Call me (call me) on the line
Call me, call me any, anytime
Call me (call me) I'll arrive
You can call me any day or night
Call me
The year is 1980. The number one song on the Billboard chart is “Call Me” by the eclectic band Blondie. Divorce rate is at all-time, and still record high. The San Diego Clippers are about to start their third NBA season under their new name and location after leaving Buffalo (Braves) behind. It’s a brief snapshot of time before they would eventually move again to Los Angeles in 1984. The organization had some early success in the 70’s with three straight playoff seasons being led by head coach Jack Ramsey and center Bob McAdoo, both future Hall of Famers. In the off-season they fired their head coach Gene Shue only for him to immediately land on his feet as the Washington Bullets coach. They also traded All-Star World B. Free after his 30.2 PPG season to the Golden State Warriors. Enter rookie head coach Paul Silas and a roster of players you’ve probably heard of for one reason or another. Two-time All-Star and arguably the best basketball player from The Netherlands, Swen Nater was there. Sharpshooter Brian Taylor, who had just lead the league in 3PT percentage, too. Joe “Jellybean” Bryant and Henry Bibby were also on this squad. Maybe you are more familiar with their kids, Kobe and Mike. But this read won’t cover them. I’m here to talk about a player often called upon (Call Me!) to be a one-man show. This man’s name is Freeman Williams.
Most basketball fans know Williams from his collegiate days. While at Portland State (‘74-’78) he was a bit of a mythical figure. In his four NCAA seasons he averaged a whopping 30.7 PPG. He was the Division I national men's basketball individual scoring leader in 1977 and 1978, while being a consensus second team All-American in ‘78. He remains the #2 all-time scoring leader behind only Pete Maravich. In his junior season he averaged 38.8 points per game. The rest of the team averaged a combined 51.1 points. Don’t forget, this all pre-three point line at the NCAA level.
“Man, if there was a three-point line, I would have averaged 50 points a game.”
After his illustrious collegiate career, Williams entered the 1978 NBA Draft. The first selection was Mychal Thompson (speaking of kids.) Williams went 8th, selected by the Boston Celtics who had just selected 6th, also a famous name you might be familiar with, Larry Bird. The marriage didn’t last long however as the Celtics severed ties with Freeman two months later shipping him to San Diego for a packaged that included future Hall of Famer Tiny Archibald and picks (one of which would be used on future Celtics executive Danny Ainge).
While with the Clippers he had a strong rookie and sophomore seasons for a competitive team that didn’t quite make the playoffs. But it’s in his third year that really pops out from a statistical standpoint.
82 G (T-1st)
24.1 MPG (109th)
46.5% FG (99th)
34% 3PT (2nd)
85.2% FT (12th)
19.3 PPG (21st)
20.2 PER (13th)
He didn’t win the Sixth Man of the Year as it wasn’t developed yet. He didn’t make an All-Star team and the Clippers finished under .500. Freeman did however become the first Clippers player to win a Player of the Month award, and the only one in player in franchise history to do so until Elton Brand in 2005. That was the month he was given 10 of his 16 starts for the season. So that’s it? We are going to talk about how noteworthy that one month of basketball was? Well, not exactly.
First off, it’s quite rare for a bench player to average more points per game than anyone else on the team. His 19.3 PPG was quite a bit higher than Phil Smith’s 16.8 PPG. Smith was the player they got in exchange for World B. Free by the way. Yes, the same World B. Free who scored 30.2 PPG in his final Clippers season.
Williams’ 19.3 PPG was good for 21st highest in the entire NBA. However, every player above him in scoring was a regular starter. The vast majority actually played 10+ more minutes per game. In fact, Larry Bird’s 21.2 PPG was good for 16th highest, and he played 39.5 minutes per game, 15.5 more than Williams. Even further, the Clippers 20th of 23 NBA teams in pace played that season. When adjusted for per 100 possessions, Williams actually leads the entire NBA at 38.4 points per. More than George Gervin, Adrian Dantley, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, etc. He also lead the NBA, by quite a large margin, in shot attempts per possession.
