Jay (Jason) Williams
By Derek James (@DerekJamesNBA)
Growing up as a Duke fan, the 2001 National Championship team will always be an important one from me. After all, they won the national championship in Minneapolis– my hometown. On a team loaded with talent– including Shane Battier, Corey Magette, Elton Brand and Carlos Boozer –Jay Williams was the star. As their point guard, he could do it all. In three years in Durham, Williams averaged 19.3 points, six assists and 3.7 rebounds per game while exhibiting an ability to hit from anywhere on the floor.
From there, we know what happened: Williams gets drafted by the Chicago Bulls second overall in the 2002 NBA draft, struggles for consistency fighting for minutes with Jamal Crawford and then shattered his pelvis the following offseason in a motorcycle accident, effectively derailing a once-promising career.
Seeing Williams’ body of work from his days as a Blue Devil and re-watching highlight videos, it’s hard not to wonder what could have been. He could score in a variety of ways from bolting towards the basket or pulling up for three. Not only was he a strong rebounder for his position, but his 29.2 percent assist percentage in his lone season of ball was impressive considering how much he struggled in other areas as a rookie, and that he played only 26.2 minutes per game that year.
Williams may have been asked to do too much on a young and bad Bulls team. Looking at the roster you had not only Crawford who was young, but Tyson Chandler, Marcus Fizer, and Eddy Curry with two-years-or-less of NBA experience next to Jalen Rose and Donyell Marshall as veteran help. Sure, Williams struggled, but he was surrounded by a handful of other players that were also trying to adapt to the NBA game; a few veteran role players; and a 30-year-old Jalen Rose, who was still good, but not as he once was.
It seems hard to believe that Williams won’t turn 33 years old until September 10th of this year since it feels like he’s still been around all this time due to his TV presence. After his accident he was never the same and any hope of resuming his career was put to an end after his ill-fated comeback in 2006 with the New Jersey Nets didn’t exactly pan out. But Williams wasn’t some one year wonder or tournament dandy. Without the accident it would have been curious to see how Williams’ career would have turned out if it weren’t for that fateful night on June 19th, 2003.