No player has had an experience through his first 124 NBA games comparable to that of Jason Williams. After the lockout, Williams joined the Kings in January 1999 as a little-known but highly talented first-round draft choice with a questionable past. He was expecting to slide in quietly while the attention was centered on veterans Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Corliss Williamson.
Ha! Two weeks into his shortened rookie season the point guard was a nightly feature on virtually every TV highlight show. The NBA quickly seized the opportunity to market his flashy play and knowingly or unknowingly helped place Williams into the untenable position of media darling.
Neither Williams, naturally shy and reticent around people he does not know, nor the Kings were prepared to deal with the media crush. Williams is a private person, more private than can be imagined for a guy who is as open and physically revealing on the floor.
Williams played only 48 games during two seasons of college ball at Marshall (1995-96) and Florida (1997-98), and neither of those universities is in a huge media center.
Williams did not play in the NCAA Tournament and had virtually no experience dealing with the hordes of media that cover an NBA All-Star Game or even a first-round playoff series.
He's a small-town young man with a flamboyant style intertwined with a team approach to basketball.
Williams has not handled the media crush well, but at least he has done it honestly. He's shied away, stepped away, run away. He'll dip out the back door faster than he'll throw a behind-the-back pass.
During interviews, in at least one way, he's exactly what the media want. He says what he thinks -- except about referees -- and doesn't care what others think. Yet his answers generally are short and often replete with body language that suggests he'd rather be receiving a tetanus shot.
Now Williams needs no sympathy, mind you. He is content with who he is and how he plays. He's as stubborn as he is flashy on the court, yet all around him consider him a hard worker and extremely coachable.
This season he clearly has been incapable of living up to the hype that came his way as a rookie, but that would have been unrealistic considering his experience level. He's been criticized for doing many of the same things he did last season, mostly by people who have not watched him nightly. Many of Williams' best passes never have been seen on a highlight, because they are not dazzling. Those are the ones that show his exquisite court vision, one of the characteristics that makes him such a threat.
He throws many basic two-handed chest passes, and one of his best qualities is a willingness and talent for throwing the ball upcourt on the fast break and allowing his teammates to make plays.
Williams has been a starter since Day 1, and while Webber and Divac deserve a great deal of credit, the fact is the Kings have been capable of playing against any team partially because of their point guard's talent, creativity and guts, another of his most underrated qualities.
He's had 18 double-digit assist games this season as opposed to just six in 50 games last season. Williams clearly has listened to his coaches and recognized that he can penetrate against virtually every defender. Now he has to break his penchant for believing that his three-point shot is his best opportunity to score.
Much easier said than done.
He has to recognize that he probably makes 15-foot shots twice as often as he does 23-, 24- or 25-footers. And that he fires those long-distance shots much more accurately when his feet are set rather than off the dribble, even if he doesn't believe so at this time.
He has to realize the best pass he can make is the simplest pass. That there is a time to try and squeeze that no-look pass through three defenders, preferably when the team is ahead by 15 rather than trailing by six.
And the only way to learn is to play, even if he must continue to play on the edge. Any other way would be detrimental. His unpredictability is what makes him dangerous.
This summer he needs to spend half of his time doing defensive footwork drills because there is no way, with his quickness, his men should blow by him as often as they do. There also is no reason for him to consistently go under picks just because it's easier than fighting through and preventing his man from shooting 18-footers.
Williams will be one of the league's top four or five point guards in the next few seasons if he keeps developing, stays away from major injuries and continues to scrutinize his game and work to improve.
