Scott Williams was a McDonalds All-American coming out of high school and decided to take his talents across the country as he moved away from California to attend the University of North Carolina. He had a good, although not great collegiate career, as he averaged double-digit points during his final three years while being a good rebounder. It was pretty amazing for Williams to do as well as he did in college as during his sophomore year, his parents died when his father committed a murder-suicide at their home in California.
Williams went undrafted in 1990, but the Bulls signed as a free agent shortly after the draft. This is where Williams' luck started to change. As a North Carolina graduate, Michael Jordan immediately took a liking to him. It also helped that the Bulls only draft pick that year, Toni Kukoc, chose not to sign with the team despite repeated attempts by Bulls management.
Even though Williams never set the world on fire, his contributions increased every year he was with the Bulls. During his rookie season, he was the last guy off the bench throughout the regular season. But when the playoffs hit, the Bulls liked his energy so much that he ended up taking Stacey King's minutes in the NBA Finals and getting significant playing time in all of the wins over the Lakers. In fact, the Bulls went 12-0 when Williams saw playing time during the 1991 playoffs.
In 1991-92, Williams continued his trend of making a bigger impact when it counts the most. Throughout the season, he had two games where he scored double-digit points, but in the playoffs, he managed three such games. He was the second-to-last person off the bench during the regular season, but he was the first big man off the bench for the playoffs as the Bulls relied on his energy and versatility to play both the power forward and center positions.
For the Bulls final title of their first threepeat, Williams had solidified himself as an essential part of the team. He was the first guy off the bench in both the regular season and in the playoffs. Although Williams didn't light up the box score, he provided good defense and rebounding and was a key in solidifying the bench unit of that final championship season.
Before we get to his post-Bulls career, how about you take a seat, listen to some funky beats and watch Scott Williams highlights for four minutes (Spoiler alert: Williams puts on some weight)?
He would last one more year with the Bulls, and let's just say he wasn't thrilled with how he was treated by the team.
So, yeah, he chose to get out of town and join up with the Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent. He would then play for Milwaukee which led to my favorite nugget when researching Williams. He was involved in a trade along with a current NBA player when, in 2001, the Milwaukee Bucks traded him and a 2004 first round pick to the Denver Nuggets for Aleksandar Radojevic and Kevin Willis. That future first rounder would be used to select Josh Smith who is kind of current since he played a few games for the New Orleans Pelicans earlier this season. Williams would also play for Phoenix, Dallas, and Cleveland before retiring in 2005. After retiring, he has spent his time bouncing between basketball coaching and announcing.
And if you needed any evidence that YouTube is the absolute best, here is Scott Williams allegedly seducing some ladies at a Suns game.
I love the internet.
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