The Bad Boys, a.k.a. the Detroit Pistons of the late-1980s, were the Bulls’ nemesis, their archrival and their bugaboo. It took the Bulls three years and several painful playoff thrashings to loosen the Pistons’ stranglehold on the Eastern Conference. There were a number of reasons why the Pistons had the Bulls’ (and everybody else’s) number: The palpable evilness of middlemen Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn; the tenacious rebounding of future Bulls Dennis Rodman and John Salley; and the uncanny scoring abilities of Adrian Dantley, Mark Aguirre and Vinnie Johnson.

However, the sharpest thorn in the Pistons’ rosebush was a point guard named Isiah Thomas.

Isiah could lead his team. Isiah could hit the outside “J.” Isiah could handle the ball. Isiah could run the break. Isiah could dish like nobody’s business. Isiah could single-handedly control the pace of a game.

Well guess what, Bulls fans…
we now have an Isiah Thomas of our own.

His name: Jay Williams.

It’s no coincidence that the Bulls’ 2002-03 first-round draft pick has a game similar to that of the baddest Bad Boy of them all. “While I was growing up, I never really had a favorite team,” said the former Duke Blue Devil.

“I had a couple of favorite players– Michael Jordan was one of them, of course– but my favorite point guard of all time is Isiah Thomas.

“The things I always liked about Isiah were his determination, his attitude and his desire to win,” continued the six-foot-and-change combo guard. “I would always watch him when I was young, and I loved his style of play. I’m not thuggish [like the Bad Boys], but I’m not a goody-goody either. If I have to cheat to win, I’ll cheat. It’d be in the flow of the game– I’m not crazy or anything– but if my guy is coming around a screen, and I can’t get around [the screen], I’m gonna pull his jersey. Nobody’s getting that far away from me.”

Under Williams’ guidance, Duke captured the 2001 NCAA National Championship. Photo courtesy of Duke University

Sit down with the 21-year-old New Jersey native, and he’ll charm you with his boyish charisma and disarming smile. But talk to him for a few minutes, and he’ll intimidate you with a mean competitive streak. “I hate losing, and I hate when I’m presented with a challenge and I don’t come through. That makes me work that much harder to keep pushing for everything. That’s the kind of guy I am. I need to make sure that my team knows that it’s not all right to lose. I think some teams get content; they might think, Okay, we lost, but there’s always the next game. I’m not like that. I can’t be content with losing. If we lose one game, everybody’s gonna hear about it from me. If we lose another game, everybody’s gonna hear about it even more. If you’re not going to fight with me, don’t be on my ship.”

In spite of his tender age and rookie status, Williams wants to christen the Bulls as his own personal vessel (The S.S. J-Will?), but he knows that it won’t be easy. “It’s going to be a challenge to earn everybody’s respect, but the one thing I’ve always been taught is that nothing comes to you for free. I know I’m going to have to work for everything, but I’m not scared to do the work. For example, if I go out there and dive on the floor for loose balls, many people might think, ‘Oh, he’s just a rookie, he doesn’t really understand.’ But that’s the way I’ve played my whole life. That’s the way I was taught to play, and that’s the way I’m going to play. Hopefully, some of that will carry over to the rest of the team.”

All that said, Jay– who, it should be noted, has the hops necessary to dunk, regardless of his short physique– isn’t the least bit daunted by the thought of picking up the Bulls’ reins and guiding his new team down the path toward victory. “I think I can be a leader right away. I try to be a leader wherever I go. When I play the point-guard position, I’m going to be called upon to lead– and that’s a job I’m not scared of. People have said to me, ‘You’re going to be a high draft pick, so wherever you get drafted, you’re probably going to a team that’s going to lose a lot.’ I tell them, ‘Wherever I go, I’m going to do everything I can not to lose.’ Losing isn’t part of my vocabulary– I very rarely use that word.”

Since winning their last NBA Championship in 1998, the Bulls have lost a whole lot more games than they’ve won, but that doesn’t alarm Williams, who helped both his high school and college teams overachieve beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. “When I was at St. Joseph’s High [in Metuchen, New Jersey], we ended up doing really well my freshman year, but we kept getting better and better as the years went on. It was the same thing at Duke: My freshman year was a year where everybody thought it was going to be a down year there. The team had lost many its star players– Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, William Avery, and Trajan Langdon– but we turned around and ended up number one in the country. I love challenges like that. Every day provides a different challenge for me, and I love it because it’s another chance for me to prove people wrong.”

One of Jay’s greatest challenges will be to make Bulls fans look beyond the team’s distant and not-too-distant past. “I’m not intimidated by the comparisons to Michael Jordan, because I’m not Michael Jordan– and I want everybody to know that. I love the fact that Chicago has had great success– which means the fans know how to root, and they have the experience of cheering for a winner. But let’s be honest: Mike hasn’t been here for a while, and it’s time to move on to different things. I want to bring it back to where it was.”

Williams is confident he can spearhead this resurrection, primarily because he’ll be going into battle with what he views as a stacked roster.

“Losing isn’t part of my vocabulary—I rarely use that word,” says Williams.

“Chicago is the ideal situation for me, because we have great veteran players in Jalen Rose and Eddie Robinson, and we have great young players like Jamal Crawford, Marcus Fizer, Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry. Tyson’s sick, let’s be real about that. It’s crazy how much talent he has and how good he is going to be. Tyson is a great kid, and I can tell right away that he is really competitive. I like that; there are no other people I’d rather be sided with than people who really compete. Eddy and J.C. [Jamal Crawford], too, all those guys, they’re all good, they’re all young, and they’re all exciting. J.C.’s leg has gotten better and I’m really happy about that for him. It’s going to get him jump-started again and move him– and us– nowhere but up.”

Jay not only adores his future court compadres, but he’s also enamored with his new head coach. “The thing that I love about Bill Cartwright is that he stresses defense. Everybody talks about how I have a good offensive game, but I’m also proud of my defense– and defense is how Bill Cartwright made a name for himself. He’s a great guy and a great coach. There are a lot of pieces of the puzzle here, and I’m going to love being a part of it. I think it’ll be a great fit.”

A two-time first-team All American, Williams earned a heap of prestigious awards during his illustrious college career, including the National Collegiate Player of the Year, the James Naismith award, the John Wooden award, the CBS/Chevrolet Player Of The Year and the ESPN The Magazine Player Of The Year. However, on the pro level, he’s chucking his personal goals out the window, in order to focus solely on The Team.

“I just want to help the Bulls win, and whether that means I take two shots or twenty shots, I’ll do it. My determination is the most valuable thing I can bring to this team. But it’s not just going to be me– it’s going to be all of us. And we’re just going to go as hard as we can go. I can’t guarantee that we’re going to come out and do the things that Michael Jordan did right away, but I can guarantee that I’m going to work hard, I’m always going to try my hardest and I’m never going to quit.”

So, will the 2002-03 Chicago Bulls be recognized as this era’s Bad Boys? Probably not– Chandler, Curry, and Rose simply aren’t evil enough to ape the antics of Laimbeer, Mahorn, and Isiah. But there’s no doubt that with his potent energy, his feisty attitude, and, of course, his multitudinous on-court skills, Jay Williams will help the Chicago Bulls put a Bad Boyish hurt on the Eastern Conference.

- by Alan Goldsher