Jason Williams (basketball)

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Jason Williams

Position	Point guard
Nickname	"White Chocolate", "J-Will", "J-Dub"
League	NBA
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg)
Team	Miami Heat
Nationality	United States
Born	November 18, 1975 (age 31) Charleston, West Virginia
College	Marshall University University of Florida
Draft	7th overall, 1998 Sacramento Kings
Pro career	1999–present
Former teams	Sacramento Kings (1998–2001) Memphis Grizzlies (2001–2005)

Jason Chandler Williams (born November 18, 1975, in Charleston, West Virginia) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the NBA. 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 high school basketball with current NFL star Randy Moss.

Contents 1 College 2 NBA career 3 Playing style 4 Controversy 5 Notes 6 External links

[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. 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 put up averages of 17.1 points per game as well as 6.7 assists per game, and 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 Florida, Williams decided to make himself eligible for the NBA Draft. His choice paid dividends in June, when he was the 7th 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 new comers, Williams, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, and Peja Stojakovic, turned into a playoff contender. Almost overnight Williams' popularity soared as his team kept on winning and the highlights kept on coming. His number 55 jersey was at one time the highest selling of all NBA players.

On July 20, 2000, Williams was suspended for the first 5 games of the 2000-01 season for not complying with his treatment obligations under the league'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. However, the team relocated to Memphis 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 2005-2006 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 in June, 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.

[edit] Playing style

Williams is known to be a capable scorer (career average 11.7 points per game) a good passer and ball handler (career average of 6.5 assists). 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 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 making some of the most seemingly impossible plays in the NBA. He is considered one of the best ball-handlers in the league today, and is also credited with helping bring about streetball moves into the NBA, as well as several highlight reel passes including his signature behind the back and fake behind the back passes.

Williams is often called "White Chocolate" because he talks with an urban accent and the fact that he is often associated with an African American 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. Miami Heat teammate and center Shaquille O'Neal once called him the "Pete Maravich of Hip-Hop".

[edit] Controversy

On February 28, 2001 Williams, while playing for the Sacramento Kings, shouted racist and homophobic 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 harmless heckling made by Ching and his party midway through the first half.^[3]

According to Ching, he told Williams, “Get used to sitting on the bench.” Williams responded, “Are you gay? Are you a fag?” An angered Williams then pelted Ching with expletives, at one point defaming him as a “slant-eyed motherfucker.”

Williams then pretended with his hands to shoot a machine gun toward Ching and the others, yelling, “I will shoot all you Asian motherfuckers,” while imitating machine gun sounds.

Yelling expletives with almost uncontrollable rage, Williams again directed his mock-machine gun at the crowd and cried out, “Do you remember the Vietnam War, I’ll kill y’all just like that. Just like Pearl Harbor, do you remember that?”

The NBA finally 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.^[4]

Williams has since apologized for the incident.^[5]

Also, on November 29, 2000, the NBA fined Williams $10,000 for comments to a fan at the Alamodome in San Antonio.^[6]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• NBA.com Profile - Jason Williams
• Jason Williams at ESPN.com
• Alligator Sports - J-Dubious