Alvin Leon Williams Jr. (born August 6, 1974) is an American retired professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who played for

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

and in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) from 1997 to 2007.

College career

Williams graduated from

Germantown Academy Germantown Academy, informally known as GA and originally known as the Union School, is the oldest nonsectarian day school in the United States. The school was founded on December 6, 1759, by a group of prominent Germantown citizens in the Gree ...

in 1993 where he was in the same graduating class as

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Grammy Awards, in addition to nominations for nine Academy Awards, si ...

. He then went to Villanova as one of the most highly touted recruits sounding a charge led by head coach

Steve Lappas Stephan Thomas Lappas (born March 18, 1954) is an American former college basketball coach. He coached at Manhattan (1988–1992), Villanova (1992–2001) and UMass (2001–2005), compiling a 280–237 (.542) record over a 17-year coaching ca ...

to restart bringing homegrown talent from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

to the Wildcats, which had been dormant for years under head coach

Rollie Massimino Roland Vincent Massimino (November 13, 1934 – August 30, 2017) was an American basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Stony Brook University (1969–1971), Villanova University (1973–1992), the University of Nevada, L ...

. 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 California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

featuring future NFL All-Pro

Tony Gonzalez Anthony David Gonzalez (born February 27, 1976) is an American former football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. Regarded as one of the greatest tight ends of all time, he is the NFL's all-time leader ...

Professional career

Toronto Raptors

After being drafted by the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

in the second round of the

1997 NBA draft The 1997 NBA draft took place on June 25, 1997, at Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Vancouver Grizzlies had the highest probability to win the NBA draft lottery, but since they were an expansion team along with the Toronto ...

, Williams was traded to the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

in February 1998. Williams worked his way into the Raptors' rotation under head coach

Butch Carter Clarence Eugene "Butch" Carter Jr. (born June 11, 1958) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played college basketball at Indiana University. Early years Carter excelled in basketball and football at Middletown Hig ...

, but greatly improved as the starting point guard under head coach

Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as ...

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. Unfortunately, the injured knee forced Williams back on the injured list after playing just one game that season. 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 The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

. He was not signed to a second contract after the first expired after appearing in two games in limited action.

Post-playing career

On July 1, 2009, the Raptors announced the hiring of Williams as an assistant coach for the team. This would mark the return of Williams to the organization since being waived by the team less than three years earlier. On September 24, 2010, the Raptors announced that Williams would become the team's Director of Player Development. In June 2013 he was let go from his position with the Raptors. Since 2015 Williams has been an NBA Analyst with

Rogers Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then was r ...

. In September 2021, Rogers Sportsnet and the Toronto Raptors announced that Williams would take over the colour commentary duties on all Rogers Sportsnet broadcasts of Raptors games, replacing

Leo Rautins Leo Rytis Rautins (born March 20, 1960) is a Canadian broadcaster, former professional basketball player and the former head coach of the Canada men's national basketball team, Canadian men's national basketball team. Rautins played in the Nationa ...

on that network.

Notes

External links

* *
Career statistics
at ESPN.com

at Sports-Reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Alvin 1974 births Living people African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Philadelphia Boston Celtics assistant coaches Germantown Academy alumni Los Angeles Clippers players Point guards Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Portland Trail Blazers players Toronto Raptors assistant coaches Toronto Raptors players Villanova Wildcats men's basketball players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople Sportspeople from Philadelphia