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Justin Williams

Justin Williams profile
Height: 6'9" (206 cm)
Weight: 211 lbs (96 kg)
Position: PF/C
High School: Thornwood High School (Illinois)
Hometown: Chicago, IL
AAU: Mac Irvin
College: Wyoming
Current Team: Almagra
Win - Loss: 9 - 6

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DraftExpress All-Orlando Pre-Draft Camp Teams

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Mike Schmidt
Mike Schmidt
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Eric Weiss
Eric Weiss
Jun 15, 2006, 03:36 am
Continuing the trend of NCAA seniors who had better showings at the Orlando pre-draft camp after getting off to a good start at Portsmouth, we find 6-9 jumping jack Justin Williams from Wyoming, who gave players of all shapes and sizes fits around the basket with his combination of length and shot-blocking ability. Williams was impressive throughout the camp on the defensive end, displaying phenomenal timing and impressive leaping ability, being absolutely tenacious with his constant work-ethic, but managing to avoid foul trouble with his outstanding timing and cool, calm demeanor. Williams is capable of blocking shots both on the ball in the post or on the perimeter, as well by rotating over from the weak side. He was the top shot-blocker in the camp by far, and had a near triple double in his second game.

Williams showed off more offensive ability than we’d seen in his college career and at Portsmouth, stepping away from the basket and knocking down shots from 14-16 feet away from the hoop in the first game, and also wreaking some havoc around the hoop by coming up with offensive rebounds and going straight back up with his extremely quick second bounce. When receiving the ball in the high post, he was unselfish enough to make a pretty bounce pass into the post to his fellow big man. Continuing with the aggressive theme, Williams went out of his area on a number of occasions for long rebounds. Someone is going to want a defensive specialist with good size and a decent amount of upside that will be untapped as he continues to add strength to his frame, so Williams stands a very good chance of being drafted.

Justin Williams NBA Draft Scouting Report

May 05, 2006, 05:21 pm
Strengths
Listed at 6 feet, 10 inches, Williams has good height for the NBA power forward position. He combines that with a nice wingspan and an excellent standing reach. As an athlete, Williams is incredibly quick getting off the floor, with an excellent vertical leap and plenty of footspeed to get the job done. His upper-body is very much underdeveloped, but his legs are strong and act as a springboard for him to get off the ground and challenge shots. Despite not having the type of bulk you would hope for in a 4-year senior, his frame shows a lot of promise to continue to put weight on as he makes the transition from the college campus to an NBA weight room, particularly his broad shoulders.

Offensively, Williams is extremely raw, scoring most of his points off offensive rebounds, in transition, and off layups or dunks around the basket. When given the opportunity, Williams finishes strong and confidently at the rim. He has an underdeveloped jump-hook shot that serves as his go-to move within a few feet of the hoop.

Williams’ biggest asset as far as the NBA is concerned lies in his game-changing shot-blocking ability. He averaged an astounding 5.4 blocks per game as a college senior, good for 2nd best in the country, and a full 1.5 more blocks per game than the third best shot-blocker in the nation. Beyond his physical gifts, Williams is blessed with amazing timing and instincts in regards to challenging and intimidating around the rim. He often doesn’t even need to jump to block a shot, just positioning himself perfectly with his arms high in the air and pinning the ball to the glass in one quick, fluid motion. His massive hands help him out a great deal in this regard. Williams gets his fair share of blocks on the ball while guarding his man, but makes most of his living on the weak-side. He rotates in the blink of an eye, anticipates his opponent’s leap to let him get in the air before he does, and then goes straight up with no hesitation at all. Even when he doesn’t come up with a block on any given possession, his mere presence in the lane is enough to make opposing guards leery about driving into the paint.

Being more than just a shot-blocker, as a team defender Williams is quite good as well. He is a pesky, physical type, always looking to scrap, never being afraid of contact, holding his ground against stronger opponents and showing tremendous hustle on this end of the floor. His work-ethic and athleticism are on full display in the way he defends the pick and roll especially; coming out to hedge the screen, showing extremely well and then recovering in the blink of an eye right back into the post to continue to get the job done. If a teammate blows his assignment, Williams is quick enough to even step out on the perimeter and contest jump-shots from opposing guards as well.

Williams is also a tremendous rebounder at the collegiate level, averaging 11 per game in just 30 minutes per outing. The same physical attributes that make him an excellent shot-blocker make a factor here too; length, quickness, vertical leap, toughness, timing and a tremendous motor. He goes after anything and everything that is even remotely in his area, showing little regard for anyone that is in his way.

In terms of intangibles, Williams’ improvement as a basketball player can be directly attributed to his excellent work-ethic. He averaged more rebounds and blocked shots his last year at Wyoming than he did in Junior College, which tells you a bit about the strides he’s made as a basketball player. On the court, he’s known as a highly coachable player who knows his role and does exactly what is asked of him. He played much of the season on a bad ankle that most players would not even consider practicing on, showing his dedication to his team along with his ability to play through pain. Off the court, Williams is billed as an outgoing person with a good attitude as well as a solid teammate.

Weaknesses
One correctable weakness which could prevent him from playing a large role early on in his career is the fact that he’s extremely thin for a power forward, measuring out at around 215 pounds at Portsmouth. NBA big men will be able to push him around the way Mountain West Conference big men couldn’t, so adding strength is a priority. Defensively, Williams had problems staying on the floor at times this year due to the fact that he is prone to get in early foul trouble thanks to his tenacious style of play. His footwork in the post could still stand to improve.

