Jay Williams - NBADraft.net

This topic contains 30 replies, has 13 voices, and was last updated by bdiddy5115 10 years, 3 months ago.

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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 7:19pm #62904

AdamJCalleja
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Can you guys help a young guy out and fill me in on what this guy could’ve been. Too young to have seen him play so all I’m aware of is that he was the 2nd pick overall as a 6’2 point guard so I’m curious on what this guys expectations were? Who was he compared to? Is there anyone today or in the past that reminded you guys of him?
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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 8:18pm #1045064

CasualCelt
I was living in Chicago when he got drafted. Eddie Curry, Tyson Chandler, young Ron Artest, Jalen Rose, Jay Williams.
I’d compare him to Damian Lillard. A better shooter than Westbrook and Rose, but the same type of scoring point guard.
But I’d guess that Lillard’s intangibles may be better, with the way he has the Blazers winning.
You have to question the psychological profile of a guy like Williams who raced motorcycles like a maniac in the middle of Chicago.
Williams may have had a selfish reputation. I know he loved getting his points. But those were ugly days for the Bulls. They sucked bad.

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- Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 1:35am #1045108
  
  wonzi_bells
  Participant
  Ron Artest wasn’t on that team, he was traded the season before with Brad Miller for Jalen Rose.
  This was during the height of the terrible Baby Bulls era, where absolutely nobody fit on that terrible roster. He had to deal with competing for minutes with another young lottery pick in Jamal Crawford, with a point-forward in Rose leading the team in usage, so he had the ball in his hands a lot as well. Plus, Bill Cartwright was the coach and he was trying to install the Triangle Offense, which didn’t fit with a penetrating ball-screen guard like Williams and is also pretty ridged for a rookie to run. In Duke, he pretty much had free rein to do whatever he wanted on offense and his style would have really work in spread pick-and-roll style offense, especially with hand-checking transitioning to being phased out of the league by 2002 and the ban on the illegal defense being lifted in 2001.
  Nevertheless, for a guy who was touted as highly as he was, he really should’ve been more productive in that rookie season. He wasn’t a one-and-done guy, he was very much ready made with how elite he was in his three seasons at Duke. Chad Ford ranked him as the 8th best NBA Draft prospect going into the draft since 2000, only behind LeBron James, Greg Oden, Yao Ming, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Darko Milicic and Carmelo Anthony and infront of guys like Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, John Wall, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid.
  His game coming out of Duke really stacked up though. He was a prolific ball-handler that could change speeds and direction, could score at all three levels and get to the line, had the outright speed to blow pass guys and he had a little pop with explosiveness. Not a Russell Westbrook type athlete but more along the lines of a Damian Lillard. He had an awesome frame for a PG at 6’2 and 197 lbs and look built to finish strong at the hoop. He also lit it up from deep. Overall, 39.3% 3PT shooter in college with 7.4 3PA per game. At the time people called him a team oriented Stephon Marbury.
  But, their were flaws within his game. He wasn’t a true point guard and to me, much of his admiration for being a floor-general was overblown since he was the typical well-polished Duke player. In reality, Marbury’s skills were a much more of team oriented, despite his characteristic flaws that held him back. William’s turned the ball over a lot throughout his Duke tenure with 4.7 TPG per 40 mins, which is ridiculous. Also, I buy the Kevin Pelton theory that your college free-throw percentage is more indictive of a player being a good three-point shooter in the NBA than your college three-point percentage. And Wiliams’ had a FT% of 67.1 and never cracked above 70% in any of his seasons, which he also repeated in the NBA at 64% FT%. However, in the NBA, he did have a 32% 3P%, which is bad but it still gives some hope. He was more likely a streaky shooter though. He also had a short wingspan at 6’3½, which doesn’t help when trying to finish over even more athletic, bigger, longer and smarter defenders than in college, as well as on defending on the other end. Also, he really did get outplayed for minutes by Crawford, who wasn’t an idealistic fit in triangle as well, though he did have two more years of NBA experience over him despite coming out of the same high school class of 1999. It’s sort of like a D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson situation on whether that backcourt can really mesh with each other. Plus, he was might of fell on the side of arrogant between confident and cocky/arrogant, which he’s acknowledge many times. Even bumped heads with the veteran Jalen Rose that season.
  Overall, I can’t really say for sure whether the factors surrounding him caused him to not play all that well or whether he himself was sort of overrated to begin with and the sample size was so small in NBA, so we’ll never know.
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- Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 1:35am #1045243
  
