Jason Williams (basketball)
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| Position | Point guard |
|---|---|
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| League | NBA |
| Team | Miami Heat |
| Jersey | #55 |
| Born | November 18, 1975 Charleston, West Virginia |
| Nationality | USA |
| College | Marshall Florida |
| Draft | 7th overall, 1998 Sacramento Kings |
| Pro career | 1999–present |
| Former teams | Sacramento Kings (1998–2001) Memphis Grizzlies (2001–2005) |
| Official profile | Info Page |
Jason Chandler Williams (born November 18, 1975) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the NBA. Born in Charleston, West Virginia, he grew up in Belle, West Virginia, a small town less than 10 miles from Charleston, and graduated from Dupont High School (a now-defunct institution), where he played both basketball and football with current NFL star Randy Moss.
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[edit] High School
Williams is a 1994 graduate of Dupont High School, where he was coached by Jim Fout. He was USA Today West Virginia Player of the Year as a senior and two-time first team all-state selection. For his high school career, Williams averaged 18 points and 10 assists and led his team to a runner-up finish in state championships. He is the only player in Dupont history to score more than 1,000 career points and tally 500-plus assists.
[edit] College
After redshirting his first season, he averaged 13.4 ppg and 6.4 apg in his freshman year (1995-96) at Marshall University where high school teammate and close friend Randy Moss also attended.
When coach Billy Donovan accepted the head coaching position at the University of Florida in the summer of 1996, Williams followed him to Gainesville. Playing for Florida during the 1997-98 season, Williams led the Gators as their starting point guard. He averaged 17.1 points per game as well as 6.7 assists per game, at times showed flashes of brilliance. Williams set a Florida record with 17 assists in a December 3, 1997 game against Duquesne. Almost single-handedly, he beat the eventual NCAA champion Kentucky Wildcats with a barrage of three-pointers at Rupp Arena. Later that season, Florida would permanently suspend Williams for drug use after three previous suspensions. When asked what he liked most about his time in college, Williams replied, "I cherished getting kicked out of school."[1]
[edit] NBA career
After being suspended by the University of Florida, Williams decided to make himself eligible for the NBA Draft. His choice paid dividends in June, when he was the seventh overall selection in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. Williams did not attend the draft but accepted an interview via satellite from Orlando.
The Kings, with a roster that included newcomers Williams, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, and Peja Stojakovic, turned into a playoff contender. Almost overnight Williams' popularity soared as his team improved. Highlights of him were heavily rotated on sports recap shows. His number 55 jersey was at one time the highest selling of all NBA players.[citation needed]
On July 20, 2000, Williams was suspended for the first five games of the 2000-01 NBA season for failure to comply with his treatment obligations under the NBA's anti-drug program. The NBA does not release details of violations of the anti-drug program.[2]
In 2001, the Sacramento Kings traded Williams to the Vancouver Grizzlies for Mike Bibby. (The team relocated to Memphis, Tennessee prior to the 2001–02 season.) In his first season for the Grizzlies, Williams held together a team low in talent. With head coach Sidney Lowe, they improved insignificantly. In 2002, General Manager Jerry West lured Hubie Brown out of retirement to coach the team. Almost instantly Brown impacted the team positively. The team improved by a franchise record 28 wins in Brown's first season.
In 2003–04, the Grizzlies defied all expectations. The team coalesced behind Williams, Pau Gasol, coach Brown and GM West. The team won 50 games and for the first time made it to the NBA Playoffs as the sixth seed in the West.
On August 2, 2005, he and teammate James Posey were two of thirteen players involved in the biggest trade in league history that saw them being dealt to the Miami Heat in exchange for shooting guard Eddie Jones.
Williams started at point guard for the Heat in the 2005–06 campaign. A knee injury would plague him and cause him to miss some games, but on the court Williams showed his worth by running the Heat offense. He proved to be an offensive spark at times with his quick jump shooting both inside and beyond the 3 point arc. In the playoffs Williams had his best game in Game 6 of the Eastern Finals against the Detroit Pistons, scoring 21 points on 10 of 11 shooting in the series clinching game. Williams would win his first NBA championship June 20, 2006 when the Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. During the finals, Williams averaged 12 points and 5 assists, and posted a game-high seven assists in the decisive game six victory.
In the 2006–07 season, Jason was limited to 61 games, of those 55 he started. He averaged 10.9 points and 5.3 assists, which didn't meet his career averages of 11.7 and 6.5. His play dropped dramatically in the postseason, averaging 5.8 ppg and 3.5 assists per game. His struggles contributed to the Heat being swept by the Bulls in 4 games in the very first round of the playoffs.
