Former Bulls Deny Jay Williams’ Claim of Weed Smoking Prior to Games

Jay Williams was beautifully profiled by the NY Times over the weekend, and the story contained all types of stunning details. According to Williams, whose NBA career was cut short due to a motorcyle accident, some of his former teammates in Chicago used to smoke up before playing in games. Unsurprisingly, a few members of the 2002-03 Bulls stood up and refuted the claim. Per the NY Daily News and Chicago Tribune: “Nah, I don’t know why he would say something like that,’ Tyson Chandler said. ‘I think that’s ridiculous that he would come out and say something like that,’ Chandler went on. ‘I don’t remember that, to be honest with you. And, it’s just unfortunate that he would make that kind of statement about our team.’ […] ‘I didn’t know how to handle it at first,’ Jay Williams said in the report. ‘I didn’t know how to be around it. Guys were on the bench, trying to kick it to girls in the stands, having ball boys run over. I mean, some guys were high.’ Asked to explain what he meant, he said: ‘There were guys smoking weed before games. Guys asking in the middle of the game, ‘Do you smell popcorn.’ […] ‘I like Jay, but when you make blanket statements, you incriminate everyone,’ said Rick Brunson, currently a Bobcats assistant coach. ‘You have to look in the mirror first: ‘Did I contribute to some of those things?’ Your career didn’t go the way it should’ve gone. Let it go. You’re doing a great job on ESPN. You should be honored and blessed the Bulls paid you.’ […] ‘My thing is, why say these things now?’ said Donyell Marshall, one of the team leaders from 2002-03. ‘You don’t need to be making people assume. You’re messing up situations for other people. Now, instead of Fred (Hoiberg, coach of Iowa State) focusing on the NCAA tournament or whatever, he’s got to deal with that (crap).’ According to a league spokesman, the NBA had marijuana testing in place during the 2002-03 season.”