Richie Williams

Richie Williams
Player information
Full name	Richard Lawrence Williams
birthday	August 22, 1987 (33 years 10 days)
place of birth	San Diego, California, United States
size	178 cm
position	Point guard
college	San Diego State
Club information
society	Helsinki Seagulls
Jersey number	3
Clubs as active
2005–2009 SDSU Aztecs ( NCAA ) 2009 San Diego Surf ( ABA ) 2009–2010 FSU Selfoss 2010–2011 San Diego Sol (ABA) 2011–2012 UBC Hannover Tigers 2012–2014 SC Rasta Vechta 2014–2015 Skyliners Frankfurt 2015 SC Rasta Vechta 2015–2016 Kirchheim Knights 2016 Phoenix Hagen 2016–2017 RheinStars Cologne 2017 Zonkeys de Tijuana 2017–2018 PS Karlsruhe 2018–2019 BK Pardubice 2019 Zonkeys de Tijuana Since 2019 Helsinki Seagulls 00000 00000 00000 00000 00000 0

Richard Lawrence "Richie" Williams (born August 22, 1987 ) is an American basketball player . After studying in his home country, Williams began a career as a professional basketball player, which in 2011 led him to the third-highest division, 2nd Bundesliga ProB , after Germany . For the ProA 2012/13 season he moved from the UBC Hannover Tigers to the former league competitor and promoted SC Rasta Vechta, with whom he made the march into the top division basketball Bundesliga . The team won the championship of this division in the final games of the play-offs and Williams was named "Player of the Year" at ProA 2012/13. After the team could not keep the class, Williams played for the first division Skyliners Frankfurt and again in the ProA for Vechta and the Kirchheim Knights. In the basketball Bundesliga 2016/17 Williams returned to the top German division after signing a contract with Phoenix Hagen.

Career

Williams, who grew up in San Diego and graduated from Steele Canyon High School , stayed to study in his home country and went to San Diego State University (SDSU), where he worked for the Aztecs college team in Mountain West from 2005 to 2009 Conference (MWC) the NCAA played. In his freshman season, the team won the points round and the championship tournament of the MWC, in which Williams' teammate, the later Bundesliga professional Marcus Slaughter , was voted MVP of the tournament in his senior college season. In the national NCAA finals they lost in the first round against the Hoosiers of Indiana University . This success could not be repeated in the following seasons. In Williams' last college season in 2009 they lost the final game of the MWC championship tournament against the Utah Utes by two points and reached the final tournament in the National Invitation Tournament , in which they lost in the semifinals to the Bears of Baylor University . Williams ended his college career with the team's best of 246 ball wins in four seasons and is ranked second on the Aztecs' all-time best with 479 assists .

After the end of his four-year NCAA career in 2009, Williams first earned a degree from SDSU, as he had promised his coach at college. Therefore, Williams could not recommend himself for a contract as a professional basketball player in a prestigious league and initially played for basketball teams in the " minor league " American Basketball Association and a good three months for a team from Selfoss in Iceland . In 2011 he got a chance in the third highest German division 2. Bundesliga ProB , in which he took first place in the north group in the ProB 2011/12 with the UBC Tigers from Hanover , who had previously voluntarily withdrawn from the higher division ProA after the round of points occupied. In the semi-final series of the play-offs , which decided on the athletic promotion, they lost against third-placed SC Rasta from Vechta , which made the promotion to the second highest division perfect. As “Player of the Month” March 2012 of the ProB, Williams moved to the newcomer Rasta Vechta at the end of the season, who reached the “march through” in the top division of the basketball Bundesliga in the ProA 2012/13 . As the first in the main round you could prevail in the semi-final series of the play-offs in just under five games and thus ensure promotion. Then they won the championship of this division in the finals against the Düsseldorf Baskets . In contrast to the Düsseldorfers, who for economic reasons were not granted a first division license, the Vechtaers were able to obtain a license for the top division by expanding their hall infrastructure, among other things. Williams, who had already been voted Player of the Month in the ProA higher division in November 2012, was also named ProA Player of the Year after the end of the season. Williams' contract was then extended, so that he will play like the team for the second time in a row one class higher.

