ROBERT WILLIAMS?

[Blazinaway]

Guy has been screaming up the draft boards, seems raw but looks like a classic new breed PF/C. Seems like a guy the Blazers could use and might fit well with Nurkic. He needs a thread of his own, be interested to see more thoughts on him and where he is likely to be drafted?

[doordoor123]

He has a high floor and high ceiling. The reality will likely be in the middle. The reason I like him is because to succeed in the NBA you need a distinct advantage. He's not skilled enough to have that yet, but IF he gets more skilled and can figure out one or two unstoppable moves he can be a big player in the league because he has the length and athleticism to have an unstoppable move or two. It's going to take time to get a good return from him, heshould get minutes right away for his defense though. Really needs to get drafted by the right team.

[Blazinaway]

He has a high floor and high ceiling. The reality will likely be in the middle. The reason I like him is because to succeed in the NBA you need a distinct advantage. He's not skilled enough to have that yet, but IF he gets more skilled and can figure out one or two unstoppable moves he can be a big player in the league because he has the length and athleticism to have an unstoppable move or two. It's going to take time to get a good return from him, heshould get minutes right away for his defense though. Really needs to get drafted by the right team.

Blazers have a huge need for good bigs, Nurkic "appears" a good first step but they desperately need talent/potential up front and given their huge team salary the draft is where they are likely going to get it. Meyers is worthless and Vonleh just has not improved enough in any way even though he has gotten minutes.

[reanimator]

Haven't watched much of him to be truthful. How does he compare to say....Tyrus Thomas or Cheick Diallo

[GimmeDat]

I haven't seen a lot of him but the physical attributes are there, he seems to be progressing his skill-set, and the major draft sites seem really sold on him - 12th on DX and 9th on nbadraft.net.

I think both him and Patton are really going to end up skirting that edge of the top 10. If teams are desperate for a big I could see them being reached for near the back end of the top 10 at best.

For the record I'd take Patton over him, though.

[jonjames]

Wasn't terribly impressed with him. I think hes good value late 1st round but him going in the lottery is a headscratcher. He does most of his damage within 5-8ft near the basket and has tendency to disappear for stretches. Reminds me of Al Farouq Aminu when he was at Wake Forest but far less skilled. Could be another tyrus thomas.

[MotownMadness]

Wasn't terribly impressed with him. I think hes good value late 1st round but him going in the lottery is a headscratcher. He does most of his damage within 5-8ft near the basket and has tendency to disappear for stretches. Reminds me of Al Farouq Aminu when he was at Wake Forest but far less skilled. Could be another tyrus thomas.

Yeah I've tried to watch him play a couple times now and end up changing the channel cause I get so bored waiting for him to show me something.

[RipCity71252]

Checked in on Williams vs Vanderbilt today and saw a lot of the same. He did surprise me with his ability to read the floor and make a pass though, whether it was out top in semi transition or in the post. None of it was necessarily high level stuff, but it was nice to see some feel and IQ out of him in that area of the game. The problem is is that if you are realistic about his likely role in an nba offense, it's hard to envision him getting many touches in positions to make it all that valuable when projecting him going forward.

He still has no clue how to guard the pnr (A&M opted to switch any involving him in this game) or defending the perimeter in general. Much more of a block hunter than quality interior defender at this point, and you still see him loafing around the court for the most part unless he's directly involved in a play.

He's such a good catch and finish guy in space, he should be running the floor a lot more often and right now you rarely see him in a full sprint. I guess you can blame some of that on coaching / scheme as they do like to use him as the swing guy out top in their offense, so he'll trail and they'll flow into that a lot of the time, but when you see him lazily running back in defensive transition time after time, I start to question the motor a bit.

The biggest thing I need to see for him is physical play and actually working for position on both ends rather than just relying on his length and leaping ability. Right now, he plays incredibly soft and seems pretty averse to contact, and if he truly is an undersized center, he's going to need to do a 180 in regards to his mindset out on the floor if he wants to be successful.

And while this looks like another bashing of Robert WIlliams, he does project to be an elite lob target where he'll definitely have gravity as a roll man and should also be successful in dunker spot situations if he learns to embrace contact. HIs combination of soft hands, leaping ability and elite length truly makes him special here.

Is that enough to make him a lottery pick?...I don't think so. I think you're having to project way too much to think he's a guy you can trust to be a starting level player. But I could definitely see someone falling in love with his physical gifts and hoping they're able to transform his mindset and refine his game. Especially when you consider how lackluster this big man class is, where outside of Markennen, there's really not another guy with an outlier next level skill

[treefi]

John Collins > Robert Williams

[No-Man]

Haven't watched much of him to be truthful. How does he compare to say....Tyrus Thomas or Cheick Diallo

Better frame than Diallo, better shooter than both, less of a crazy athlete than TT but good, can pass some, his main issues are defending away from the ball on defense, his close-outs are bad and screening, but thats typical from young bigs, he is also playing the 3 a lot, which is no bueno.