  wonzi_bells
  Participant
  Ron Artest wasn’t on that team, he was traded the season before with Brad Miller for Jalen Rose.
  This was during the height of the terrible Baby Bulls era, where absolutely nobody fit on that terrible roster. He had to deal with competing for minutes with another young lottery pick in Jamal Crawford, with a point-forward in Rose leading the team in usage, so he had the ball in his hands a lot as well. Plus, Bill Cartwright was the coach and he was trying to install the Triangle Offense, which didn’t fit with a penetrating ball-screen guard like Williams and is also pretty ridged for a rookie to run. In Duke, he pretty much had free rein to do whatever he wanted on offense and his style would have really work in spread pick-and-roll style offense, especially with hand-checking transitioning to being phased out of the league by 2002 and the ban on the illegal defense being lifted in 2001.
  Nevertheless, for a guy who was touted as highly as he was, he really should’ve been more productive in that rookie season. He wasn’t a one-and-done guy, he was very much ready made with how elite he was in his three seasons at Duke. Chad Ford ranked him as the 8th best NBA Draft prospect going into the draft since 2000, only behind LeBron James, Greg Oden, Yao Ming, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Darko Milicic and Carmelo Anthony and infront of guys like Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, John Wall, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid.
  His game coming out of Duke really stacked up though. He was a prolific ball-handler that could change speeds and direction, could score at all three levels and get to the line, had the outright speed to blow pass guys and he had a little pop with explosiveness. Not a Russell Westbrook type athlete but more along the lines of a Damian Lillard. He had an awesome frame for a PG at 6’2 and 197 lbs and look built to finish strong at the hoop. He also lit it up from deep. Overall, 39.3% 3PT shooter in college with 7.4 3PA per game. At the time people called him a team oriented Stephon Marbury.
  But, their were flaws within his game. He wasn’t a true point guard and to me, much of his admiration for being a floor-general was overblown since he was the typical well-polished Duke player. In reality, Marbury’s skills were a much more of team oriented, despite his characteristic flaws that held him back. William’s turned the ball over a lot throughout his Duke tenure with 4.7 TPG per 40 mins, which is ridiculous. Also, I buy the Kevin Pelton theory that your college free-throw percentage is more indictive of a player being a good three-point shooter in the NBA than your college three-point percentage. And Wiliams’ had a FT% of 67.1 and never cracked above 70% in any of his seasons, which he also repeated in the NBA at 64% FT%. However, in the NBA, he did have a 32% 3P%, which is bad but it still gives some hope. He was more likely a streaky shooter though. He also had a short wingspan at 6’3½, which doesn’t help when trying to finish over even more athletic, bigger, longer and smarter defenders than in college, as well as on defending on the other end. Also, he really did get outplayed for minutes by Crawford, who wasn’t an idealistic fit in triangle as well, though he did have two more years of NBA experience over him despite coming out of the same high school class of 1999. It’s sort of like a D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson situation on whether that backcourt can really mesh with each other. Plus, he was might of fell on the side of arrogant between confident and cocky/arrogant, which he’s acknowledge many times. Even bumped heads with the veteran Jalen Rose that season.
  Overall, I can’t really say for sure whether the factors surrounding him caused him to not play all that well or whether he himself was sort of overrated to begin with and the sample size was so small in NBA, so we’ll never know.
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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 8:18pm #1045199

CasualCelt
I was living in Chicago when he got drafted. Eddie Curry, Tyson Chandler, young Ron Artest, Jalen Rose, Jay Williams.
I’d compare him to Damian Lillard. A better shooter than Westbrook and Rose, but the same type of scoring point guard.
But I’d guess that Lillard’s intangibles may be better, with the way he has the Blazers winning.
You have to question the psychological profile of a guy like Williams who raced motorcycles like a maniac in the middle of Chicago.
Williams may have had a selfish reputation. I know he loved getting his points. But those were ugly days for the Bulls. They sucked bad.

