Jason David Williams (born
September 10, 1981 in Plainfield, New Jersey
), professionally known as Jay
Williams, is a former American
professional
basketball player. He last signed
with the
Austin Toros of the
NBA Development League, but was
waived on
December 30,
2006 to rehabilitate a nagging injury. Even though his
first name is actually Jason, he asked to be known as "Jay" upon
joining the
National
Basketball Association in 2002. This was necessary to avoid
confusion with then-active NBA players
Jason Williams and
Jayson Williams. Williams claimed that "Jay"
was what he was called by those close to him.
High school
The 6'2"
(188 cm) point guard grew up in
New
Jersey
, and attended St. Joseph High School
in Metuchen
, graduating in 1999. He not only excelled at
basketball, but took an active interest in other activities, most
notably
chess. His nickname in high school was
"Jay Dubs." Williams also played junior varsity soccer during his
freshman year and varsity volleyball during his senior year. In
basketball that year, Williams was named a First Team All-State
Player in New Jersey, the New Jersey Player of the Year, a
Parade All-American, a
USA Today first team
All-American, and a
McDonald's
All-American, where he competed in the Slam Dunk Contest and
the McDonald's All-American Game, scoring 20 points in the contest.
He was also named the recipient of the 1999 Morgan Wooten Award for
his basketball achievements and his work in the classroom, where he
maintained a 3.6 GPA.Jay was coached by Michael Patrick English
during his young years.
College career
At Duke, Williams became one of the few freshmen to average double
figures in scoring, and was named ACC Rookie of the Year and
National Freshman of the Year by The Sporting News, averaging 14.5
points, 6.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds per contest. He was also a
first team Freshman All-American by
Basketball Times.
In the summer of 2000, Williams shined as a member of the U.S.
select team, a group of college players picked to play an
exhibition against USA Basketball's "Dream Team", helping his team
to surprisingly dominate the much more experienced pros for the
first half of the game, before eventually succumbing to defeat in
the second half.
Back at Duke that fall, Williams started all 39 games as a
sophomore and led the Devils to the 2001 NCAA National
Championship, earning NABC Player of the Year honors. His 841
points broke Dick Groat’s 49-year record for points in a season,
while he led all tournament scorers with a 25.7 ppg average.
Williams also set the NCAA Tournament record for three-pointers
attempted (66), while also making 132 three-point field goals --
good for the sixth-highest total in NCAA history. His 21.6 ppg led
the ACC and made him the first Duke player since Danny Ferry (1989)
to lead the league in scoring. His 6.1 assists were good for second
in the league, while he also ranked second in three-point field
goal percentage (.427) and first in three-pointers made (3.4 per
game. Williams, widely considered the best player in college
basketball, proved his supporters correct, earning both the
prestigious
Naismith Award and
Wooden Award as College Basketball's
Player of the Year in 2002. His prolific career was even more
amazing given the fact that he accomplished these feats in only
three years, graduating with a degree in Sociology in 2002. He
would leave Duke with 2,079 points, good for sixth all-time, and
would have his
jersey number 22
retired at Senior
Day.
NBA career
Williams
was selected by the Chicago Bulls with
the second overall pick in the 2002 NBA
Draft, after Chinese
player Yao Ming who was
selected first by the Houston
Rockets.
He played for the
US national
team in the
2002 FIBA
World Championship.
Williams was a starter in the Bulls' line-up for most of the
2002-03 NBA season. Although his
performance was inconsistent and he competed for playing time with
Jamal Crawford, he showed signs of
promise including posting a
triple-double in a win over his hometown
New Jersey Nets.
Motorcycle accident
Williams'
life almost ended on June 19, 2003 when he crashed his motorcycle
into a pole at the intersection of Fletcher and Honore in Chicago
, Illinois
.
Williams was not wearing a helmet, wasn't licensed to drive a
motorcycle in Illinois, and was violating terms of his contract by
driving a new
Yamaha YZF-R6. Williams
severed a main nerve in his leg, fractured his
pelvis and tore three ligaments in his left
knee including the ACL and required
physical therapy to regain the use of his
leg. A week later the Bulls drafted point guard
Kirk Hinrich. Many months later, after it was
clear Williams would not be returning to the Bulls for some time
(if at all), he was waived. The Bulls could have refused to pay
Williams (since he violated his contract by riding a motorcycle),
but instead they offered a buyout worth approximately $3 million.
At the time, it was not clear that he would be able to return to
professional basketball, although he continued to train toward that
goal. In the interim, he appeared in college and high school
basketball broadcasts on
ESPN as a
color commentator.
Return to basketball
In the summer of 2006, Williams impressed scouts with his recovery
efforts. On September 28, 2006, the
New
Jersey Nets announced that the organization had signed Williams
to a non-guaranteed contract, giving the guard the opportunity to
play for his hometown team. However, on
October 22, Williams was released.
On December 30, 2006, Williams was waived by the
Austin Toros of the
NBA Development League due to
injury.
Williams has since announced that he has no plans at the moment to
resume his basketball career. He is currently working for
ESPN as a college basketball analyst. He has also done
motivational speaking and worked as an analyst on
CBS College Sports Network during
the course of the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