[doordoor123]

Haven't watched much of him to be truthful. How does he compare to say....Tyrus Thomas or Cheick Diallo

Better frame than Diallo, better shooter than both, less of a crazy athlete than TT but good, can pass some, his main issues are defending away from the ball on defense, his close-outs are bad and screening, but thats typical from young bigs, he is also playing the 3 a lot, which is no bueno.

As someone who is still really high on Diallo, I don't like the comparison. Diallo has a higher ceiling and Williams is even more raw than Diallo was, but at an older age. Also think Diallo is tougher and quicker.

[Ruzious]

I haven't seen a lot of him but the physical attributes are there, he seems to be progressing his skill-set, and the major draft sites seem really sold on him - 12th on DX and 9th on nbadraft.net.

I think both him and Patton are really going to end up skirting that edge of the top 10. If teams are desperate for a big I could see them being reached for near the back end of the top 10 at best.

For the record I'd take Patton over him, though.

This is how I see it as well with where Patton and Williams will go. I'm much higher on Patton - hoping he continues to get stronger so he can hold his ground better. There's more risk with Willams, and I think the reward is about the same. I'm not convinced Williams has the BBIQ and plays physically tough enough to excel in the NBA as a starter, but that could change in the right environment. He's certainly gifted physically.

[Ruzious]

Looking at video and stats of Williams' recent games, I think I might have jumped the gun in downgrading him. He's looking stronger - particularly on the defensive side - where I thought he looked soft earlier in the season. And his shot-blocking numbers are actually better than Patton's. With his length, strong frame, athleticism, and improvement, he's a legit top 10 pick now, imo.

[doordoor123]

Looking at video and stats of Williams' recent games, I think I might have jumped the gun in downgrading him. He's looking stronger - particularly on the defensive side - where I thought he looked soft earlier in the season. And his shot-blocking numbers are actually better than Patton's. With his length, strong frame, athleticism, and improvement, he's a legit top 10 pick now, imo.

Doesn't mean he's going to be good. I thought Vonleh would be good for the same reasons.

[Ruzious]

Looking at video and stats of Williams' recent games, I think I might have jumped the gun in downgrading him. He's looking stronger - particularly on the defensive side - where I thought he looked soft earlier in the season. And his shot-blocking numbers are actually better than Patton's. With his length, strong frame, athleticism, and improvement, he's a legit top 10 pick now, imo.

Doesn't mean he's going to be good. I thought Vonleh would be good for the same reasons.

A lot of smart people were wrong about Vonleh, but there are reasons to expect that Williams is the better prospect. Williams has a big advantage in production - with a PER of 28.1 vs Vonleh's 22.8, and Williams is a much better shot-blocker - 4.4 vs 2.1 per 40 minutes. Williams is a more explosive athlete, imo. Vonleh might jump as high, but Williams gets off the floor quicker.

[toussaud]

Saw this kid live Wednesday. This dudes arms just don't end. Elite ELITE level rim protector capability


He's gonna be a top 8 pick. He looks like shot cause he has no guards but he has some bbiq and can pick and roll right now

[RipCity71252]

I think I've figured out where I'm at with Robert Williams' upside going forward.

If he can gain some coordination and develop the fundamentals needed to guard pnr/space and play the PF and also stretch his range to 3, he has all-star potential as a Serge Ibaka type. If he doesn't, he struggles to make it as a starter. He's got great length, but I'm not sure he' has enough offensive skill potential inside the arc or the frame/lower body strength+physicality+reach to be a quality defensive anchor at center.

For that reason, I've started to come around on him as a lottery pick. It was made even easier after realizing how little starter/star potential there is in this draft past the top 10 or so.

[JamesConway]

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Great read

[Catchall]

Looking at video and stats of Williams' recent games, I think I might have jumped the gun in downgrading him. He's looking stronger - particularly on the defensive side - where I thought he looked soft earlier in the season. And his shot-blocking numbers are actually better than Patton's. With his length, strong frame, athleticism, and improvement, he's a legit top 10 pick now, imo.

Doesn't mean he's going to be good. I thought Vonleh would be good for the same reasons.

A lot of smart people were wrong about Vonleh, but there are reasons to expect that Williams is the better prospect. Williams has a big advantage in production - with a PER of 28.1 vs Vonleh's 22.8, and Williams is a much better shot-blocker - 4.4 vs 2.1 per 40 minutes. Williams is a more explosive athlete, imo. Vonleh might jump as high, but Williams gets off the floor quicker.

Vonleh's issue is that he's a bit slow, and he's a PF/C tweener. Vonleh should ideally be a 3rd big with some shooting touch like a Sam Perkins. Williams is more mobile that Vonleh, imo, and should have more impact as a result.

[JamesConway]

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Texas A&M has suspended Admon Gilder, D.J. Hogg and Robert Williams for violating school policy. All 3 will miss tonight's exhibition game and Williams will miss the first two regular season games. JJ Caldwell already suspended for the first 4 games of the regular season.