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Jayson Williams was released from Rikers Island a little more than a week ago, and in his first interview outside of jail, he said the solidarity helped straighten out a life in ruins. "That's what prison did for me, it isolated me, you know, it polished me up like a stone," Williams told FOX 5 in an interview that's airing on Thursday. "(Jail) sent me back out because I'm going to tell you something, if it wasn't for prison, I was in a bad way." Newark Star-Ledger

Law, Jayson Williams 

Williams broaches the subject of alcoholism, which he targets as the root of many of his off-the court issues. "Alcohol is the cause of all my problems," he said. "If I had to think of what I would do different in my whole career, it's that I never would have picked up a beer, bottle of vodka. That definitely changed my life. That is an Achilles' heel for me." Newark Star-Ledger

Law, Jayson Williams 

Jayson Williams, fresh out of Rikers Island, wasn’t invited to Monday night’s ceremony celebrating the Nets’ final game in New Jersey. But the former All-Star, who dominated the glass in the late ’90s, clearly hasn’t lost his love for the franchise that harbored his best basketball years. After prison and rehabilitation, the New Jersey resident is clearly eager to rekindle a relationship with the Nets — even if the team isn’t ready. “I don’t think there is a person who loves the Nets as much as I do — from our fans, all the employees in the arenas, the front office personnel and the owners,” Williams said through his longtime friend and manager, Akhtar Farzaie. “I will always be loyal to our fans and the Nets.” New York Daily News

Brooklyn Nets, Law, Jayson Williams 

Troubled ex-New Jersey Nets star Jayson Williams bounced out of Rikers Island yesterday after serving eight months for a Manhattan DWI. The Bible-thumping Williams, 44 — whose religious transformation behind bars earned him the nickname “The Moses of Rikers” — says he wants to live a straight life. “I am eager to see my daughters, my mother and siblings and make amends for what they’ve been through,” the ex-hoops star said in a statement. “Start my life over with God being first and in the center of everything I do.” New York Post

Brooklyn Nets, Law, Jayson Williams 

Retired NBA star Jayson Williams has been released from Rikers Island jail after serving eight months of his one-year sentence for drunken driving. A Rikers spokeswoman says Williams was freed Friday. The former New Jersey Nets player drove his SUV into a tree in lower Manhattan in 2010. That happened a week after he accepted a plea deal stemming from the 2002 shotgun death of a limo driver in his New Jersey mansion. ESPN.com

Brooklyn Nets, Law, Jayson Williams 

EX-NBA All-Star Jayson Williams, after surviving a decade of self-destruction, could find freedom and forgiveness in the same week. The jailed jock, who fatally shotgunned a New Jersey limo driver in 2002, is set for release Friday from Rikers Island — and the victim’s sister is ready to make peace. “If he changed his ways in prison, if I believed he really does feel some sort of remorse, I could forgive him,” Andrea Adams told the Daily News from her Somerville, N.J., diner. “But he hasn’t shown me any remorse in all the times I’ve seen him in court.” New York Daily News

Brooklyn Nets, Law, Jayson Williams 

Despite the lingering bitterness, Adams said she would consider a sitdown with her brother’s killer. “Anything is possible,” she said. “I’m a Christian.” Williams, who turned 44 on Rikers Island in February, is finishing a DWI sentence for a January 2010 car wreck — one of many lows that followed his accidental Valentine’s Day shooting of Gus Christofi. The former St. John’s star did his city time after serving just 18 months in a plea bargain deal for the shocking slaying inside his $8 million New Jersey mansion. “He got away with murder,” said Adams, her voice firm and even. “Eighteen months. What can I say? He did what he did. I don’t know how he could live with himself. I couldn’t.” New York Daily News

Brooklyn Nets, Law, Jayson Williams 

Former NBA star Jayson Williams could soon be a free man after serving prison time in two states. Williams, 44, is currently serving a one-year term for driving while intoxicated in New York. He is currently at the Eric M. Taylor Center in East Elmhurst, N.Y. According to the prison system’s web site, his projected release date is now April 15. He was sentenced last August. Newark Star-Ledger

Law, Jayson Williams 

Prior to moving to New York’s prison, Williams was paroled from a five-year term in New Jersey for crimes related to the death of Costas "Gus" Christofi in Alexandria Township a decade ago. On Feb. 14, 2002, Christofi was hired to drive Williams' guests from a restaurant to Williams' "Who Knew" estate in Alexandria. While giving a tour of the mansion, Williams picked up a loaded shotgun, flipped it up and it went off. Christofi was hit in the chest at close range and died within minutes. Williams then tried to make it look like Christofi had killed himself. Williams disposed of his bloody clothes and jumped into his pool to clean himself off. He also instructed his guests as to what to say to police. Newark Star-Ledger

Law, Jayson Williams 

Jailed basketball star Jayson Williams has transformed himself into a churchgoing mentor to other prisoners at Rikers Island — earning him the nickname “The Moses of Rikers.” New York Post

Law, Jayson Williams 

Christopher Hughes, who was incarcerated at Rikers for 100 days with the former New Jersey Net, tells us the baller is beloved by all behind bars with him, from crackheads to gangbangers. “People treat him like a star,” said Hughes, who was released from Rikers last week after serving time for reckless assault. “Every single person shakes his hand. He is like Moses, the Moses of Rikers.” New York Post

