Corliss Williamson
From Hoopedia
Corliss Mondari Williamson (born on December 4, 1973 in Russellville, Arkansas) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. His nickname is "Big Nasty", a moniker he received from his cousin when he was 13.
In college, Williamson was a dominating power forward but became an undersized power forward in the NBA and has mostly played at the small forward position.
Williamson starred at the University of Arkansas. He led the Razorbacks to a 31-3 record in 1994. Williamson was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament while helping the Razorbacks to win their only NCAA Basketball Championship under coach Nolan Richardson by defeating the Duke Blue Devils.
He was selected by the Sacramento Kings as a 13th overall pick in the first round of the 1995 NBA Draft.
His best career year was in the 1997-98 season when he played 79 games and averaged 17.7 points per game for the Kings. After Sacramento traded him prior to the 2000-01 season to the Toronto Raptors (in exchange for Doug Christie), for whom he played 42 games, Williamson was traded to the Detroit Pistons where in the 2001-02 season he was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year and eventually was a member of the Pistons' 2003-04 NBA Championship team. After being traded by the Pistons along with an undisclosed amount of cash to the Philadelphia 76ers for Derrick Coleman and Amal McCaskill on August 8, 2004, he was again traded back to the Kings along with Brian Skinner and Kenny Thomas for power forward Chris Webber on February 22, 2005. In 06-07 Williamson helped Shareef Abdur-Rahim get a great play. Shareef got the rebound while on the floor. Kevin Garnett challeneged Shareef . Garnett had his legs spread out wide. Shareef passed through Garnett's legs to Williamson who made a layup.
Williamson has gained certain fame for being one of the few professional basketball players to win national championships at three different levels, AAU, the NCAA with Arkansas, and the NBA with Detroit.
