Gus Williams, an eyeblink-quick guard recognized for his quantity scoring and electrical on-court type who in 1979 helped the Seattle SuperSonics win their solely Nationwide Basketball Affiliation championship, died on Wednesday. He was 71.
His loss of life was introduced in a assertion by the College of Southern California, his alma mater. The college didn’t cite a trigger or say the place he died however famous that Williams had a stroke 5 years in the past.
Recognized for his springy, improvisational play and relentless drive, Williams, a two-time All-Star, was a standout, if an underrated one, throughout an 11-season profession. That profession included stints with the Golden State Warriors, the Washington Bullets and the Atlanta Hawks along with his six seasons with the Sonics, who moved to Oklahoma Metropolis and have become the Thunder in 2008.
Uncommon for his period, Williams was some extent guard recognized extra for scoring than for dishing assists. On protection, he stymied opponents who dared attempt to dribble previous him — in a 1978 recreation towards the New Jersey Nets, he tallied 10 steals, making him certainly one of solely 24 gamers to interrupt into double digits in that class in a single recreation.
Although undersized by N.B.A. requirements at 6-foot-2 and 175 kilos, Williams nonetheless did lots of harm in and across the paint with attacking, acrobatic drives to the ring. He additionally had a deadly midrange bounce shot.
What Williams, who was often known as the Wizard, lacked in measurement, he made up for in pace. In a latest interview with The Seattle Instances, Wally Walker, a former Sonics teammate, recalled Williams as soon as saying that “there have been solely two sorts of individuals, the short and the useless.”
“He was lightning-quick and quick, each, and he was a one-man quick break,” Walker added. “He bought the ball and he weaved via site visitors. He was simply so quick. Nobody ever caught him.”
Williams was born on Oct. 10, 1953, in Mount Vernon, N.Y., in Westchester County. His youthful brother Ray, drafted by the New York Knicks in 1977, additionally had a protracted profession within the N.B.A.
Gus Williams was named U.S.C.’s Most Priceless Participant in 1975, when he led what was then the Pacific-8 Convention in scoring with 21.2 factors per recreation.
Regardless of his offensive prowess, he slipped to the second spherical of the 1975 N.B.A. draft. He was chosen by the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors, who had been then primarily based in Oakland, Calif., had been a talent-laden squad led by the long run Corridor of Famer Rick Barry and coming off their first N.B.A. crown since 1956, after they nonetheless performed in Philadelphia.
Even so, Williams established himself as a precious rotation participant in his first season, averaging 11.7 factors per recreation for a crew that received 59 video games — at that time a franchise file — on the best way to being named to the N.B.A.’s All-Rookie crew.
Williams spent one other season with Golden State earlier than heading north to Seattle as a free agent for the 1977-78 season. Though he was thought of an unheralded signing on the time, he and his fellow star guard Dennis Johnson, often known as D.J., went on to kind one of the potent backcourts of that period. The Sonics superior to the N.B.A. Finals in his first season in Seattle earlier than shedding to the Bullets in seven video games.
The following yr, Williams averaged greater than 19 factors, and the Sonics notched 52 wins and received the Pacific Division. Dealing with Washington once more within the 1979 Finals, the Sonics bought their revenge, trouncing the Bullets in 5 video games for the league crown. Williams led the best way within the Finals with a glowing common of 29 factors per recreation and poured in 36 factors in Sport 4.
He took one other step towards stardom the subsequent season, averaging 22.1 factors per recreation. However the glory years wouldn’t final.
Johnson, his star sidekick, was traded to the Phoenix Suns earlier than the 1980-81 season. (He went on to win two championships with the powerhouse Boston Celtics of the Eighties.) Mired in a contract dispute with the Sonics, Williams ended up sitting out the 1980-81 season, costing him a yr of his prime.
“At first, I assumed it was the proper factor to do,” he mentioned in an interview with The New York Instances after rejoining the Sonics in 1981 on a five-year, $3 million contract. “Some nights I couldn’t sleep as a result of I wished to play a lot.”
On his return, Williams confirmed no rust, averaging a career-high 23.4 factors within the 1981-82 season. He earned Comeback Participant of the 12 months honors and was named to the All-N.B.A. first crew.
He remained with the franchise for one more two seasons earlier than the Sonics traded him to the Bullets in 1984. He performed two seasons in Washington and completed his profession with the Hawks in 1987.
Details about survivors was not instantly obtainable.
Regardless of the accolades he acquired, many followers — in addition to some fellow N.B.A. stars — have lengthy insisted that Williams by no means bought his due.
“Gus Williams was underappreciated all these years,” Julius Erving, the high-flying former star of the Philadelphia 76ers, mentioned in tribute video posted on the N.B.A. web site after Williams’s loss of life. “He was the whole package deal as a participant. All the pieces with Gus was straightforward for him and tough for the opposite man.”