Williams was named to the Top 25 HEAT Players of All-Time in 2007.
In the 2007-08 season , Williams played 67 games while averaging 8.8 points and 4.6 assists per game. He shot 38% from the field, 87% from the line, 35% from beyond the arc, and averaged 1.3 steals per game. His best month was March where he averaged 13.7 points and 5.1 assists while shooting 43% from beyond the arc and 42% from the field. Also in March, he had a career high 34 points vs Orlando, connecting on 5 threes. He had 2 double doubles - one against Phoenix and one against the Bucks. Both were 21 point, 10 assist performances. This was his last season for the Heat and will be playing elsewhere next year.
[edit] Playing style
Williams is known to be a capable scorer (career average 11.7 points per game), a good passer (career average of 6.5 assists) and a ball handler. However, early in his NBA career he tended to be very flashy. He would become a regular on Sportscenter for his trick plays, crossovers, and fancy passes. He became notorious for being turnover-prone: in his second and fourth years, he peaked at over 3.5 per game. His playing style had led Williams to be benched during crucial periods of some games. For example, in the 2000 NBA Playoffs, Williams sat out most of the fourth quarter in all five games against the Lakers.
In his later years with Memphis and Miami, he has significantly tamed his extravagant playing style (in the last three seasons, he has never averaged more than 1.89 turnovers per game) and has consistently achieved one of the highest assists per turnover ratios in the NBA. Despite this, his flash-over-substance reputation still sticks with him to a significant extent.
Jason Williams is well-noted for performing fancy trick plays. He is credited with helping bring street ball moves into the NBA, as well as several highlight reel passes including his signature behind the back and fake behind the back passes. In the Rookie Challenge of the NBA All-Star Weekend 2000, Williams performed one of the greatest passes in NBA history - the elbow pass[3]. Williams made this seemingly impossible behind his back pass off the elbow on a full sprint to Raef LaFrentz. "I did it so you all wouldn't ask me to ever do it again," Williams said.[4]
Williams is often called "White Chocolate" because he talks with an urban accent and the fact that he is often associated with a Black street-rooted style of basketball, despite being white. He also goes by the nicknames "J-Will" and "J-Dub", and has "White Boy" tattooed on his knuckles. Former Miami Heat teammate and center Shaquille O'Neal once called him the "Pistol Pete of Hip-Hop".
[edit] Personal life
Despite his NBA success, Jason Williams prefers to stay out of the spotlight and lives a low-key lifestyle, spending time with his family. Williams married Denika Kisty and they have two children, Jaxon and Mia. He also enjoys playing Sony PlayStation and listening to Hip-hop music in his free time. [5]
Despite the controversy regarding his attitude towards fans, Jason has always stated that he is more comfortable around children since they don't have any preconceptions about him.
Williams is a close friend of former Miami Heat teammate and center Shaquille O'Neal,who is now a member of the Phoenix Suns, being neighbors in Orlando for 3 years. "I was the one who helped broker the deal this summer," O'Neal said (in 2005) of the five-team, 13-player trade that brought Williams to Miami. "He wanted to play with me and I wanted to play with a guard who loves to pass and I think it'll be a good combination for myself and (guard Dwyane Wade)."[6]
Williams has always been considered a team player and a friendly personality by all of his teammates through the years. Will Solomon, a formed guard of the Memphis Grizzlies, said, "Y'know, he's a great guy, but he plays a lot of pranks. On everybody. But he's cool, fun to be around. One of the best teammates I had, playing basketball." Williams has developed close friendships with most of his NBA teammates, and some of his closest ones are Chris Webber and Bonzi Wells.
