College

Williams attended Rocky Mount High School (then called Rocky Mount Senior High) in Rocky Mount before going off to play collegiately at the University of Maryland. Williams had immediate success at Maryland, capturing the ACC Rookie of the Year Award in 1979. He led the ACC in rebounding twice (1979 and 1981), while averaging 15.5 points per game in his sophomore and junior years. He earned All-ACC honors in 1980 and 1981. National recognition of his performances came when he was selected to the 1980 USA Olympic basketball team, alongside such players as later two-time NBA champions Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre; he, however, never got to represent the national colors in Moscow due to the United States’ boycott. In 2002, Williams was one of eight former Maryland players to be named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team. In 2001, he became a member of the University of Maryland’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

NBA career

New Jersey Nets (1981-1989)

After three years at Maryland, Williams decided to leave for the NBA. The New Jersey Nets selected him third overall in the 1981 NBA draft, behind Olympic teammates Aguirre and Thomas. In his first season with the Nets, he averaged 15.5 points and led the team with 12.3 rebounds per game, helping New Jersey win 20 more games (a 44-38 win-loss record) than the previous year and earning 1982 Rookie of the Year honors. Williams established himself as a premier player at the power forward position over the next eight seasons with the Nets; in six of those he was ranked among the best three rebounders in the league, never averaging less than twelve rebounds per game. 1983-84 featured the Nets’ first playoff second-round appearance since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, when they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Nets failed to subsequently get past the first round until 2002 when Jason Kidd led them to an unsuccessful NBA Finals date.

Portland Trail Blazers (1989-1996)

On June 24, 1989, the Nets traded Williams to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Sam Bowie and a draft pick. In Portland, Williams would continue his solid play and take a complementary frontcourt role to established guard duo Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter. The Blazers’ post-season campaigns ended in the first round four consecutive seasons prior to 1990; contrastingly, Williams’ first three seasons with the Blazers were marked by three Western Conference Finals appearances and two NBA Finals. In 1990 the Blazers succumbed to the powerhouse Detroit Pistons in five games, while in 1992 they fell to the Chicago Bulls in six. Williams was regularly in the starting lineup for the first six of his seven seasons with the Blazers. He remains the franchise leader in field goal percentage (55.0%).

New York Knicks (1996-1998)

In the twilight of his career, after the 1995-96 season, Williams moved back to the Atlantic Division, signing with the New York Knicks, where he played in a much more limited capacity, behind the frontcourt duo of Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley. He spent two years with the Knicks, but was forced to miss 41 games during the 1997-98 season due to knee surgery (the first time in his career he missed more than 12 games in a season). Williams announced his retirement on January 27, 1999, holding career averages of 12.8 points and ten rebounds per game and a field goal average of 54.9 percent. During the course of his 17-year NBA career, Williams racked up more than 16,000 points and 13,000 rebounds — one of only seven NBA players to ever reach both marks.