His 34% three-point percentage might not jump out at you under today’s standard. The 3-point shot was adopted by the NBA just the previous season. Williams actually finished 3rd in attempts, 3rd in makes and his 34% was second best amongst qualifiers. He actually finished top 10 in makes the previous and the following season as one of the early adopters of the line. Of all the players to average more than 19 points per game, he was the only player to take at least one three attempt per game.
He shot it well from the charity stripe but even better when compared to his high scoring peers. Amongst all players that year to score 17 points or more per game, his 85.2% FT was only worse than Net’s guard Mike Newlin and again, the teammate he never had, Larry Bird.
But where this season really jumped out to me was his usage rate which led the entire NBA. At 34.62, that’s 42nd* highest in NBA history. Amongst the top 13 players that season in usage rate, Williams had by far the lowest turnover rate. In fact amongst the 42 highest in usage, only two players had a lower turnover rate. Usage rate historically is a bit flawed because it can only date back to the 1977-1978 season. However, even just in those three previous seasons, the next highest usage rate of 32.74 by, him again World B. Free, ranks 89th all-time. In the 1980-81 season, the next highest usage rate was 32.3 by George Gervin. That ranks 107th all-time. But get this… William’s 34.62 remained the 6th highest usage rate (or better) all the way until the year 2000. He was surpassed by only Michael Jordan, Gervin, Bernard King, and Dominique Wilkins (more on him in the next paragraph) from 1981-1999.
Despite similar numbers the following season, Williams was shipped at mid-season to the Atlanta Hawks for Charlie Chriss and Al Wood. Fast forward to the 1982 NBA Draft and the Utah Jazz select Dominique Wilkins with the 3rd pick. One small problem as Wilkins refuses to play for Utah and the Jazz are forced to trade him. In a deal with Atlanta, Williams is packaged with John Drew and cash, in exchange for the future Hall of Famer, Wilkins.
After that trade, Williams would only play 27 more games in the NBA over a four year span. He would finish his professional basketball career playing in the Philippine Basketball Association in 1987 where he would score 82 points in a single game.
I think this might be a good time to lean into the idea that stats don’t tell the whole story. Even with how deep we dug into his scoring relevance, Williams’ production didn’t really equate to winning basketball. When compared to all the Sixth Man of the Year winners throughout NBA history, from 1982 all the way until 2021, Williams’ Win Share (an estimate number of wins contributed to an individual) and Win Share per 48 min, was better than only three players in almost 40 seasons. In addition, the three players who finished worse in that metric, Jamal Crawford, Eric Gordon and Ben Gordon, all were on playoff teams that won 47 or more games. The Clippers won just 36 games. In fact, in the 16 games he started that year, the Clippers went just 7-9. That’s actually a slightly worse percentage, .437, than the teams record when he didn’t start, .439. In the five games where he scored 30 or more points off the bench, his team went 1-4.
When compared to his peers that season, Williams finished with the 6th worst defensive plus minus in the entire NBA amongst qualifiers. His Value Over Replacement Player was good for 63rd best in the league. But there were actually 10 other players who played less minutes with a higher VORP, some by a lot. When you look at the top 36 players in Player Efficiency Rating, Williams finishes dead last in WS/48.
So what do you call (Call Me!) Freeman Williams that season? A hooper? A chucker? A ballhog? A player who was only great at scoring? I’m sure if you ask his former teammates and former coaches, you’d get a wide array of responses. Upon reflection on his time away from the game, his advice rings true from someone with his experience and skill-set. When asked what he would tell young kids who want to make it to the NBA:
With all that said, I think maybe the most shocking stat of all is how he ranks all-time in points per minute played on an NBA court. With a minimum of 250 career games played, Williams ranks 7th all-time. Ever. In NBA history! Behind only Joel Embiid, Michael Jordan, George Gervin, Trae Young, Kevin Durant and James Harden. Ahead of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Dominique Wilkins, Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal, etc.
Either way you look at it, there have been very few players, if any, quite like Williams during that 1980-1981 season. But like most people in the greater Southern California area, when it comes to hoops today, he’s got a new favorite team.
“Lakers.”
Photo Credits:
Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images
Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images
Focus on Sport/Getty Images
Ron Koch/NBAE via Getty Images
Quote Credits:
Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times
Brittany Henderson, Beyond The Game LA
Elie Seckbach, ESNEWS
Elie Seckbach, ESNEWS