This morning the Sydney Kings received the terrible news that one of the club’s favourite sons, former import forward Chris Williams, had passed away in the United States at just 36 years of age.
Chris spent only one year in Sydney, but the impact he made on both the franchise and everyone he was associated with was nothing short of extraordinary.
It’s not often that a one season player is included in any list of greatest-ever players for a franchise, but Williams deserves a spot just on the basis of his remarkable exploits for the purple and gold during the team’s historic first championship season in 2002/2003. There is no argument that he is at the very least one of the three best single-season imports this country has ever seen.
An absolute gentleman off the court, loved by all, he was a fearsome competitor on the floor, blessed with remarkable talent and an enormous will to win.
Recruited by Brett Brown just before he left for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and prior to Brian Goorjian taking the reins at the Kings, the 6’7” Williams had a terrific career at the University of Virginia, playing against NBA-level talent almost every night as part of the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference, but he still came to Australia in 2002 as a relative unknown.
However, it didn’t take long for the lithe, deceptively strong forward to make an impression. In a preseason game at Sutherland, the Kings took on NCAA Division One college Texas Christian University, and right from the outset it was obvious that Sydney had a sublime talent on their hands. Some good judges even declared right then and there that Williams was a future league MVP.
The preseason form was no mirage. From the beginning of the 2002/2003 regular season, Chris turned the league into his personal playground. Playing mainly at the four spot alongside a burgeoning superstar in Matthew Nielsen, he presented a low post puzzle that no team ever solved.
Williams was as automatic a basket, once he got the ball in the block, as anyone who has ever played basketball in this country. While not quite in the Leon Trimmingham class athletically, he still had great hops and tremendous footwork, and he was good for at least one jaw-dropping highlight every game.
In the season opener in Townsville he tore the Crocodiles apart, going for 24 points, 16 rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. And that was just a taste of things to come as he dominated the regular season like few men ever have in NBL history.
Every night, he was the ultimate stat-filler, putting up numbers in each offensive and defensive category – points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots. You name it – Chris would provide it for his team. And he did it all in a highly efficient manner.
On January 18, 2003, he became only one of four Sydney players ever to record a triple double in a game, going for 34 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists in a big win over the West Sydney Razorbacks. By the time the playoffs rolled around, teams were helpless against him.
He led the Kings to an opening series win over Andrew Gaze and the Melbourne Tigers, helping Sydney to dominate Game Three at the Kingdome with a near triple double, tallying 25 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and five steals.
Then in the close-out Game Three against Townsville in the semi-finals, he was just as imposing, going for 31 points and 18 rebounds as the purple and gold destroyed the Crocs to reach their first Grand Final series in franchise history.
And in the two game Grand Final sweep of the Perth Wildcats, Chris was his usual unstoppable self, tallying 26 points, 15 rebounds and four steals in Sydney’s remarkable comeback win at the Kingdome before producing 24 points, six rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots as the Kings annihilated the Wildcats in Perth’s Challenge Stadium to capture the team’s historic first NBL crown.
When the 2002/2003 season was over, he had joined an exclusive group of players who have won both the regular season and Grand Final Series Most Valuable Player award. He was named First Team All-NBL, won NBL Player of the Month twice and finished in the top ten of the league in an astounding seven statistical categories (points, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, total rebounds, steals, blocked shots and field goal percentage).
But one thing that was really interesting about Chris was that as spectacular as he was, and as dominating as he could be, he was at heart an unassuming individual who just wanted to win. Above all else, he was perhaps the most unselfish superstar to ever play for the Sydney Kings.
His loss has hit the entire Sydney Kings family very hard, including Sydney Kings Legend Shane ‘The Hammer’ Heal, who captained that first championship team.