Kenny Williams (basketball)

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Kenneth (Ken, or Kenny) Ray Williams (born June 9, 1969 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina) is a former professional basketball player, most notably with the NBA's Indiana Pacers.

Williams, a 6'9" forward, attended Elizabeth City State University (where he did not play basketball) and Barton County Community College in Barton County, Kansas where he averaged 20.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in 1988-89. He was selected in the second round of the 1990 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers (46th overall pick). He played four seasons for the Pacers, from 1990–1994 and had a career high 6.3 points per game while playing in 68 games in 1993-94. He scored a career high 25 points in a Pacers win against the Miami Heat on February 9, 1994. For his career he averaged 4.8 points and 2.7 rebounds in 260 total games with the Pacers.

He was also a contestant in the 1991 NBA Slam Dunk Contest but failed to qualify into the second round.

Williams was a prep sensation at Elizabeth City (N.C) Northeastern High School. In his senior year, he averaged 31 points per game and was named state player of the year for North Carolina in 1988. Williams was named first-team USA Today (over such players as Shawn Kemp and Stanley Roberts), and was named first team Parade All-American. He participated in the McDonald's All-American and Capital Classic games. He was one of the top four players in the class of 1988, along with Alonzo Mourning, Billy Owens, and Shawn Kemp. Williams was heavily recruited by the University of North Carolina, but was not offered a scholarship because of his failure to meet the minimum academic standards and the fact that he was not able to graduate with his high school class because of academic reasons. He instead enrolled at Barton County Community College in Kansas.

Following his NBA career, Williams went to Europe and played in several leagues and for several teams. In 2001 he became involved in a passport scandal when he attempted to use a Czech passport that had been altered and he also charged in the United States for failing to appear in court on charges of owing over $200,000 in back child support.

[edit] Europe statistics

1995-1996: Lyon (FRA-ProA), 3 games, then moved to Forli (ITA-A1): 15.9 ppg, 8.8 rpg 1996-1997: in Nov.'96 joined back Forli (ITA-A1): 12 games: 12.5 ppg 1997-1998: Hapoel Jerusalem (ISRAEL): 13.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg 1998-1999: Hapoel Jerusalem (ISRAEL): 15.1 ppg, 7 rpg 1999-2000: Hapoel Jerusalem (ISRAEL): 2000: Boston Celtics (NBA) Summer League 2000-2001: Troy Pilsener Izmir (TURKEY): 7 games: 14.6ppg, 8.7rpg, 1.9apg; waived in December, the same month signed by Hapoel Jerusalem (ISR-Leumit A): 18 games: 15.6 ppg, Reb-4( 7.3), 1.6 apg; Euroleague: 2 games: 15.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, after he received Czech passport, in February was suspended by Israeli Federation due to illegal Czech passport 2001: Rocky Mountain Summer League (Denver Nuggets) 2001-2002: In July '01 was signed by Bnei Herzeliya (ISR-PremierL): 4 games: 14.8ppg, 3reb, 7.8apg, but the team gave up on him due to his legal problems he faced in the United States, he rejoined the team in September, was cut in November. 2002: Attended Pompea Winter Free Agents Campin in Italy, and later that month was close to signing with Irakleio Crete (GRE-A1) 2003-2004: In January signed with Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan (ISR-Premier L.): 9 games: 15.6 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.4 bpg 2004-2005: Hapoel Tel-Aviv (ISR-Premier L.): 22 games: 12.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2FGP: 57.2% , 3FGP: 30.8% 2005-2006: Maccabi Givat Shmuel (ISR-Premier L.), released in Oct. 2005 after one game.

Awards/Achievements (Europe): Israeli Cup Finalist - 1999, 2000 Eurobasket.com All-Israeli League 1st Team - 1999 Israeli League Finalist - 1999 Eurobasket.com All-Israeli Premier League 2nd Team - 2001 Israeli Premier League Regular Season Runner-Up - 2005 Israeli Premier League Finalist - 2005

[edit] External links

• NBA stats @ databasebasketball.com
• Kenny Williams pleads innocent to drunken driving charges @ query.nytimes.com, published January 1, 1994
• [1]

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