Williams also has a number of tattoos, which include a panther on his right arm, a dragon on his left arm (which was redone in the 2007-2008 season), an eye on his chest on which he said, "It's why I pass so good, I have a 3rd eye". Just before the 1999-2000 season, he had a Japanese script which meant "insane" on his arm. When he was in Japan for the first two games of the 2000 season it was covered with a wristband because it apparently had another meaning which was deemed inappropriate. In the 2000-2001 season, he had a wolf holding a basketball, on his arm and "WHITE BOY" tattooed across his knuckles. He also has his children's names on his forearms.[7]
[edit] Controversy
In the Lakers film room before the 2000 playoffs, Phil Jackson displayed images of Edward Norton's character from the movie American History X, who has a bald head and a tattoo of a swastika, alternating with photos with Williams. Jackson then displayed pictures of Adolf Hitler alternately appearing with Sacramento coach Rick Adelman. When Adelman learned of this, he openly questioned Jackson's motivational techniques saying Jackson had "crossed the line".[8]
On February 28, 2001, Williams, while playing for the Sacramento Kings, shouted racist and anti gay slurs to Michael Ching, a Golden State Warriors season ticket holder, and to several other Asian Americans seated beside Ching during a Warriors game at the Oakland Arena. As recounted by a letter Ching sent to NBA commissioner David Stern, Williams retaliated against heckling made by Ching and his party midway through the first half.[9]
The NBA eventually levied a $15,000 fine on Jason Williams for cursing at fans. Nike decided to change a planned advertising campaign featuring Williams as a result of his actions as well.[10] Williams has since apologized for the incident.[11] Williams, however, later commented sarcastically that it was okay that others could get personal with him but sincerely hoped to learn from the incident, and it is not completely known as to what provoked Williams.
Also, on November 29, 2000, the NBA fined Williams $10,000 for comments to a fan at the Alamodome in San Antonio.[11]
On being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, Williams stated, "We suck. Face the facts, we're not a good team at all. We're the worst team in the league to me", to the media. He was fined by the organization for "comments deterimental to the team" on January 8, 2002.[12]
However, the Grizzlies won 3 straight games after the incident and Coach Sidney Lowe said, "It's his way of challenging people." Williams also later explained his comments, "When I said 'we suck', y'know, I'm part of that, and we did suck at the time. But now I think we're a better team and we've grown." Grizzlies General Manager Dick Versace also commented, "He doesn't give you the answer that you want to hear, he gives you the answer that he thinks is the truth for him."
After Memphis was swept by Phoenix in the 2005 NBA Playoffs, Williams was involved in an altercation with Geoff Calkins, a columnist for The Commercial Appeal. Williams screamed in his ear and took his pen away from Calkins. Calkins had previously quoted Williams as saying he was not disappointed but, "I'm happy. I go home and see my kids and my wife and I'm OK. All of this shit is secondary to me."[13]
Calkins alleged that Williams didn't care about winning basketball games and was critical of the Grizzlies' lackadaisical play. Williams was fined $10,000 for the incident on May 4, 2005.[12] Once again, the allegations seemed baseless and Williams maintained that they were out of context especially after Williams had delivered spectacular performances during the series, despite the Grizzlies' loss.
[edit] Social And Charitable Work
In 2003, Jason Williams, when he was playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, along with Dr. Bob Wallace of the UT Medical Group founded the We Will Foundation, a charitable foundation to benefit children facing treatment for craniofacial deformities.[14]
Williams was also a frequent visitor to St. Jude Children's Hospital when he was at Memphis. "I started going over not long after I got here," said Williams, who has always said he likes to be around kids. "I go see them when I can, and it's great to see their faces light up."[15]
[edit] Notes
- ^ J-Dubious, Alligator Sports
- ^ Kings' Williams Is Suspended. Associated Press. The New York Times, 21 July 2000.
- ^ Wikipedia
- ^ Rookies outlast sophs in OT
- ^ Miami Heat Roster
- ^ Perkins, Chris Not Apologetic, Just Himself, Palm Beach Post, 10 October 2005
- ^ Jason Williams Tattoos
- ^ Fry, Darrell. "Veterans keeping Pacers in contention", St. Petersburg Times, 18 June 2000.
- ^ Weinstein, Brad. "Williams Accused Of Slurs", San Francisco Chronicle, 16 March 2001.
- ^ Callanan, Neil. "Nike jumps as white star falls from grace", Sunday Business Post, 29 April 2001.
- ^ a b "Williams Says Sorry for Racist Slurs", Associated Press. AsianWeek, 5 April 2001.
- ^ a b NBA Fines and Suspensions
- ^ Memphis guard angry over column, Associated Press, 2 May 2005.
- ^ Darr, Jimmy Inaugural Golf Tournament to benefit Newly Formed We Will Foundation MSGM
- ^ Dixon, Oscar On the record: Williams grows into a Grizzlies veteran, USA Today
[edit] External links
- Jason Williams Info Page at NBA.com
- Jason Williams at ESPN.com
- Alligator Sports - J-Dubious
- JWILL55.com The Home of Jason Williams
- ..:: Jason Williams55 ::.. HomePage
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