NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of The 1990s
By Phil Watson
50 greatest NBA players from the 1990s — 42. Buck Williams
Buck Williams was the star no one had heard of, a three-time All-Star and a Rookie of the Year in the 1980s with the New Jersey Nets.
But in June 1989, that all changed when he was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for Sam Bowie and a 1989 first-round pick.
With the Blazers, Williams was a three-time All-Defensive pick and led the NBA in field-goal shooting in 1990-91 and 1991-92.
He also helped Portland to the NBA Finals twice in the 1990s. In 1990, the Blazers lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games and in 1992, they fell to the Chicago Bulls in a six-game series.
Williams averaged 11.2 points, nine rebounds and 1.8 assists in 38.4 minutes per game in the 1990 Finals, shooting .465/—/.640. In the 1992 NBA Finals, Williams averaged 7.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and one assist in 35.2 minutes a game, shooting .500/—/.938.
He was released by the Blazers in July 1996. In seven seasons in Portland, Williams averaged 10.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 30.8 minutes per game, shooting .550/3-for-9/.695.
He was signed three days after his release by the New York Knicks, spending two seasons as a reserve in Gotham.
He averaged 5.8 points and five rebounds in 19.4 minutes a game, shooting .526/0-for-1/.668 and retired after the lockout ended in January 1999.
He played 17 seasons in all after being selected third overall by the Nets in the 1981 NBA Draft.
In the 1990s, Williams was 18th with 5,441 rebounds and seventh with a .547 field-goal percentage.