The Immaculate Scott Williams
Discussing how an amazing fifteen-year NBA veteran is the ultimate answer to basketball's nerdiest game.
We were lucky to have Scott Williams on the last Boxscore Geeks show.
Scott is a UNC alumn, three-time NBA Champion, a fifteen-year NBA champion, and has also had an excellent post-NBA career as a commentator with the Suns, assistant coach both college and professional, currently with the Grand Canyon Antelopes. Also? Best-selling author and that was the subject of our show, Scott’s book “Through the Fire: A Memoir of Trauma and Loss, Basketball and Triumph.” (available in all formats at Amazon)
It’s a powerful book that talks about Scott’s basketball career while also touching on serious subjects of abuse and trauma. We already had tremendous respect for Scott before this book, and that was elevated after. Ben Guest helped write it, and I’ve been a fan of the Ben and Scott pairing since Scott was on Ben’s show discussing none other than Allen Iverson being a chucker! It’s a two-parter!
Scott is also everywhere on the internet:
Scottwill42 on Instagram.
@Scottwilliams1767 on TikTok
throughthefirebook1@gmail.com for contact about the book.
On the show, we talk about:
Scott’s upbringing and the hidden parts of domestic abuse.
Scott’s time at UNC and how amazing Dean Smith was.
Scott’s impressive memorabilia collection, even just limited to what we could see on his wall.
Scott’s impression of multiple MVPs, including Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, and LeBron James.
Scott’s secret to lasting fifteen years in the NBA and being able to rebound after many injuries.
The heartbreaking NBA Finals that could have been in 2001 if Scott hadn’t been suspended for game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals!
Immaculate Grid
We told Scott he was a Boxscore Geeks player if ever there was one. Often coming off the bench, Scott was still incredibly productive per minute, doing things that help teams win. He did this across fifteen seasons. And annoyingly, this often goes unnoticed, but today, it becomes a win! One of the nerdiest games ever has come into existence: Immaculate Grid. At Basketball-Reference, if you’ve finished the crossword, Sudoku, and Wordle, you can play a tough game - Immaculate Grid. It’s a three-by-three grid that asks if you can find players who played on multiple teams or had various accolades, such as an NBA title.
Another key part of the game is to “win” you want to pick players others don’t think amount. And here is where Scott becomes a cheat code. Across his years, Scott played for Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. He also won a title with the Bulls. And they recently added college teams, and Scott was at the amazing UNC. Scott is a great answer, and the stats agree. Across the 113 grids so far, Scott is a playable answer on 26 of them!! The highest owned I could find for him was 1%, and sometimes he was as low as 0.03%! Scott was playable multiple times on some days, such as the grid above. Sadly, the rules only let you play a player once. But that almost makes Scott a wild card in certain grids.
So, the lesson? If you’re an analytics fan and an Immaculate Grid player? Scott Williams is a must-have player!
Alright, I think this post is a level 11 nerd post now! We’ll see you next time!
-Dre