Corliss Williamson
They gave him the complimentary nickname "Big Nasty" in college for his bruising back-to-the-basket play. But it might as well have been pejorative, because in the pros, Williamson was terribly boring to watch."Tweeners" are players who don't fit a set position, falling somewhere inbetween. Like, a natural shooting guard who has a scorer's mentality but is forced to play point guard because he's too short. Or a 6'9" post player forced to play center because he's too sluggish and plodding. Or in Williamson's case, a player that has the build and skillset for power forward, but has the height of a small forward. Those SF/PF tweeners are probably the worst kind.
In college, Corliss was an animal. He was able to use his width and brute strength to bowl people over and score at point black range. But he didn't have that luxury in the NBA. Everyone was just as strong as he was, so he couldn't go through them. And he was too slugging and unathletic to go around them. So he was stuck in No Man's Land. Watching him receive the ball in the low-post was brutal; he had no fluidity, no burst, no fancy footwork. He basically had one go-to move -- barrel his way backwards unti he was at the front of the rim. And even then he was likely to get his shot blocked because he was so squat and lacked any kind of lift off the floor.
He won a national NCAA championship at Arkansas (and one with the Pistons too, I think), but that was the highlight of his career. Once he made it to the NBA, he embarked on a long and uneventful career predicated on being undersized, holding onto the ball for too long, being a poor rebounder, and over-dribbling the ball in the paint.
And the fans in Sacramento came up with another nickname for him: Scoreless Williamson. I thought that was pretty spot-on.
Corliss Williamson's career statistics
Haha, and check this video. Corliss chucks the ball at Jermaine O'Neal. lol
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