Jason Williams

Jason Williams (basketball)

Jason Chandler Williams (born November 18, 1975) is a former American professional basketball player. He started his NBA career in 1998, and retired after ten years in September 2008.

Originally committing to Providence College during high school, Williams changed his college choice to Marshall University after PC coach Rick Barnes left for Clemson.

After redshirting his first season, he averaged 13.4 ppg and 6.4 apg in his freshman year (1995-96) at Marshall University.

Following his suspension by the University of Florida, Williams decided to make himself eligible for the NBA Draft. He was the seventh overall selection in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings.

In his rookie year, the Kings, with a roster that included newcomers Williams, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, and Peja Stojakovic, turned into a playoff contender. That year, Williams' number 55 jersey was among the top five sellers of all NBA players.

On July 20 2000, Williams was suspended for the first five games of the 2000–01 NBA season for failure to comply with his treatment obligations under the NBA's anti-drug program. The NBA does not release details of violations of the anti-drug program.

In 2001, the Sacramento Kings traded Williams to the Vancouver Grizzlies for Mike Bibby. (The team relocated to Memphis, Tennessee). With head coach Sidney Lowe, the team improved insignificantly. In 2002, General Manager Jerry West hired Hubie Brown out of retirement to coach the team. The team improved by a franchise record 28 wins in Brown's first season.

On August 2, 2005, Williams 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 in the 2005–06 campaign. A knee injury caused him to miss some games. In the Game 6 of the Eastern Finals against the Detroit Pistons, Williams scored 21 points on 10 of 11 shooting in the series clinching game. Williams won his first NBA championship on June 20, 2006 when the Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. During the finals, Williams averaged 12 points and 5 assists.

In the 2006–07 season, Jason was limited to 61 games, of those 55 he started. He averaged 10.9 points and 5.3 assists, which didn't meet his career averages of 11.7 and 6.5. His play dropped dramatically in the postseason, averaging 5.8 ppg and 3.5 assists per game. His struggles contributed to the Heat being swept by the Bulls in 4 games in the very first round of the playoffs.

Williams was named to the Top 25 HEAT Players of All-Time in 2007.

In the 2007-08 season , Williams played 67 games while averaging 8.8 points and 4.6 assists per game. He shot 38% from the field, 87% from the line, 35% from beyond the arc, and averaged 1.3 steals per game. His best month was March where he averaged 13.7 points and 5.1 assists while shooting 43% from beyond the arc and 42% from the field. Also in March, he had 34 points vs Orlando, connecting on 5 threes. He had 2 double doubles - one against Phoenix and one against the Bucks. Both were 21 point, 10 assist performances.

In the summer of 2008, Williams reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers on what was believed to be one-year deal. However, on September 26, 2008 Williams announced his retirement from the NBA after 10 years.

Williams retired with career averages of 11.7 points and 6.5 assists per game. He became a regular on Sportscenter for his trick plays, crossovers, and fancy passes. He became notorious for being turnover-prone: in his second and fourth years, he peaked at over 3.5 per game. His playing style led Williams to be benched during crucial periods of some games. For example, in the 2000 NBA Playoffs, Williams sat out most of the fourth quarter in all five games against the Lakers.

In his later years with Memphis and Miami, he has significantly tamed his extravagant playing style (in the last three seasons, he has never averaged more than 1.89 turnovers per game) and has consistently achieved one of the highest assists per turnover ratios in the NBA.

In the Rookie Challenge of the NBA All-Star Weekend in 2000, Williams made a seemingly impossible behind-his-back pass off the elbow on a full sprint to Raef LaFrentz. "I did it so you all wouldn't ask me to ever do it again," Williams said.

Williams' nickname was "White Chocolate." The nickname was started in Williams' rookie year by Stephanie Shepard, a media relations assistant with the Sacramento Kings. "I came up with that name because of his style," Shepard, who is black, said. "He has flash and pizazz. The way he does things with the ball is incredible to me. It reminds me of, like, schoolyard street ball when I go to Chicago." This nickname was also attributed to the fact that Williams spoke in the media like an urban African American, even though he is white.

He also went by the nicknames "J-Will" and "J-Dub", and has "White Boy" tattooed on his knuckles.

Despite his NBA success, Jason Williams prefers to stay out of the spotlight and lives a low-key lifestyle, spending time with his family. Williams married Denika Kisty and they have two children, Jaxon and Mia. He also enjoys playing Sony PlayStation 3 and listening to hip-hop music in his free time.

