Top NBA Draft Prospects in the Big East (Part One: #1-5) October 22, 2008 The Louisville Cardinals will be without one of their most valuable weapons for the next 4-6 weeks. Terrence Williams underwent surgery on a torn medial meniscus in his right knee, suffered during a pickup game last Tuesday. In the long run, the injury will likely only keep the senior wing out for a handful of non-conference games, but certainly could be worth keeping an eye on initially. Williams saw his scoring numbers drop slightly last season, despite having a career year shooting the basketball (albeit a rather paltry 41% from the field). What was encouraging was an increase in his rebounding and assist numbers, increases that will certainly catch the eyes of some NBA scouts.
Physically, Williams is an NBA player; plain and simple. At 6’6” 215 pounds, he has great size for the two-guard spot and has the strength to handle banging in the paint and posting up smaller guards. He shows excellent speed in the open floor as well as a great first step that allows him to get into the lane on a regular basis against most defenders. What separates Williams from most college players, though, is his tremendous leaping ability. If he gets out into the open floor by himself, it’s a safe bet that Williams will put down some kind of highlight reel quality dunk.
After being a fairly one dimensional offensive player early in his career, Williams has developed into a very versatile player with the basketball, even though he still is very far from being considered a great scorer. He has pretty good form on his shot, but has yet to prove himself to be a good shooter, due to his poor shot-selection and inconsistent release point. He connected on a pedestrian number of his perimeter shots last year, just 34% from deep, but what was most concerning was the fact that 41% of his shot attempts were from beyond the arc. Overall, Williams performs much better from mid-range, able to pull up and shoot on a dime. His athleticism allows him to hang in the air and adjust his shot against defenders; his touch on these plays is very solid.
Williams is much more adept as a slasher than he is a perimeter shooter, even though he often abandons this part of his game for long stretches. He has good ball-handling skills, able to attack the basket with either hand; combined with a great first step, he is a handful to stay in front of as a defender. Once in the lane, Williams can elevate with any player in the country to get a good look at the rim. This ability to hang in the air though can sometimes be a hindrance to the senior, deterring him from creating contact with defenders and trying to shoot around them. For a player with his type of athleticism and with how often he goes to the rim, Williams needs to attempt more than just three free throws per forty minutes.
Defensively, Williams proves to be a headache for a lot of opposing teams. With his quickness and length, he is tough to take to the basket, but more importantly deflects a tremendous number of passes. Many times Williams proves to be a one man fast break, intercepting a pass and taking it the other way for an easy flush. He does a tremendous job rebounding the basketball, averaging eight rebounds per forty minutes, an outstanding number for a wing player. A major part of the high number of rebounds he hauled in last season was the fact that Louisville played a lot of zone defense, with Williams often taking one of the forward spots along the baseline.
There are certainly concerns about Williams’ game from an NBA standpoint. At the end of the day, he is a shooting guard who doesn’t shoot well and isn’t an overall effective scorer. Additionally, he struggles with turnovers, committing one on nearly 25% of the possessions he uses. With that said, he does rebound very well for his position and has proven to be an effective distributor with the ball in his hands. Ultimately, Williams will likely get drafted in large part to his freakish athleticism and upside. If he can become a more effective shooter from the perimeter, and better learns how to use his overall athleticism, he could be a valuable asset to an NBA franchise. [Read Full Article]
Top NBA Draft Prospects in the Big East (Part One: #1-#5) October 20, 2007 Entering the 07-08 season, Williams currently holds the spot for the top wing prospect in the Big East. Averaging 12.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game, he shocked many opposing teams last season who thought he was merely a one dimensional scorer. The Seattle native will have the opportunity to build upon those numbers this season, on a team that is talented enough to contend for a national championship.
