Massive human. Measured 6 feet 10.5 without shoes at the G League Elite Camp with a 7-foot-6 wingspan and a 9-foot-3 standing reach. Weighs 255 pounds and is very physically strong.
Williams could be a terrific passing big man in an era when just about every team is playing five-out even with non-shooting bigs by involving them early in the action with entries at the top of the key. Williams averaged 3.2 assists per game this year, and some of his passes were ridiculous. Has true vision as a playmaker for others. Loves to find backdoor cutters from the top of the key that are either shooting to the rim from the baseline or cutting off potential dribble-handoffs with him. Uses his height to see over the top of the defense and is excellent at passing over players by using his long arms. Was good as a passer and decision-maker from the post, although he could occasionally turn it over. Wherever he ends up playing, Williams' passing is an asset.
Was largely a post presence at Kentucky this year for his own scoring, something that he likely won't do much in the NBA. Would try to get to his left hand over his right shoulder, either by using a drop step or by getting to his hook shot. Also got to the foul line a lot this year, averaging 5.1 attempts per game.
When he was playing within the flow of Kentucky's offense, he would largely be asked to either play out top or sit in the dunker spot. When he was there, he was quite good at finishing. Made 64% of his half-court shot attempts at the rim. Would try to dunk everything, but if he couldn't he was comfortable enough going up with his left hand to finish. The other thing he would do effectively from the lower part of the court was rebound offensively. Grabbed 2.1 offensive rebounds per game, using his incredibly long arms to tap the ball out for teammates.
Defensively, he largely played in a very deep drop that was conservative by nature to limit his moments outside of the paint. Did a solid job making the opponents' lives harder when they tried to foray into the paint. Blocked 2.1 shots per game this year. Opponents shot 6.6% worse at the rim when Williams was in versus when he was out of the game. teams still shot 64.5% at the rim when he was in, which wasn't a great number. But he clearly made an impact with his length. Also showcased his ability to contest floaters and midrange jumpers.
Has fairly active hands on defense. Uses his length well to keep in touching distance of the ballhandler while also cutting off angles as he backpedals into the paint.
Not a high-level athlete by NBA standards. Very ground-bound as a leaper. His dunks tend to come from just being longer than everyone else. On defense, he doesn't move his feet well enough. Feels very heavy-footed. Maybe he could thin out his frame and add a bit of quickness, but it's tough to project that.
Williams felt a bit out of control more often than you'd like to see. Had some moments where he tried to lead the break himself, something that would be theoretically valuable given his ability to rebound on the defensive end and his vision. But he's not tight enough of a ballhandler to take advantage of it. Would need to drastically improve this for it to become even remotely workable.
Kind of a strange player to fit into a scheme. Very comfortable with the ball out high, but because he's not a great athlete, he's not much of a downhill rim presence. Didn't create much pressure on the basket with his rolls to the rim. More just rolls into post-ups. Only made 12 shots out of pick-and-rolls this season, remarkably low for this player type. Not sure you can project him effectively pressuring in ball screens with how slow he is.
It feels unlikely at this stage that Williams will shoot the ball from distance. Only took 30 3s in 141 collegiate games, and the results weren't great. Only made nine of them, with seven of those coming in his second and third seasons when he experimented with it a bit more often. Was only a 62.8% career foul shooter.
Essentially, the question here is whether Williams can effectively score in the NBA. Made a lot of shots this year out of post-ups that won't be effective because he's relatively ground bound and doesn't have elite touch. He doesn't project to shoot it, and he isn't much of a roller.
Defensively, he doesn't move well enough to be viable on the perimeter against guards. If he gets strung out and caught on an island, it's curtains. NBA players will turn the corner against him far too easily. The good news is that he has the length to recover in these circumstances. But he needs to become utterly elite with his angles in drop coverage to make this work.
Even then, he still might give up too many pull-up jumpers. The Wildcats hemorrhaged 3-point attempts all season, and their conservative defense was a big reason why. Any time they played a team with a spacing five, it was hard for Williams to deal with the pick-and-pop action. He was plodding on his closeouts when he was forced to scramble out to a shooter, which will be an issue at the next level.
This is where we start to get into real question marks as to whether someone is worth a two-way deal. I'm not sure that anyone beyond this point would be, and I'm skeptical I'd do it for Williams. I love the passing, and he's quite long. If a team thinks that they can maybe add some explosiveness to his frame by reducing his weight and thinning out his body, I'd be willing to hear that out. But that would be the key to giving Williams a two-way.
