David
Years ago
Played for the Sydney Kings when they won their first championship under Brian Goorgian. Anyone know what happened to him? In terms of finishing around the hoop he's the best players I have ever seen in this league with his soft hands. Shame he never played in the NBA, he is definitely better then some of the players that are playing over there.
Tickle
Years ago
Yeah this guy was a beast. Dominated the NBL in his first? year out of college. I check out where he's playing every now and then; he certainly has played all over the place.
Tyrell
Years ago
Dominant player! An absolute beast! One of the best imports in last 15 years! Franchise import that a team can be built around imo!
paul
Years ago
After he played in Sydney he led Frankfurt to the German title and into the Euroleague, and then was third in Euroleague MVP. Since then, except for a brief stint in Turkey he has been bouncing between rich Asian leagues (Korea, China, Iran and Philippines briefly) feathering his retirement.
Great player.
Happy Days
Years ago
Absolute gun!!! Will finish his basketball career very comfortable.
Mutley
Years ago
It is a difficult judgement to make as he was only here for one season, but in my opinion he is the best import to ever play in Australia.
TR
Years ago
Best ever import to play in Australia.... That's a huge call...
Leroy Loggins is by far the best import to ever play in Australia. Plenty of imports had awesome debut seasons in the NBL only to drop off the year after. Hard to say where Williams would place but not even close to Loggins or several other great imports to play here. You have to play multiple seasons to even have a chance.
paul
Years ago
It's so hard to compare eras, comparing players who came to the league when it was semi pro to guys who walk into a professional competition is pointless. They faced very different challenges and it is impossible to say how they would have gone in each other's situation.
Really, you just have to appreciate the great players and put them in that 'great' basket, which both Williams and Loggins clearly belong.
I agree re the one year imports too, who knows how they would have gone the next, but when Williams kicks on to be third in the Euroleague MVP you suspect he would have been fine!!
Chris William's stats in his NBL season:
2003 NBL MVP
PPG
23.6
RPG
12.1
APG
4.3
FG%
53.4
I know the playing time minutes have been reduced since, but can't remember anyone that has matched his statistics since he left.
Carlos Powell came close but Chris Williams was probably still better.
paul
Years ago
Chris was a mile better than Carlos because he produced numbers and helped his team win, Powell was more interested in his next contract.
Jackson's stats this year - 17p at 48%, 36% 3p, 8a, 5r, 3s - stack up pretty well when you consider he is playing 10 less minutes than Williams in a more defensive-minded league.
JA
Years ago
Yea loved watching Chris Williams play, he was awesome, pity he only played the one year of NBL.
Agree you cant really compare him to guys in different eras, but he is amazing and among the most talented to come to the NBL and was definatly a worthy winner of his MVP.
Agreed Cedric Jackson is at that same level, hopefully he sticks around the NBL aswell, awesome player and clearly this years MVP imo.
Williams' one season stats were a standard season for Mark Bradtke. He was a very good player but Leroy over him comfortably for mine.
David
Years ago
I think Williams wanted to stay in the NBL but Darnell Mee advised him to make his money in Europe first. The NBL will still likely be there for him when he is finished with Europe.
That means there could still be chance one day that he might comes back. I know that there reports that the Wildcats were in with a chance of signing him not long after his stint in Sydney but nothing came of it.
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An Australian basketball forum covering NBL, WNBL, ABL, Juniors plus NBA, WNBA, NZ, Europe, etc | Forum time is: 2:53 am, Fri 26 Apr 2024 | Posts: 968,026 | Last 7 days: 754