To start things off, Williams is a physical freak. At around 6’6, he has a ripped 215 pound body with the potential to add more weight if he desires. The explosive quickness that he owns translates to both ends of the floor, in his first step on offense and his ability to move laterally on defense. To top things off, he has the ability to absolutely jump out of the gym, evidenced by his dunk contest title at the 2005 Adidas Derby Classic.
Offensively, there are many times out there where Williams can be a nightmare for opposing defenders. His explosive first step, ability to shoot the ball from deep, and athleticism are tough to handle when fully utilized. He even occasionally uses his strength to post smaller defenders, as well. Williams has the ability to put up points in a hurry, usually through nailing multiple three point shots…when he’s hot. He displays nice mechanics and a quick release on his shot, while getting off the ground ridiculously high on his release. It could actually be said that Williams jumps a bit too high on shot depending on whom you speak with, due to the fact that he often shoots the ball on the way down, creating an inconsistent release point.
Equally as impressive as Williams’ variety of ways to score is his ability to pass the ball for a player standing 6’6. The 3.8 assists per game that he averaged places him amongst the elite distributors from the wing positions, and given Louisville’s lack of a true floor general, he will have the ability to maintain those numbers in 07-08. His ability to pass the ball serves as a testament to how versatile he can be on the offensive end, when he fully utilizes his immense skill set.
That leads us into our next point, that being whether or not he will ever put it all together on a consistent basis. Throughout his career, Williams has displayed downright awful shot selection, and his field goal percentage reflects that. He shot 36% from the field, 26% from the three point arc, and 60% from the charity stripe. What is even more shocking is that for a player with such an explosive first step and ability to get to the cup, he shot twice as many three pointers and he did free throws.
Terrence’s tendency to jack up three pointer after three pointer frustrated many, and severely limited his scoring potential. We are looking at a player who owns the ability to get to the rim on any player in the country, and who can pass the ball just as well as any wing in the land, yet chooses to shoot a 3-pointer almost every other time he attempts a shot. If Williams learns the meaning of shot selection and grasps the fact that he can get to the basket at will, it will be downright scary to see what he does this year in the Big East.
On the defensive side of things, Terrence has shown the ability to be a true lockdown defender. His size, strength, and lateral quickness allow him to pester any player that he is guarding. One NBA scout who we spoke with compared him to Tony Allen on the defensive end, which seems reasonable considering the athletic ability that both players posses. The problem with Williams is that he gambles far too frequently, often leaving him out of position on D. If he would be able to stop reaching for so many steals and biting for shot fakes, there is no doubt that we would be talking about Williams as one of the finest perimeter defenders in college basketball.
With all of the physical gifts and the immense talent that Williams possesses, it’s only natural that his name will enter into the mix of NBA wing prospects as well, granted that he is able to put together the type of season that his upside suggests he might. He drastically needs to improve upon the efficiency ratings that placed him amongst some of the worst draft prospects in the NCAA, though. If Williams is able to show NBA personnel that he is an outstanding player, and not just an outstanding athlete, his draft position will look quite secure come April. [Read Full Article] adidas Nations Basketball Experience Notebook (Day 3+4), Part One August 8, 2007 The biggest story to emerge from the counselor games of the last two days was the play of Louisville swingman Terrence Williams, who is going into his junior season. Williams seems to have made some serious progress in his game over the past summer, and has surely convinced us that he’s more than deserving of a spot in he first round of our 2008 mock draft.
He played aggressive, but under control basketball, making good decisions in transition and half-court sets and taking full advantage of any opportunity he had to show off his explosive athleticism. Williams is built like an NBA player and is beginning to show the all-around game of one too, creating his own shot consistently from the perimeter and mixing in a steady offering of pull-up jumpers with strong takes to the basket.
