To younger fans, he's not the recognizable name that, say, Derik Queen or Melo Trimble are. But few players in Maryland basketball history have had careers to match what Buck Williams accomplished, and the former Terps star was honored for one aspect of his stardom this week when Williams landed at No. 69 in Bleacher Report's ranking of the NBA's best defenders of all time.
Williams, who played at Maryland from 1978 to 1981, led the ACC in rebounding as freshman, ranked third as sophomore and second as junior, when he was named a first-team All-American. He still ranks fifth in school history in career rebounds (928), He was selected third overall in 1981 NBA Draft as a junior and played 18 years, including three top-10 finishes in the league's defensive player of the year voting, two first-team all-defensive selections, three all-star selections and a second-team all-NBA appearance.
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They wrote: "Williams was one of the 1980s and '90s' best examples of a classic, old-school power forward. He played good physical defense, could dominate the boards and checked those boxes without demanding a ton of rewards on the other end. Over the course of his first seven seasons, Williams averaged 8.1 defensive rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals. And over the course of his entire career, he earned four All-Defensive nods."
He's one of 13 players in league history to pile 16,000 points and 13,000 rebounds. His 4,526 offensive rebounds are the third-most in NBA history, sitting behind almost-a-Terp Moses Malone and Celtics center Robert Parrish. His 13,017 rebounds sit 16th.
Last year, Maryland published an article making a case for Williams to be enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
"You ask any All-Star from that era, any Hall of Famer, and they're going to say they did not want to compete against Buck because they knew they would be in for a long night," Albert King, his college and NBA told UMTerps.com's Michael Rovetto. "He was going to go at them every minute of the game. And was it rebounding? Was it scoring? Was it setting picks? Was it helping out teammates defensively? He was there to do it all. It all started when he first came into the league, and it kept going until he retired."
A new development for Maryland basketball's top recruiting target
The 6-8 forward from North Carolina was among the best players legendary Terps coach Lefty Driesell had at Maryland.
"I've always exemplified a Hall of Fame mentality and career from day one," Williams said in the article. "The way I carried myself through my work ethic and the way my body of work turned out was representative of a Hall of Fame mentality. … Whether or not I become a Hall of Famer, I think my body of work deserves to be named a Hall of Famer. I think I lived a Hall of Famer career."
Bleacher Report's top ten NBA defenders of all time:
Bill Russell, C — BOS
Tim Duncan, PF — SAS
Kevin Garnett, PF — MIN, BOS, BKN
Hakeem Olajuwon, C — HOU, TOR
Ben Wallace, C — DET, WAS, ORL, CHI, CLE
Dikembe Mutombo, C — DEN, ATL, PHI, NJN, NYK, HOU
Dennis Rodman, PF — DET, SAS, CHI, LAL, DAL
Scottie Pippen, SF — CHI, HOU, POR
Rudy Gobert, C — UTA, MIN
Draymond Green, PF — GSW
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