coach Natalie Nakase, in the hours before Golden State’s exhibition.

There, the 29-year-old spoke for the first time about why she joined the Valkyries.

“Number one was, where am I going to win?” Williams said. “Or am I going to be a part of somewhere that's going to have a winning culture? And even though this is a newer team, I strongly believe, and I feel the competitiveness and the want to win here. In my free agency meeting, that was just all we kind of talked about was how we were going to win games, the way we're going to do it. I think the next thing for me was the culture off the court, which plays into a huge factor of what happens on the court, and just seeing from the outside what it kind of looks like to be on this team was something that I think I really, really need right now and want to be a part of. “

Williams had been a rumored target to the Valkyries since the start of last season.

But Williams has never been an elite scorer. She a career-high 11.6 points, starting all 44 games with Seattle last season.

But she was also named a first-team All-Defensive selection with 2.3 steals per game and made her first All-Star Game.

“She's one of the best two-way players in the world,” Nakase said. “I don't think everyone has seen it, and so from just watching her obviously in the Olympics as well. Yeah, she's one of the best. And so that's why we're really, really excited.”

Williams has familiarity with frontcourt players Iliana Rupert and Janelle Salaun, having played with both on the France national team, as well as incoming rookie Juste Jocyte, having won a EuroCup together.

The Valkyries were the slowest offensive team in the league per season according to WNBA.com, which had them at 75.4 possessions per game, nearly three below league average. Meanwhile they shot the most three-pointers by percentage in WNBA history with 45.8% of their attempts coming from behind the arc.

Because of that, they didn’t score in the paint all too much. This year’s team has even less of an interior presence since Rupert is much more of a stretch five than a traditional center.

That’s where Williams comes in.

Williams can help the Valkyries be a dangerous transition team. An elite defender, her ability to steal the ball and get it in to the post quickly could change the way they play. She led EuroLeague with three steals per game in eight contests.

“I love the style of play, getting to talk a bit with all of the coaches and all of the staff I'm understanding the way their brain works,” Williams said. “It works the way my brain works, and I think that's going to help me kind of merge into this training camp. It's also why I chose to come here, because it felt like a system that I would play well in a bit European, very tactical, the ball moves everybody, everybody eats, kind of thing, and that's just kind of the kind of basketball I want to play.”

With Veronica Burton at the point guard spot, the Valkyries can become pretty positionless in the two through four spots since Williams can play in any of those areas along with Salaun and presumably Jocyte and either Kayla Thornton or Kaila Charles.

She can move the ball up court and did so quite a bit for Seattle as a point forward, which could solve the thinness the Valkyries have at the position.

She shot 32.7% of her shots from three-point range last season and made just under a third of them. In the Valkyries offense, she’ll likely contribute more. But where she would benefit the Valkyries’ scoring the most is creating some quickness off defense and getting the ball to someone to make a layup or taking it herself.

“I feel like we're going to be a very running team,” Williams said. “We're going to run a lot. We're going to move without the ball a lot, which I like to play. I like to create for others when I play, and having been surrounded by shooters will make that very easy for me. I think this, our spacing will work in my favor as well. And I think what I can add is just, obviously on the defensive end, but just, I think I can add a lot in our transition game. I think I can get into the paint and creating for my teammates and creating a lot of kicks, creating a lot of mismatched nightmares.”

It’s hard to fully know what the Valkyries’ offensive scheme will be until the other players return from overseas, but even though Williams is known as a defender, there is room for her to expand how the Valkyries score, if they play it right.

“In terms of fit, we're going to definitely see, but when you're selfless, that really fits well with us, because we don't have just a couple of superstars that just take over,” Nakase said. “We love ball movement. We love the ability that anyone could go off at any game, because I think that's really hard to guard. So yeah, we see it as a perfect fit.”