Offensively, Williams is extremely raw, not leaving much hope of ever developing into much of a factor on this end besides scoring on garbage points. He has almost no offense to speak of outside of 5 feet, being particularly limited due to the fact that he has very poor touch on his shot. He has a very awkward looking release, and this is especially obvious when watching him clank free throws, hitting only 56% of his attempts on the season. He has absolutely no face-up game and cannot create a shot for himself in the post due to his non-existent ball-handling skills. Williams is a very mechanical offensive player, even shooting simple shots around the rim, his touch is very poor. Offensively he would be best suited playing the center position next to a highly skilled power forward, but at 6-9 or 6-10 his size and lack of bulk pretty much relegates him almost exclusively to the 4-spot.

Competition
Williams played in a fairly watered down Mountain West Conference, one year after the conference had two top 20 picks in the NBA draft. The depth of this conference was very questionable, particularly in terms of big men talent, so some healthy skepticism should occur when analyzing his gaudy statistical production.

As a senior, Williams averaged 11 points and 11 rebounds to go along with his 5.4 blocks per game. His most impressive performance statistically was likely a 10 point, 15 rebound 12 block effort against Utah in the MWC tournament. Besides a monster 13 point, 20 rebound, 9 block performance against Charlotte early on in the season, Williams for the most part struggled to reach his averages against the fairly marginal NBA prospects he had a chance to match up with in-conference and out, including Yemi Nicholson, Marcus Slaughter, Louis Amundson and Joah Tucker.

At the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament he showed that his numbers were no fluke, though, being named to DraftExpress’ All-Portsmouth 2nd team (see links: Portsmouth Recap) for his efforts here. Many of his matchups were against high profile big men (relatively speaking) from high-major conferences, and he was impressive enough to surely earn himself another look at the Orlando pre-draft camp in June.

Williams played his first two seasons of college basketball at Colby Community College before transferring to Wyoming. He was also recruited by Auburn, DePaul, Iowa State, Marquette, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and UCLA.

Outlook
Considering his tremendous rebounding and defensive potential, there is likely a spot for a player like Justin Williams in the NBA, even more so when you consider his youth (turning 22 in mid-May) and upside.

Barring a terrific performance in Orlando that could propel him into the 1st round, Williams will likely get drafted somewhere in the 2nd round and will initially get a chance to justify the investment to see how much he can improve in his first season or two in the NBA. There are many scrappy power forwards who went undrafted and are far less naturally talented than him making a solid living in the NBA right now.


Facts
Thumbnail courtesy of the Mountain West Conference.

Portsmouth Invitational Tournament: Recap

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Eric Weiss
Eric Weiss
Apr 11, 2006, 01:47 am
Williams had a very mixed tournament, showing great defensive prowess to go along with a very raw offensive game. Williams has excellent weakside awareness, athleticism, and length, and he uses them all to alter shots in the lane on the defensive end. He also has the mobility to contest shots on the perimeter. Offensively, he possesses very little in terms of post moves, and has an unreliable mid-range jumper with an awkward release. He needs to work on his release, develop some reliable post moves, and most importantly hit the weight room to add some bulk to his very slight build. His weakside defense and rebounding are NBA-ready, and he can score a bit on putbacks and easy lay-ins, but he won’t be able to consistently use the skills without some more strength.

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Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Feb 21, 2006, 03:47 am
Ranked 2nd in the country in blocked shots and 7th in rebounds, Williams is another player who hasn’t had much trouble drawing NBA scouts to his games. This past weekend Williams came just two points short of putting up his first career triple-double with an 8 point, 13 rebound, 11 block outing against BYU.

What makes that feat all the more impressive is the fact that Williams has been playing all year long on a severely injured ankle, but has managed to play through the pain and still put up impressive numbers with over 5 blocks and 11 rebounds per game. His ankle could end up putting his participation in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in doubt, as he’s already received one of the coveted 40 invites to the all-senior NBA draft camp in early April. He doesn’t practice much with Wyoming these days, and we can only hope that he isn’t doing himself serious damage by playing on it twice a week, especially with the way he likes to compete.

Despite the pain, Williams shows enough skills to make us think that he will find himself on an NBA roster one way or another next season. He has outstanding length, great legs and a lot of spring to his step, not having an extremely wide frame but still possessing wiry strength and being incredibly quick off his feet.

Williams is an intuitive shot-blocker, showing outstanding awareness and anticipation skills and being a lethal threat to rotate and intimidate anyone from the weak-side at any given moment. He goes up straight in the air to deny his man the shooting-angle to the basket, and will sometimes just catch the ball right out of mid-air with his huge hands. At times he doesn’t even need to jump in the air to come up with the block, just positioning himself in the right spot and putting his hand in the right place to pin the ball to the glass. Shot-blocking comes so easy to Williams that it sometimes looks unnatural.

His team defense doesn’t end there, as he’s very good showing on the pick and roll and is capable of playing the type of pesky and physical scrappy defense that coaches love. He has no problem getting onto the floor to dive for loose balls, and as we’ve seen all year is not afraid to sacrifice his body for the good of the team in other facets as well.

Offensively, Williams isn’t much of a threat even at the mid-major level as his 11 points per game would indicate. Being fairly mechanical, his touch around the rim is hardly the stuff legends are made out of, and he has little offensive game outside of a basic jump-hook shot he likes to execute around the paint. His ball-handling is non-existent, as is his jump-shot outside of 10 feet. His position in the NBA is not exactly clear, being a bit of a small 6-10 if that. The competition he goes up against leaves some many questions regarding how his shot-blocking will translate to the NBA, since the Mountain West conference is nowhere near what it was with Bogut and Granger last year, especially in terms of big men. Hopefully Williams can make a full recovery from his ankle problems and find his way to the Chicago pre-draft camp where we’ll be able to get a great taste of just how he fares against better competition.

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