Alvin Williams
Alvin Leon Williams Jr. (born August 6, 1974) is an American retired professional basketball player who played for Villanova University and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1997 to 2007. College career Williams graduated from Germantown Academy in 1993 where he was in the same graduating class as Bradley Cooper. He then went to Villanova as one of the most highly touted recruits sounding a charge led by head coach Steve Lappas to restart bringing homegrown talent from Philadelphia to the Wildcats, which had been dormant for years under head coach Rollie Massimino. During his senior season, Williams led Villanova in scoring and assists with 17 points and 4.5 assists per game. Along with Tim Thomas, Williams would take Villanova to a regular season Big East title and a berth in the 1997 NCAA tournament where they lost in the Second round to California featuring future NFL All-Pro Tony Gonzalez. Professional career Toronto Raptors After being drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round of the 1997 NBA draft, Williams was traded to the Toronto Raptors in February 1998. Williams was in the Raptors' rotation under head coach Butch Carter and greatly improved as the starting point guard under head coach Lenny Wilkens in 2001. He started all 82 games for two straight seasons in 2001–02 and 2002–03. During the 2002–03 season, which was his best statistical season as a professional, Williams averaged 13.2 points and 5.3 assists per game. After missing a third of the 2003–04 and the entire 2004–05 season with a knee injury, Williams rejoined the lineup at the start of the 2005–06 season and played one game before the injured knee put him back on the injured list. On July 26, 2006, Williams was waived by the Raptors to make room for free agent guard Fred Jones. Reports said both the team and Williams had reached an agreement that resulted in the Raptors only having to pay half of Williams's remaining salary. Los Angeles Clippers On January 20, 2007, Williams signed a 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. He was not signed to a second contract after the first expired after appearing in two games in limited action. NBA career statistics Regular season |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Portland | 41 || 10 || 21.1 || .458 || .292 || .734 || 1.5 || 2.0 || .7 || .0 || 6.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Toronto | 13 || 3 || 15.9 || .364 || .500 || .636 || 1.6 || 1.5 || .6 || .1 || 3.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Toronto | style="background:#cfecec;"| 50* || 45 || 21.0 || .401 || .333 || .846 || 1.6 || 2.6 || 1.0 || .2 || 5.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Toronto | 55 || 28 || 14.2 || .397 || .291 || .738 || 1.5 || 2.3 || .6 || .2 || 5.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Toronto | 82 || 34 || 29.2 || .430 || .306