One of the criticisms we had of Williams in the past was his tendency to settle too often for contested 3-pointers rather than using his excellent physical tools to make things happen via his slashing game. He only shot 37% from the field last year and 26% from behind the arc. Although we shouldn’t draw too many long term conclusions because of the nature of this setting, Williams seems to be making nice strides in this area. His handle looks better (although still improvable) and he’s clearly more committed to getting inside the paint and finishing. The shots he did take from the perimeter were mostly of the under control catch and shoot variety from behind the arc (which he hit at a good rate), while his mid-range game looks quite a bit more polished than we remember it being last season. Playing the pick and roll, Williams punished the defense on a number of occasions with a smooth jumper when they dared cheat and go underneath the screen in order to try to contain his dribble.
Defensively, Williams used his strength and lateral quickness nicely, even coming up with a couple of excellent blocks either on his man or rotating over from the weakside. Sasha Kaun was the victim of one of these rotations, as he was rejected viciously by the soaring Williams right at the rim.
The NBA scouts we talked to were just as impressed with Terrence Williams for what he showed over the course of the adidas nations basketball experience here in New Orleans. He seems to have helped his draft stock quite a bit amongst those in attendance. The comparison to Tony Allen was brought up, although it was noted that Williams has much better size and is already ahead of him at the same stage in terms of his perimeter shooting. Williams has the chance to really soar up the draft boards if he has the type of season we think he can under the careful guidance of Rick Pitino. [Read Full Article]
NCAA Tournament: Stock Watch (round of 32, Saturday)--Down/Neutral March 18, 2007 Terrence Williams, playing in the final game of his sophomore season, displayed the ups and downs of his game that perfectly magnify where he stands as a prospect at this point in time. On one hand, he forced shots and turned the ball over, but he also displayed flashes of talent and athleticism that make him an intriguing player to watch over the next season or two.
The biggest problem for Williams today was his love for the three point shot, despite the fact that he has only converted 26% of his attempts from this area on the season. Many of these shots came off the dribble and were closely contested, which caused Rick Pitino to pull his leading scorer from the game and talk to him on multiple occasions. With the clock winding down in the first half, Williams lost control of the ball out on the perimeter, and recklessly threw it out of bounds when he regained possession. Plays like these show off how underdeveloped his feel for the game is right now, and tell us that it will take some time and experience before he well be ready to think about the NBA.
Williams does have a great deal of talent to work with, and it all starts with his physical attributes. In addition to having a great body, he is an incredibly explosive athlete, as he proved with both an alley-oop dunk and a big block shot in the second half. He can get to the basket with ease thanks to his quick first step, and his ability to draw extra defenders and pass it off has allowed Williams to average nearly 4 assists per game on the season.
Williams quite obviously needs to return to school, and make a concerted effort to improve his shot selection and all-around polish. Physically, Williams he may be ready for the NBA, but there are some large holes in his game that will hold him back at this point. With another year or two of college, he just might evolve into the consistent scoring threat that he has the potential to be. He’s in a perfect situation under Rick Pitino to get there. [Read Full Article] Adidas Derby Classic Recap April 19, 2005 The first thing that stands out to fans is Terrence's amazing physique. He honestly looks like he could be a linebacker for Louisville's college football team. During the slam dunk competition, Williams wowed the crowd with a windmill in which he switched the ball from his right to his left rim, an arm in the rim dunk (a la Vince Carter), an amazing between the legs dunk, and then a between the legs dunk off of a lob. He is a truly marvelous athlete.
As far as the game was concerned, Williams was the best player on the floor. He showed an absolutely amazing first step, the ability to shoot from deep, and the ability to simply outleap any player on the floor. Terrence abused absolutely any player who was guarding him with his great quickness and strength. Defensively, I didn't focus on Terrence too much as I had many other players that I had to focus on. As far as his NBA potential, Terrence must work on his ball handling skills in order to play small forward at the next level. Greg Paulus mentioned to me that he thought Williams reminded him of Corey Maggette. It must be noted that Terrence seemed to be closer to 6'4 then 6'6. Whatever his actual height may be, it is a given that he will be one of the most exciting players in college basketball next year for the Cardinals. [Read Full Article]
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