Five years ago, when Jason Williams was still a lost 20-something-year-old struggling to find his identity in the NBA, he said some things he might have later regretted.
After his Memphis Grizzlies had been swept by the Suns in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, the outspoken point guard confided in a reporter that, truthfully, he wasn't too disappointed in the way his season had ended.
"I'm happy," Williams told Geoff Calkins, a sports columnist for the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I go home and see my kids and my wife, and I'm OK. All of this [expletive] is secondary to me."
That was back in 2005, when Williams was still young and reckless and raking in $7 million a year without a care in the world. Williams didn't care about winning — he wanted to do his job, make his paycheck and go home.
Perhaps that moment changed something for Williams — his comments sparked a critical column from Calkins, who criticized him for his apathy on the floor. Tensions mounted, and an altercation broke out between the two with Williams grabbing Calkins' pen and screaming at him. Williams was fined $10,000. Calkins may have struck a nerve.
A year later, Williams skipped to the Miami Heat, his third team in five years. Playing alongside Dwyane Wade and a seasoned Shaquille O'Neal, he promptly won a championship ring.
Williams had finally found a place in the NBA where belonged. After three years with the Sacramento Kings and four with the Grizzlies, aimlessly wandering around the league and never winning a thing, Williams found something in South Beach that worked.
After seven seasons of futility, Williams was the starting point guard on a Miami team that shocked the world by topping Detroit and Dallas en route to a championship. Finally, at long last, he'd found a home in the NBA.
They say you can't go home again.
I wouldn't be too sure.
Williams has recently been on the radar for a return to the Heat. This is the Heat team that helped him turn his career around — he was once a cocky, immature kid just starting to adjust to life in the NBA, but in Miami, he became a champion.
Wade won a title in 2006 alongside Williams. Mike Miller, another new member of the Heat, has a long-standing Florida Gators connection with the guard, and would love to have him back.
This just might work.
Pat Riley's Miami project has come a long way since securing the commitments of Chris Bosh and LeBron James earlier this summer. The Heat have retained Wade and Udonis Haslem, successfully made their pitches to Miller and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and they're still hungry for more pieces.
The Heat could use Williams' veteran presence. He's a bold, adventurous, flashy point guard that can make plays. In his earlier years, he was a loose cannon; in his later years, he could serve as a mentor to Miami youngster Mario Chalmers.
Williams is just a role player now. That's what he was in Orlando, on a Magic team that won 59 games and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, and it's what he would be in Miami as well. On a strong roster, he's a guy who can fill in the cracks.
Williams would be secondary.
The guy has changed a lot since the old days, when he collected the paychecks but didn't care about the game. He's now won a championship, he's seen the light, and he's ready to write the next chapter in his career.
Wouldn't he want to win another?
He just might have that chance.