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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 8:26pm #1045070

SeattleSuperChronics
Participant
A taller better Kemba walker
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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 8:26pm #1045205

SeattleSuperChronics
Participant
A taller better Kemba walker
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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 8:36pm #1045071

llperez
I was a huge believer in jay Williams and I do believe he would have been a 22ppg 7apg multiple time all star caliber player.
He was a very physical pg who did a great a job playing through contact. Had an effortless stop on a dime pull up from nba three range. He was the most impressive player in college his sophomore year and most pegged him to be the #1 pick in that 2001 draft had he come out but he returned for his junior year so he could graduate. He digressed a little bit his junior year because Chris Duhon came in to duke and was highly regarded pg so he took over primary ball handling a duties while jay Williams became more of an off guard scorer where he probably settled for a few too many threes. Still he looked like a sure thing to me. He ended up getting passed by Yao Ming for the #1 pick and he went second. I felt the rockets were making a mistake but they already had Steve Francis at point. Jay ended up struggling a little as a rookie but he finished strong and I think he would have been one of the elite pg’s in the league.
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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 8:36pm #1045207

llperez
I was a huge believer in jay Williams and I do believe he would have been a 22ppg 7apg multiple time all star caliber player.
He was a very physical pg who did a great a job playing through contact. Had an effortless stop on a dime pull up from nba three range. He was the most impressive player in college his sophomore year and most pegged him to be the #1 pick in that 2001 draft had he come out but he returned for his junior year so he could graduate. He digressed a little bit his junior year because Chris Duhon came in to duke and was highly regarded pg so he took over primary ball handling a duties while jay Williams became more of an off guard scorer where he probably settled for a few too many threes. Still he looked like a sure thing to me. He ended up getting passed by Yao Ming for the #1 pick and he went second. I felt the rockets were making a mistake but they already had Steve Francis at point. Jay ended up struggling a little as a rookie but he finished strong and I think he would have been one of the elite pg’s in the league.
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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 9:26pm #1045082

oogells
Participant
Is casual celt t-rex? I’m only guessing cause of all the negs and the Celtic theme. If so well played, a coherent post that was very informative, and not racist in any way. Bravo!
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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 9:26pm #1045217

oogells
Participant
Is casual celt t-rex? I’m only guessing cause of all the negs and the Celtic theme. If so well played, a coherent post that was very informative, and not racist in any way. Bravo!
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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 10:53pm #1045102

ExumInferno
Participant
A much worse Kyrie Irving. A slightly better Chris Duhon. He was on his way to being a bust.
Why he is on ESPN, ahead of many better experts, nobody knows.
It was a draft with nearly 0 point guards, so he was overrated. Carlos Boozer is top 10 for assists per game from that draft.
Williams couldn’t shoot, but he shot too much, and half of everyone wanted him over Yao. Fans, experts, Barkley, they all wanted Jason Williams, and then he changed his name.

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- Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 12:47am #1045106
  
  llperez
  couldnt shoot? He took 7 1/2 threes per game over the course of 3 years at duke and hit over 39% of them. ANd he wasnt just taking open looks toeing the line, he was pulling up from nba range. He was also around 46% from the field total in college, so shooting defenitely wasnt an issue unless you want to simply base everything about him on his one rookie season in which case the guy in your avatar would suck too since scottie only put up 8 points and shot 17% from three and 57% from the ft line his rookie year. Good thing we got to see how whole career played out though.
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- Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 12:47am #1045241
  
  llperez
  couldnt shoot? He took 7 1/2 threes per game over the course of 3 years at duke and hit over 39% of them. ANd he wasnt just taking open looks toeing the line, he was pulling up from nba range. He was also around 46% from the field total in college, so shooting defenitely wasnt an issue unless you want to simply base everything about him on his one rookie season in which case the guy in your avatar would suck too since scottie only put up 8 points and shot 17% from three and 57% from the ft line his rookie year. Good thing we got to see how whole career played out though.
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- Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 6:52am #1045271
  
  esperanzafleet69
  Participant
  exuminferno, this is truly one of the dumbest comments ive come across on my years visiting this site..
  
  i remember watching him in college with battier, boozer, and dunleavy and he was just a beast. he’s not even comparable at all to duhon or irving because he was a completely different type of player. the player i’d most compare him to is a derrick rose if rose never got hurt, but even thats not quite right as williams was still a better playmaker and shooter.
  
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- Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 6:52am #1045136
  
  esperanzafleet69
  Participant
  exuminferno, this is truly one of the dumbest comments ive come across on my years visiting this site..
  
  i remember watching him in college with battier, boozer, and dunleavy and he was just a beast. he’s not even comparable at all to duhon or irving because he was a completely different type of player. the player i’d most compare him to is a derrick rose if rose never got hurt, but even thats not quite right as williams was still a better playmaker and shooter.
  
