Buck Williams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Position | Power forward |
|---|---|
| Height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) |
| Weight | 215 lb (98 kg) |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Born | March 8, 1960 Rocky Mount, NC, United States |
| College | University of Maryland |
| Draft | 3rd overall, 1981 New Jersey Nets |
| Pro career | 1981–1999 |
| Former teams | New Jersey Nets (1981 – 1989) Portland Trail Blazers (1989 – 1996) |
| Awards | Rookie of the Year (1982) |
- This article is about the basketball player. For the Left Behind character, see Cameron "Buck" Williams.
Charles Linwood Williams (born March 8, 1960 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina), better known as "Buck", is an American former professional basketball player.
Despite his height, Williams was one of the best rebounders in the history of the NBA league. His seventeen year NBA career was adorned with three All-Star Game appearances, a Rookie of the Year award, All-Rookie team selection, an All-NBA second team selection and four selections to the first and second All-Defensive teams.
Contents |
[edit] College
Williams attended Rocky Mount Senior High School in Rocky Mount before going off to play collegiately at the University of Maryland. Williams had immediate success at Maryland, capturing the ACC Rookie of the Year Award in 1979. He led the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in rebounding twice (1979 and 1981), while averaging 15.5 points per game in his sophomore and junior years. He earned first-team All-American honors in 1981 and earned All-ACC honors in 1980 and 1981. National recognition of his performances came when he was selected to the 1980 USA Olympic basketball team, along such players as later two-time NBA champions Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre; he, however, never got to represent the national colors in Moscow due to the United States' boycott. In 2002 Williams was one of eight former Maryland players to be named to the ACC's 50th Anniversary Men's Basketball Team[1]. Since 2001 he is a member of the University of Maryland’s Athletic Hall of Fame (officially known as The M Club)[2].
[edit] New Jersey years: 1981-1989
After three years at Maryland, Williams decided to leave for the NBA. The New Jersey Nets selected him third overall in the 1981 NBA Draft, behind Olympic teammates Aguirre and Thomas. In his first season with the Nets, he averaged 15.5 points and led the team with 12.3 rebounds per game, helping New Jersey win 20 more games (a 44-38 win-loss record) than the previous year and earning 1982 Rookie of the Year honors. Williams established himself as a premier player at the power forward position over the next eight seasons with the Nets; in six of those he was ranked among the best three rebounders in the league, never averaging less than twelve rebounds per game. This period (1984) featured the Nets' best playoffs effort since merging into the NBA from the ABA in 1977 - their first second-round appearance, where they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks; not until 2002 did the Nets get past the first round of the playoffs again.
[edit] Portland years: 1989-1996
On June 24, 1989, the Nets traded Williams to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Sam Bowie and a draft pick. In Portland, Williams would continue his solid play and take a complementary frontcourt role to established guard duo of Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter. The Blazers' post-season campaigns ended in the first round four consecutive years prior to 1990; contrastingly, Wiliams' first three seasons with the Blazers were marked by three Western Conference Finals appearances and two NBA Finals: in 1990 they succumbed to the powerhouse Detroit Pistons in five games, while in 1992 they fell to the ever-improving Chicago Bulls in six. Williams was regularly in the starting lineup for the first six of his seven seasons with the Blazers. He remains the franchise leader in field goal percentage (55.0%).
[edit] Late years
In the twilight of his career, after the 1995-96 season, Williams moved back to the Atlantic Division, signing with the New York Knicks, where he played in a much more limited capacity, behind the frontcourt duo of Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley. He spent two years with the Knicks, but was forced to miss 41 games during 1997-98 season due to knee surgery (the first time in his career he missed more than 12 games in a season). Williams announced his retirement on January 27, 1999, holding career averages of 12.8 points and ten rebounds per game and a field goal average of 54.9 percent. During the course of his 17 year NBA career, Williams racked up more than 16,000 points and 13,000 rebounds — one of only seven NBA players to ever reach both marks.
Williams served as the president of the NBA Players Association from 1994 to 1997.
The New Jersey Nets retired his #52 jersey in 1999.
In 2006 Buck Williams began his third year as the coach of Maryland Madness 16-and-Under Amateur Athletic Union team, a team he coached to a top 5 national finish in 2005.
[edit] Awards and accomplishments
- ACC Rookie of the Year: 1979
- USA Olympic Team: 1980
- NCAA All-American (1st team): 1981
- NBA All-NBA (2nd team): 1983
- NBA Rookie of the Year: 1982
- NBA All-Rookie (1st team): 1982
- NBA Minutes Played leader: 1985 (3182)
- NBA Offensive Rebounds (total) leader: 1984 (355)
[edit] Trivia
Williams was well known for his trademark goggles that he wore on court.
In 2006 he was named as an inductee into the Rocky Mount Twin County Hall of Fame.[3]
[edit] Notes
- ^ theACC.com, ACC 50th Anniversary Men's Basketball Team
- ^ www.themclub.org, Athletic Hall of Fame
- ^ http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/10/04/hall.html
| Preceded by Isiah Thomas |
NBA Players Association President 1994–1997 |
Succeeded by Patrick Ewing |