In the basketball Bundesliga 2013/14 , SC Rasta could not ensure relegation at its first division premiere with Williams and was knocked off bottom of the table after only six wins this season. After the end of the season Williams signed a contract with the previous league competitor Fraport Skyliners from Frankfurt am Main . After an injury, however, Williams lost his place in the rotation of the Skyliners and was no longer considered, which is why an early termination of the contract was agreed. In January 2015, Williams therefore rejoined the SC Rasta in Vechta until the end of the season, but did not achieve the targeted return to the top division in the ProA 2014/15 , after already being in tenth place in the play -offs to the climb failed. Williams then switched to league competitor VfL Knights from Kirchheim unter Teck , who in the ProA 2015/16 after the third main round place in the play-off quarter-finals was eliminated from the race for a sporting promotion qualification, during the main round first Rasta Vechta the first division return this time reached. This finally succeeded Williams after he signed a contract with the first division club Phoenix from Hagen . The club, which already suffered from liquidity problems in the previous season, had to file for bankruptcy after the short start of the season of the basketball Bundesliga 2016/17 , which resulted in point deductions according to the license. After the unsuccessful start to the season without a win in the first quarter of the season, the club was almost hopelessly behind due to the point deductions and had to withdraw in the course of the season. After leaving Hagen in November 2016, Williams moved to RheinStars Cologne , where he stayed until the end of the 2016/17 season. After his time in Cologne, he strengthened the Zonkeys de Tijuana in the spring season of the Mexican division CIBACOPA .

In mid-August 2017, ProA newcomer PS Karlsruhe announced Williams' commitment. In spring 2018, he led the team from Karlsruhe as captain as well as best scorer (14.4 points per match) and best assists (5.7 per game) of the team in the semi-finals of the second-highest German division.

During the summer break of 2018, the Czech club BK Pardubice announced Williams' commitment. After the end of the 2018/19 season he moved back to Mexico, played there in the spring, and for the 2019/20 season he moved to the Finnish capital to join the first division club Helsinki Seagulls.

Web links

• easyCredit BBL - Richard Williams - player profile on the easyCredit Basketball-Bundesliga website
• Richie Williams Bio - San Diego State Official Athletic Site - Profile on sports websites SDSU ( English )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} N.N .: DJL: The players, youngsters and coach of the year. ( Memento from June 30, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Archived from Die Junge Liga — Website; Hagen, May 3, 2013. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
2. ^ San Diego State 2012-13 MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE: Records - Individual Career Records. (PDF (465 kB)) San Diego State University , November 5, 2012, pp. 126, 127 (internal count) , accessed on July 20, 2013 (English). 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Kevin Gemmell: Pro hoops career was sidelined as ex-Aztec drove toward degree. UT San Diego , February 13, 2011, accessed July 20, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Youngster / Player of the Month March: Voigtmann / Uskoski / Barthel / Williams. (No longer available online.) DieJungeLiga.de, April 5, 2012, formerly in the original ; accessed on July 20, 2013 (media info).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
5. ↑ Youngster / Player of the Month November: Unterluggauer / Jönke / Williams / Parker. (No longer available online.) DieJungeLiga.de, December 6, 2012, formerly in the original ; accessed on July 20, 2013 (media info).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
6. ↑ Williams and Anzuluni move to Hagen. Phoenix Hagen , June 30, 2016, accessed on November 5, 2016 (media info). 
7. ↑ Jörg Dierkes: Ashes to ashes - Phoenix Hagen wants to go into plan insolvency. Telekom Entertain : TelekomBasketball.de, October 16, 2016, accessed on November 5, 2016 . 
8. ↑ http://www.express.de/sport/basketball/neuer-player-rheinstars-reagieren-auf-seuche-und-haben-richard-williams-25120172
9. ↑ http://cibacopa.web.geniussports.com/competitions/?cu=CIBA/en/person/618350
10. ↑ http://abseits-ka.de/46336/x-basketball-karlsruhe/lions-verkuenden-toptransfer-richie-williams-kom-nach-karlsruhe/
11. ↑ 2. Basketball Bundesliga | Squad. Retrieved June 10, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Karlsruhe "Löwen" have to let Vechta precede into the first league: just missed promotion . In: Wochenblatt Reporter . ( wochenblatt-reporter.de [accessed on June 10, 2018]).
13. ↑ http://bkpardubice.cz/novinka-novy-rozehravac
14. ↑ https://www.helsinkiseagulls.com/21/08/2019/kokemusta-ja-johtajuutta-seagullsin-takakentalle/