Jul 13

Hard work. Goggles. Defense. Rebound. Hustle. Tenacious. The missing piece. Each and every one of these words or phrases is what comes immediately to mind when one thinks back to Buck Williams and his playing days in Portland. And that is where the next chapter of our Rip City Magazine Rewind series takes us to.



In only seven seasons with the Trail Blazers, Buck Williams' name can be found frequenting the Trail Blazers' Top 10 lists: first in field-goal percentage (.550), third in consecutive games played (196), ninth in minutes played (17,130). But where he did most of his damage was on the glass. During his playing career, they weren't the backboards, they were the Buck-boards, because he owned the glass. Williams ranks third all-time in Trail Blazers franchise history in both offensive and defensive rebounds (1,694 and 3,167 respectively) and fourth all-time in total rebounds (4,861).

While Portland never reached the ultimate glory of holding up the Larry O'Brien trophy, Buck certainly was the missing piece in bringing BlazerMania back to the Rose City as well as staking Portland's claim of being Best in the West in both 1990 and 1992. During that incredible three-year stretch (89-92), Williams played in 242 of a possible 246 regular season games while leading the Blazers in rebounding and field-goal percentage each year, even leading the NBA in shooting accuracy in both '91 and 92 (shooting .602 and .604 respectfully).

With that said, here is Bill Needles' article, entitled "Ten Thousand Rebounds", where Buck discusses the origins of his work ethic, how he spends his free time away from basketball and what it felt like to be dubbed "the missing piece" when he first arrived in the summer of 1989.

Photo Gallery: Buck Williams Through The Years

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