Herb Williams

Herb Williams

No. 32
Center / Power forward
Personal information
Date of birth	February 16, 1958 (1958-02-16)
Place of birth	Columbus, Ohio
Nationality	American
High school	Marion-Franklin (Columbus, Ohio)
Listed height	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight	242 lb (110 kg)
Career information
College	Ohio State (1977–1981)
NBA Draft	1981 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall
Selected by the Indiana Pacers
Pro career	1981–1999
Career history
As player:
1981–1989	Indiana Pacers
1989–1992	Dallas Mavericks
1992–1996	New York Knicks
1996	Toronto Raptors
1996–1998	New York Knicks
As coach:
2004, 2005	New York Knicks
Career NBA statistics
Points	11,944 (10.8 ppg)
Rebounds	6,509 (5.9 rpg)
Blocks	1,605 (1.5 bpg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

For the Welsh footballer, see Herbie Williams.

Herbert L. Williams (born February 16, 1958) is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eighteen seasons from 1981 to 1999. Williams served as the interim head coach of the NBA's New York Knicks. He is currently an assistant coach for the New York Knicks.

College career

Williams was a four-year starter for the Ohio State Buckeyes, scoring 2,011 points (then a team record) and pulling down 1,111 rebounds (still second in team history only to Jerry Lucas). Williams is the school leader in career field goals made, with 834 in 114 games. He is second all-time in career blocked shots with 328.

Williams was named to the All-Big Ten team as a junior, when Ohio State finished the year with a 21-8 record and advanced to the NCAA regionals. He led the Buckeyes in scoring that year with an average of 17.6 points per game.

Williams was a team co-captain in both his junior and senior years.

Professional career

Williams was a first round draft choice of the Indiana Pacers in 1981, where he played from 1982 to 1989 and had his most productive years. He was traded to the Dallas Mavericks after the 1988-1989 season. In 1992, he was signed by the New York Knicks, where he spent seven years backing up perennial All-Star Patrick Ewing. Williams played 1 game (31 minutes) for the Toronto Raptors in 1996 before been waived and quickly returned to the Knicks. The team made the 1994 and 1999 NBA Finals, with Williams serving as a team leader.

After the 1999 Finals, Williams retired at the age of forty-one after just 6 regular season games and 8 playoff games in 1999. Four years later, he returned to the Knicks as an assistant coach. He worked under head coaches Don Chaney and Lenny Wilkens. When Wilkens resigned in 2005, Williams took over as head coach.

On July 26, 2005, legendary basketball coach Larry Brown was hired as the next head coach of the Knicks, thus ending Williams' head coaching tenure. Williams was the acting head coach of the Knicks for the final two games of the 2005-2006 season when illness kept Larry Brown away from the bench for the final two games of his Knicks career.

After that season Brown was fired by the Knicks and replaced as head coach by Isiah Thomas. Williams worked as an assistant coach under Thomas, and continues to be in the coaching staff under Mike D'Antoni, going into the 2008-09 season.

See also

• List of National Basketball Association career blocks leaders
• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds

External links

• BasketballReference.com: Herb Williams (as coach)
• BasketballReference.com: Herb Williams (as player)
• NBA.com coach file: Herb Williams
• NBA player biography of Herb Williams

Preceded by Don Chaney	New York Knicks head coach 2004 (interim)	Succeeded by Lenny Wilkens
Preceded by Lenny Wilkens	New York Knicks head coach 2005 (interim)	Succeeded by Larry Brown