Jason Williams (basketball, born 1975)
| File:Jasonwilliams.jpg | |
| Miami Heat | |
|---|---|
| Position | Point guard |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | November 18, 1975 Charleston, West Virginia |
| Nationality | USA |
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Career information | |
| College | University of Florida |
| NBA draft | 1998: 7th overall |
| Selected by the Sacramento Kings | |
| Playing career | 1998–present |
| Stats at NBA.com | |
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Jason Chandler Williams (born November 18 1975, in Charleston, West Virginia) is a 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, where he graduated from Dupont High School, a now-defunct institution.
College
In 1995, after a superb high school career, Williams attended Marshall University in nearby Huntington, West Virginia. There he played for coach Billy Donovan. After redshirting his first season, he averaged 13.4 ppg and 6.4 apg in his freshman year (1995-96) at Marshall. When 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. 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 suspend Williams from the team for breaking unspecified team rules.
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.
With the Kings, Jason Williams turned the team into a playoff contender, along with Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic. 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.
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 and won 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.
Playing style
Williams is known to be a capable scorer (career average 11.7 points per game) and as an excellent passer and ball handler (career average of 6.6 assists). However, early in his NBA career he tended to be quite flashy, with risky dribblings and daring behind-the-back passes, and became notorious for being turnover prone early in his career: in his 2nd and 4th years, he peaked at over 3.5 per game. His risky game had led Williams to be benched during crucial periods of games, for example in the 2000 playoffs, Williams sat out most of the fourth quarter in all five games against the Los Angeles Lakers.
In his later years with the Memphis Grizzlies and the Miami Heat he had significantly tamed his extravagant playing style (in his last three seasons, he never averaged more than 1.89 turnovers per game) and 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.
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 Caucasian. He also goes by the nicknames "J-Will" and "J-Dub", and has "White Boy" tattooed on his knuckles.
Trivia
- Williams is a baseball fan and he likes to watch the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees.[1]
- At Dupont High School, he led the basketball squad alongside sophomore Randy Moss, who would go on to become a superstar in the National Football League.
- Enjoys playing PlayStation 2 and listening to hip-hop music during his free time.
- Williams has the phrase "WHITE BOY" tatooed across his eight knuckles, amongst other tattoos.
- Was given the nickname "fanny lightning" by former coach Hubie Brown.
- Currently lives next to and is very close with teammate Shaquille O'Neal