Basketball Career
Brian Williams was born in Fresno, California, the second son of Patricia Phillips and of singer Eugene Williams of the musical group The Platters. He attended Saint Monica Catholic High School in Santa Monica, California, where his jersey is retired. He began his collegiate basketball career at the University of Maryland, playing there for one year. He sat out the next season while transferring to the University of Arizona. After playing for two seasons at Arizona, he was drafted in the first round of the 1991 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic. He saw limited action during two seasons in Orlando.
After playing for Orlando, Williams joined the Denver Nuggets, for whom he played for two seasons. In 1993-94, he played a career-high 80 games and averaged 8.0 points per game. He subsequently played one year for the Los Angeles Clippers, earning increased playing time and averaging 15.8 points per game. Due to a contract dispute and reports that Williams' asking price was too high, he could not find a team at the beginning of the 1996-97 season. He was then signed by the Chicago Bulls nine games before the end of the season and became an important backup player in the Bulls' run to their fifth championship. He finished his career with two seasons with the Detroit Pistons, where he set career highs of 16.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in 1997-98. In 1998, he changed his name to Bison Dele to honor his Native American and African ancestry, and played his final season under that name.
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Famous quotes containing the words basketball and/or career:
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