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Led the league

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1981-82	New Jersey	82	82	34.5	.582	.000	.624	12.3	1.3	1.0	1.0	15.5
1982-83	New Jersey	82	82	36.1	.588	.000	.620	12.5	1.5	1.1	1.3	17.0
1983-84	New Jersey	81	81	37.1	.535	.000	.570	12.3	1.6	1.0	1.5	15.7
1984-85	New Jersey	82	82	38.8	.530	.250	.625	12.3	2.0	.8	1.3	18.2
1985-86	New Jersey	82	82	37.4	.523	.000	.676	12.0	1.6	.9	1.2	15.9
1986-87	New Jersey	82	82	36.3	.557	.000	.731	12.5	1.6	1.0	1.1	18.0
1987-88	New Jersey	70	70	37.7	.560	1.000	.668	11.9	1.6	1.0	.6	18.3
1988-89	New Jersey	74	72	33.1	.531	.000	.666	9.4	1.1	.8	.5	13.0
1989-90	Portland	82	82	34.2	.548	.000	.706	9.8	1.4	.8	.5	13.6
1990-91	Portland	80	80	32.3	.602	-	.705	9.4	1.2	.6	.6	11.7
1991-92	Portland	80	80	31.5	.604	.000	.754	8.8	1.4	.8	.5	11.3
1992-93	Portland	82	82	30.5	.511	.000	.645	8.4	.9	1.0	.7	8.3
1993-94	Portland	81	81	32.5	.555	.000	.679	10.4	1.0	.7	.6	9.7
1994-95	Portland	82	82	29.5	.512	.500	.673	8.2	1.0	.8	.8	9.2
1995-96	Portland	70	10	23.9	.500	.667	.668	5.8	.6	.6	.7	7.3
1996-97	New York	74	4	20.2	.537	.000	.642	5.4	.7	.5	.5	6.3
1997-98	New York	41	6	18.0	.503	-	732	4.5	.5	.4	.4	4.9
Career		1307	1140	32.5	.549	.167	.664	10.0	1.3	.8	.8	12.8
All-Star		3	0	20.3	.526	-	.455	8.0	2.0	.3	.7	8.3

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1982	New Jersey	2	-	39.5	.538	-	.467	10.5	1.5	.5	1.0	17.5
1983	New Jersey	2	-	42.5	.500	-	.800	11.5	2.0	1.0	1.0	19.0
1984	New Jersey	11	-	43.0	.485	-	.556	14.1	1.5	1.5	1.5	15.5
1985	New Jersey	3	-	41.0	.650	-	.733	10.7	.3	1.0	1.7	24.7
1986	New Jersey	3	-	42.0	.724	-	.769	10.3	.7	2.0	.3	20.7
1990	Portland	21	-	37.0	.508	-	.676	9.2	1.9	.6	.3	13.0
1991	Portland	16	16	37.0	.500	-	.603	8.9	.9	.6	.3	10.3
1992	Portland	21	21	36.1	.508	-	.758	8.5	1.0	1.3	.8	9.6
1993	Portland	4	4	36.1	.478	-	.684	7.3	.3	.3	.8	8.8
1994	Portland	4	4	36.1	.679	-	.867	8.8	.5	1.0	.5	12.8
1995	Portland	3	3	36.1	.600	-	.636	6.3	.3	1.3	.7	8.3
1996	Portland	5	1	26.6	.391	.500	.714	5.0	.2	.2	.8	4.8
1997	New York	10	1	19.3	.486	-	.529	4.0	.6	.3	.4	4.3
1998	New York	3	0	15.0	.444	-	.750	5.3	.3	.0	.3	4.7
Career		108	-	34.4	.520	.500	.672	8.7	1.0	.8	.6	11.2

After basketball

Williams served as the president of the NBA Players Association from 1994 to 1997. The Nets retired his #52 jersey in April 1999. In 2006 he was named as an inductee into the Rocky Mount Twin County Hall of Fame.

Currently, Buck Williams has a construction company and is involved in several charities including Global Giving where he competes with other athletes around the country to raise money for local causes.

Coaching career

In July 2010, Williams was hired by Nate McMillan as an assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Awards and accomplishments

• ACC Rookie of the Year: 1979
• ACC All-ACC (2nd team): 1980, 1981
• USA Olympic Team: 1980
• NBA All-Star: 1982, 1983, 1986
• NBA All-NBA (2nd team): 1983
• NBA Rookie of the Year: 1982
• NBA All-Rookie (1st team): 1982
• NBA All-Defense (1st team): 1990, 1991
• NBA All-Defense (2nd team): 1988, 1992
• NBA Field Goal Percentage leader: 1991 (60.2%), 1992 (60.4%)
• NBA Minutes Played leader: 1985 (3182)
• NBA Offensive Rebounds (total) leader: 1984 (355)
• NBA Games Played leader: 1985 (82), 1987 (82), 1990 (82), 1995 (82)
• 11th all-time in games played: 1,307

[ Source: Wikipedia ]