Jay Williams says Michael Jordan approved of him using MJ's Bulls locker: "Take that locker, be yourself, be different"
When the Chicago Bulls took Jay Williams with the No.2 overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft, he was looked upon as the team's next savior.
Williams was an absolute superstar at Duke, where he won the 2001 NCAA championship and was named College Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002. Many felt that despite the height difference, he had the talent to fill Michael Jordan's shoes. But the transition from Durham to Chicago wasn't easy.
Right off the bat, Williams' confidence rubbed off his teammates the wrong way, and then there was even the issue of using Jordan's old locker.
" I caught so much slack because I took his locker," said Williams during an interview with Brandon 'Scoop' Robinson. "His locker was empty for years, and everybody's like, 'That's MJ's locker,' and I was like, 'Give it to me, I'll take it. Sh**, the last time somebody sat in this locker, we were winning games. Like, I'm trying to have that rub off on me, and I got destroyed in the media for it. And he and I talked, and he said, 'Take that locker, be yourself, be different, keep leading."
Williams called out his immature teammates
When Jay arrived, the Bulls were a losing team. After winning 62 games during MJ's last season in 1998, they won 65 games in the subsequent four campaigns. The young guard vowed to try to change that, but he soon realized his teammates did not share his drive.
After Williams' first month, he lost more games in the NBA than he had during his entire college basketball career. Jay was critical of his teammates, whom he thought were immature and didn't take winning seriously. But his vocal leadership only earned their ire.
"I was so frustrated because it seemed like guys didn't care," Williams added. "The energy, the atmosphere wasn't right."
His career was over before it took off
With Williams frustrated, he did not have the success that he and everyone expected. Jay averaged just 9.5 points and 4.7 assists per game and ended up losing his starting job to Jamal Crawford. Even worse, the Bulls missed the playoffs for the fifth straight season.
In June 2003, Williams was involved in a motorcycle accident that changed his life forever. The Bulls guard was driving at a fast speed on the North side of Chicago when he crashed his Yamaha YZF-R6 motorcycle into a streetlight. He suffered severe injuries that immediately ended his NBA career before it took off.
For someone who always preached about doing things right, Williams did not have a helmet on, he did not have a Chicago license to drive a motorcycle, and his NBA contract forbade him from driving a bike. Looking back, perhaps the pressure of living up to the locker he claimed took its toll on Jay.
