Buck Williams

Charles Linwood Williams (born March 8, 1960), better known as "Buck", is an American basketball player. Despite his height (only 6'8"), Williams was one of the best rebounders in the history of the NBA league. His fifteen year NBA career was crowned with three All-Star appearances, Rookie of the Year award, All-Rookie team selection, All-NBA team selection and four selections to the 1st and 2nd All-Defense teams.

Buck Williams was born in Rocky Mount, NC, USA. There he attended the local high school before going off to play college ball at University of Maryland. At Maryland, Williams led the Atlantic Conference in rebounding twice (1979 and 1981), while averaging 15.5 PPG in his sophomore and junior years. National recognition of his performances came when he was selected to the 1980 USA Olympic basketball team, along such players as later two-time NBA champions Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre. The team never made it to the Olympics, held in Moscow, due to the United States decision not to participate, made in protest of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

After three years at Maryland, Williams decided to go to the NBA. New Jersey Nets selected him 3rd overall in the 1981 draft, behind his teammates from the 1980 Olympic team, Aguirre and Thomas. In his first season with the Nets Buck Williams averaged 15.5 PPG and led the team with 12.3 RPG, helping New Jersey record 20 more wins than the previous year and earning the title of the best rookie for season 1981-82. The next eight seasons Williams spent with the Nets established him as a premier player at the power forward position; in six of those seasons he was among the best three rebounders in the league, never averaging under 12.0 RPG. This period (1984) featured the Nets' best post-season since joining the league in 1977: their first 2nd round appearance, where they lost to Milwaukee Bucks. (Not until the 2002 post-season, with Jason Kidd on board, did the Nets go past 1st round of playoffs again).