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Posted on: Fri, 02/26/2016 - 10:53pm #1045237

ExumInferno
Participant
A much worse Kyrie Irving. A slightly better Chris Duhon. He was on his way to being a bust.
Why he is on ESPN, ahead of many better experts, nobody knows.
It was a draft with nearly 0 point guards, so he was overrated. Carlos Boozer is top 10 for assists per game from that draft.
Williams couldn’t shoot, but he shot too much, and half of everyone wanted him over Yao. Fans, experts, Barkley, they all wanted Jason Williams, and then he changed his name.

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Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 3:56am #1045257

NJHooper95
Participant
The best college guard in quite some time. He dominated, strong, great handle, quick, decent athlete, good shooter, clutch, but terrible free- throw shooter. Gary Payton after a scrimmage against Jay Williams said he hoped he will be retired when Williams get to the NBA because that kid is a monster. He would have been great, the triangle offense set him back his rookie year as well as splitting time with Jamal Crawford at point.
I played against Jay Williams in AAU and we played in the same conference in High School, and I knew he was going to the NBA from the first time I saw him up close. He had serious game and confidence to match, but poor decisions robbed him of the chance to show it on the pro level.
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Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 3:56am #1045122

NJHooper95
Participant
The best college guard in quite some time. He dominated, strong, great handle, quick, decent athlete, good shooter, clutch, but terrible free- throw shooter. Gary Payton after a scrimmage against Jay Williams said he hoped he will be retired when Williams get to the NBA because that kid is a monster. He would have been great, the triangle offense set him back his rookie year as well as splitting time with Jamal Crawford at point.
I played against Jay Williams in AAU and we played in the same conference in High School, and I knew he was going to the NBA from the first time I saw him up close. He had serious game and confidence to match, but poor decisions robbed him of the chance to show it on the pro level.
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Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 8:14am #1045287

TarHeelRaven
Participant
Jay was a stud at Duke. He could’ve been a very good player. He was strong, quick, fearless and a great competitor. Would never wish a career ending injury on the guy, even though he was a dookie, but he could’ve been a starting point guard in the league for a long time. Now he’s an anaylst for college basketball and I really like him. Has a great understanding of the game.
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Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 8:14am #1045152

TarHeelRaven
Participant
Jay was a stud at Duke. He could’ve been a very good player. He was strong, quick, fearless and a great competitor. Would never wish a career ending injury on the guy, even though he was a dookie, but he could’ve been a starting point guard in the league for a long time. Now he’s an anaylst for college basketball and I really like him. Has a great understanding of the game.
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Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 8:38am #1045289

SmooveKRYPT
Participant
Taller Kyle Lowry is the best "comparison" I can make. Physical, good pull up jumper, played really well in the screen & roll game. He was a killer in college! By year 3 in the league I don’t doubt he would’ve broke out big time.
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Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 8:38am #1045154

SmooveKRYPT
Participant
Taller Kyle Lowry is the best "comparison" I can make. Physical, good pull up jumper, played really well in the screen & roll game. He was a killer in college! By year 3 in the league I don’t doubt he would’ve broke out big time.
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Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 8:57am #1045291

Hitster
Participant
Jay had been one of the top college players on a powerhouse Duke team under Coach K so he was seen as a pretty safe sure thing pick. He was inconsistent during his first and only year in the NBA but as said above the post MJ Bulls were full of talented players who never really blended as a team. Jay was still only 21 when he was injured so we will sadly never kinow whether he would have fulfilled his potential in the NBA.
But I reckon he’d have been a very good NBA player at least if the Bulls had given him full run of the ball, he could have had his own lob city wityh Tyson Chandler and been a good creator for the later drafted likes of Deng, Gordon etc.

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Posted on: Sat, 02/27/2016 - 8:57am #1045156

Hitster
Participant
Jay had been one of the top college players on a powerhouse Duke team under Coach K so he was seen as a pretty safe sure thing pick. He was inconsistent during his first and only year in the NBA but as said above the post MJ Bulls were full of talented players who never really blended as a team. Jay was still only 21 when he was injured so we will sadly never kinow whether he would have fulfilled his potential in the NBA.
But I reckon he’d have been a very good NBA player at least if the Bulls had given him full run of the ball, he could have had his own lob city wityh Tyson Chandler and been a good creator for the later drafted likes of Deng, Gordon etc.