Law, Jayson Williams 

Retired NBA star Jayson Williams is preparing to move from a prison in New Jersey’s farmlands to New York’s Rikers Island. Williams will be transferred from Mid-State Correctional Facility in Wrightstown next Friday after he finishes an 18-month sentence for aggravated assault. From there, he’ll begin serving a one-year sentence for driving while intoxicated in New York City. The 43-year-old drove his SUV into a tree in lower Manhattan a week after he accepted a plea deal stemming from the shotgun death of a limo driver in his New Jersey mansion in 2002. New York Post

New Jersey Nets, Law, Jayson Williams 

Ex-Nets basketball star Jayson Williams — “broken and truly humbled,” according to his business manager — is scheduled to finish his 18-month prison sentence for aggravated assault in Burlington County on Aug. 19. But Williams won’t go free next week. Instead, he’ll be transferred to Manhattan from the Wrightstown facility to begin serving a one-year jail term for driving while intoxicated. Bergen Record

Law, Jayson Williams 

VH1 is currently filming Basketball Wives: LA, and the latest addition to the cast is Tanya Williams, the estranged wife of controversial former NBA star, Jayson Williams. Tanya told Page Six: “I signed on to participate in the show to elevate the negative perception…that [it] is purposely filled with flighty, overly emotional and senselessly dramatic women.” DrJays.com Live

Jayson Williams 

In a Nets locker room filled with zany personalities, he was the voice of reason. When Rick Mahorn and Jayson Williams would take turns teasing Armen for his wardrobe or his Gumby haircut, Gilliam would smile and ignore them. When Derrick Coleman uttered his now infamous "Well whoop-dee-damn-do" line after Kenny Anderson blew off practice and headed for a strip club, Armen would roll his eyes at his young, immature teammates. New York Daily News

Kenny Anderson, Jayson Williams, Armen Gilliam 

The estranged wife of incarcerated ex-NBA star Jayson Williams received minor injuries last week after she and a $12,000 golf cart tumbled to an Okatie road from a moving trailer. Tanya Young-Williams told Beaufort County Sheriff's Office deputies May 10 she saw Charles Houston and Michael Walters outside her Berkeley Hall home loading her golf cart onto a trailer, according to a sheriff's office incident report. islandpacket.com

Jayson Williams 

Chris Tomasson: Dennis Rodman asked about what happened to good, smaller rebounders: “Most of them are in jail… Jayson Williams, you know he went to jail.’’ Twitter

Chicago Bulls, Jayson Williams, Dennis Rodman 

Somehow, in between the first trial and his more recent legal troubles, (Jayson) Williams found the time to record a reality show ... er, movie, except it's still called a show. Behold the trailer for "Off Track: The Reality Show Movie," a rambling set of interviews in which Williams travels the country on a luxury train and interviews old friends like NBA stars Charles Oakley and Anthony Avent (sporting the greatest hat I've ever seen) and pop stars like Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block and Chris Kirkpatrick of 'N Sync. If those names don't make you buy a copy, then the rudimentary train animations in the trailer certainly will. "Off Track" definitely looks like it provides as many laughs as any reality show movie project starring a convicted felon. Would you like to see Williams try to ride a horse? Or fly a plane? Or smack Anthony Avent in the face? Then you're in luck. The film is available for purchase on Amazon.com. As the product description says, "The only thing that will not go off track during this hilarious laugh out loud reality series are the wheels of the train." My sides are already splitting! Yahoo! Sports

New Jersey Nets, Jayson Williams 

Inspiraional speaker Tanya Young Williams, ex-wife of one-time basketball hotshot Jayson Williams -- who reportedly attempted suicide, was a bad boy, fatally "accidentally" shot his limo driver Costas Christofi in 2002, currently residing in prison -- is out with the self-help workbook, "I'm Tired! Carry Your Own S#!T!" Subhead: "Oops, I mean bags." Subsubhead: "A 7 Day Journey to Peace, Passion & Purpose." About its inelegant title: "I went back and forth with that. If it loses some audience, I thought, 'Well, this is for real.' With him I was in a negative situation. Physically, emotionally tired. So I needed to help myself and others by lightening our load on a fast track. A detailed tool for how I crawled out of anxiety. "I wrote what I felt. I started two years ago with pen and pencil when I filed for divorce. It's no memoir. I offer exercises I'd done for years to combat trials and stress. New York Post

Jayson Williams, Tanya Young Williams 

"I'd made compromises, given up my own goals and dreams, forgotten my own gifts or talents, lost the ability to laugh. I carried the baggage of a bad marriage. I had to ease that. Think of my own life and relationships. Can't forever stay stuck. Your husband blazing his own trail doesn't mean you stop your world because he's more important. "First days are tough. You're stuck, unhappy, no joy. But then it's, 'What would life be if I didn't have this relationship?' Admit you're in a bad place. Evaluate the stress. Do you really need to keep it? I had a sample group go through my exercises." New York Post

Jayson Williams, Tanya Young Williams