Jason Williams Possible Return – Basketball Virtuoso?

Here’s some news that Jason Williams (white version) is trying to make a comeback after spending last season in retirement.

Williams is expected to workout with one of his former teams, the Grizzlies. This is interesting considering the Grizzlies just signed another Williams to be a point guard, Marcus. Could there be a battle of the Williams’ for Memphis’ backup slot??

The Knicks have also shown some interest in JWill. Imagining the point guard once known as “White Chocolate” in the free wheeling Knicks system is just too good to be true, so let’s just reserve that fantasy for if and when it actually happens.

Yes, it seems like a long time ago that Jason Williams took the league by storm by taking his playground game and flair for passing and ball handling to the NBA.

At the time when Williams entered the league, the “old guard”  point guards were still in the league and considered the league’s best – John Stockton, Gary Payton. His style and flair may have been slightly ahead of the game.

Williams could have been called the anti-Stockton back then. While his style of play may have made his coaches and owners crazy, and it may have even been at times unneccesary, you cannot take away the brilliance of what he could do with a basketball. His highlight reel in that 2-3 year span can arguably top anyones.

I find it somewhat interesting that in this years draft Ricky Rubio, who plays with a similiar style and flair, was hailed as being a basketball virtuoso, yet Williams was condemned. Now I’m not saying Williams is anywhere near the player that Rubio is, but I do find the comparison to the way they play the game interesting.

I found this tweet by Ric Bucher (@ricbucher) interesting as well: “Hubie Brown once told me JWill was 1 of the smartest players he’d ever coached. Knew every play from every position.” – Now there is an old school coach, and one who has been around the league for as long as anyone, saying he believed JWill was one of the smartest out there.

Like anything else though, JWill matured and proved he could play a role on a great team. He was the starting point guard for the 2006 NBA Champions Miami Heat.

Now, just three short years later, Williams who is 33 is looking again for a new home and teams could do a lot worse than having “White Chocolate” as their backup.

P.S. – How crazy was that off the elbow pass in the 2000 rookie game? Has there ever been anything quite like that?

Tags: Jason Williams, Memphis Grizzlies