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Posted on: Sun, 02/28/2016 - 8:11am #1045299

ncballer
Jay Williams was a monster and would have at the very least been a fringe all star had it not been for his accident. Dude could score at all 3 levels, had a fiery competitiveness, sturdy frame and changed speeds on a dime. The guy was clutch. Single handily beat Maryland in one of the best comebacks of all time at college park his junior season. He had the makings of a very special player.
Sidenote: probably one of if not the biggest miss in UNC history for recruiting. Guthridge thought he had his own superstar in the making in Ronald Curry at PG. Williams and Joe Forte were tight coming out of HS. He wanted to go to UNC, Gut didn’t offer him.
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Posted on: Sun, 02/28/2016 - 8:11am #1045433

ncballer
Jay Williams was a monster and would have at the very least been a fringe all star had it not been for his accident. Dude could score at all 3 levels, had a fiery competitiveness, sturdy frame and changed speeds on a dime. The guy was clutch. Single handily beat Maryland in one of the best comebacks of all time at college park his junior season. He had the makings of a very special player.
Sidenote: probably one of if not the biggest miss in UNC history for recruiting. Guthridge thought he had his own superstar in the making in Ronald Curry at PG. Williams and Joe Forte were tight coming out of HS. He wanted to go to UNC, Gut didn’t offer him.
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Posted on: Sun, 02/28/2016 - 8:12am #1045301

JoeWolf1
I think he would have had a similar peak to Jameer Nelson. Williams was a tremedous college player, who tallied a triple double in one of his first games as a Bull.
A peak Nelson was powerful, and very quick side to side, and in his peak he was averaging between 14-17 points per game and 5-8 assists, as well as being a +40% three point shooter.
I feel had Jay stayed in the league, he had the potential as a shooter to grow in that area, and become a very solid all around point guard, with a similar floor game to Nelson. He was still a little undersized, and physical defenders ( I remember Kirk Hinrich for one ) could get to him in college. I don’t really think he would have truly hit an elite level as an NBA point guard, but I think he could have been a top 10 pg in the league for sure.
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Posted on: Sun, 02/28/2016 - 8:12am #1045435

JoeWolf1
I think he would have had a similar peak to Jameer Nelson. Williams was a tremedous college player, who tallied a triple double in one of his first games as a Bull.
A peak Nelson was powerful, and very quick side to side, and in his peak he was averaging between 14-17 points per game and 5-8 assists, as well as being a +40% three point shooter.
I feel had Jay stayed in the league, he had the potential as a shooter to grow in that area, and become a very solid all around point guard, with a similar floor game to Nelson. He was still a little undersized, and physical defenders ( I remember Kirk Hinrich for one ) could get to him in college. I don’t really think he would have truly hit an elite level as an NBA point guard, but I think he could have been a top 10 pg in the league for sure.
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Posted on: Mon, 02/29/2016 - 8:44am #1045614

bdiddy5115
Participant
The triangle offense really hurt him in his rookie year. I think he would’ve been fine in any standard, free-flowing, P&R heavy offense. Like some said in this thread, I have him pegged as an All-Star in his prime, capable of putting up 20-24 and 6-8, depending on the team situation.
Same thing happened for Jonny Flynn, strangely enough. He had a decent rookie year considering he was a P&R guard being forced to play in the triangle, but he broke his hip which effectively ended his career also. I think people are too quick to hate on Flynn, because he was drafted in front of Curry and they seem to forget the injury that pretty much killed his career (because he still tried to play a year or two after).

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Posted on: Mon, 02/29/2016 - 8:44am #1045477

bdiddy5115
Participant
The triangle offense really hurt him in his rookie year. I think he would’ve been fine in any standard, free-flowing, P&R heavy offense. Like some said in this thread, I have him pegged as an All-Star in his prime, capable of putting up 20-24 and 6-8, depending on the team situation.
Same thing happened for Jonny Flynn, strangely enough. He had a decent rookie year considering he was a P&R guard being forced to play in the triangle, but he broke his hip which effectively ended his career also. I think people are too quick to hate on Flynn, because he was drafted in front of Curry and they seem to forget the injury that pretty much killed his career (because he still tried to play a year or two after).

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