Williams also has a number of tattoos, which include a panther on his right arm, a dragon on his left arm (which was redone in the 2007-2008 season), an eye on his chest on which he said, "It's why I pass so good, I have a 3rd eye". Just before the 1999-2000 season, he had a Japanese script which meant "insane" on his arm. When he was in Japan for the first two games of the 2000 season it was covered with a wristband because it apparently had another meaning which was deemed inappropriate. In the 2000-2001 season, he had a wolf holding a basketball, on his arm and "WHITE BOY" tattooed across his knuckles. He also has his children's names on his forearms.

Williams played on the same high school basketball team with Randy Moss.

In the Lakers' film room before the 2000 playoffs, Phil Jackson displayed images of Edward Norton's character from the movie American History X, who has a bald head and a tattoo of a swastika, alternating with photos with Williams. Jackson then displayed pictures of Adolf Hitler alternately appearing with Sacramento coach Rick Adelman. When Adelman learned of this, he openly questioned Jackson's motivational techniques saying Jackson had "crossed the line".

On February 28 2001, Williams, while playing for the Sacramento Kings, shouted racist and homophobic slurs to Michael Ching, a Golden State Warriors season ticket holder, and to several other Asian Americans seated beside Ching during a Warriors game at the Oakland Arena. As recounted by a letter Ching sent to NBA commissioner David Stern, Williams retaliated against heckling made by Ching and his party midway through the first half.

The NBA eventually levied a $15,000 fine on Jason Williams for cursing at fans. Nike decided to change a planned advertising campaign featuring Williams as a result of his actions as well. Williams has since apologized for the incident. Williams, however, later commented sarcastically that it was okay that others could get personal with him but sincerely hoped to learn from the incident, and it is not completely known as to what provoked Williams.

On November 29, 2000, the NBA again fined Williams. This time, he was fined $10,000 for comments to a fan at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

On being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, Williams stated, "We suck. Face the facts, we're not a good team at all. We're the worst team in the league to me", to the media. He was fined by the organization for "comments deterimental to the team" on January 8, 2002.

Calkins alleged that Williams didn't care about winning basketball games and was critical of the Grizzlies' lackadaisical play. Williams was fined $10,000 for the incident on May 4, 2005. Williams maintained that the allegations were out of context especially after Williams had delivered spectacular performances during the series, despite the Grizzlies' loss.

In 2003, Jason Williams, when he was playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, along with Dr. Bob Wallace of the UT Medical Group founded the We Will Foundation, a charitable foundation to benefit children facing treatment for craniofacial deformities.

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Jason Williams (basketball born 1983)

Jason Williams (born in 1983 in the United States) is an American professional basketball player. He is a 1.98 m (6'6") forward.

He played college basketball at the University of Texas at El Paso. Jason Williams helped the Miners to back-to-back-to-back postseason appearances and 72 wins during his three year career at UTEP. Finished his career with 1225 points, 614 rebounds adn 300 assists. Was named to the 2nd Team All-Conference USA Team, 2005 All-WAC Defense Team, 2004 WAC All-Tournament Team.

He joined the Israeli League club Bnei HaSharon in 2006. In 2008, he joined the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 2009, he joined Ironi Nahariya.

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Jason Williams (rugby league b. 1981)

Jason Williams (born 21 January 1981 in Auckland, New Zealand is a New Zealand rugby league player. His position of choice is at Prop Forward.

After playing for the Marist Richmond Brothers in the Bartercard Cup, Williams signed with the Cronulla Sharks. However after an altercation with a fellow team mate on the Sharks tour bus he was arrested and sacked from the club.

He later played for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League competition.

Williams then joined the Wynnum Manly Seagulls in the Queensland Cup for the 2007 for the 2008 seasons. The Seagulls are a feeder club to the Brisbane Broncos.

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Jason Williams (rugby league b. 1966)

Jason Williams born 23 April 1966 in New Zealand is a former rugby league player. His position of choice was on the wing. He was a New Zealand international and played at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup.

He was a Christchurch junior who moved to Australia at age 15. He was signed by Western Suburbs at age 21 but after a poor season and a modest start the next year with Easts he spent the 1989 and 1990 seasons playing in the Metropolitan Cup. He made the most of another chance when South Sydney in 1991 offered him a contract and from there he was able to climb to the heights of New Zealand test selection and a continued and successful first grade club career through to 1998.

During is career he played for Western Suburbs, Easts, South Sydney, Canterbury Bulldogs and the Penrith in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership and ARL.

Williams scored an intercept try in the Bulldogs' 1994 Grand Final loss to Canberra and the following year was a member of the side which won the 1995 ARL Grand Final.

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