Latavious Williams made history last night, but who is this guy?
By J.G. Marking 
Special to Daily Thunder
NBA history was made last night as the Tulsa 66ers selected power forward Latavious Williams with the 16th overall pick in the NBA’s Developmental League Draft, as Williams will become the first player to ever go straight from high school to the D-League (Dan Shanoff was kind enough to write a post for TrueHoop about just how historical the Latavious Williams jump from high school to D-League is.)
History-making aside, what are the chances that Williams can develop into a legitimate NBA player who can challenge for a roster spot when he’s taken in the NBA Draft in June 2010? Wait, what? Oh, that’s right, there is a little issue with the rules of this history-making event because a player can’t be taken in the NBA draft unless he is 19 years old and, unless he is an international player, he must be one year past his high school class graduation (remember Brandon Jennings?), thus, the 66ers (and thereby the Thunder) could get to watch Williams develop and stun the D-League with his talent, only to watch him get drafted by another team.
But is Latavious Williams a legitimate NBA prospect? Well he was one of the most highly touted recruits from two recruiting classes (you’ll understand that after the jump), let’s have a look…
Latavious Williams, the 6’8 205 lb SF/PF originally from Starksville, Mississippi, was an ESPN Top 150 prospect for the 2008 class, however because of insufficient grades, enrolled at Progressive Christian in the spring of 2008 to try and improve his scores enough to qualify academically (thus rolling him back into the 2009 class). With his grades still in question and his family in a precarious financial situation, per his consultant Trey Godfrey, Latavious decided not to attend Memphis (where he gave his verbal commitment to despite being recruited by Georgetown and Kansas State as well) and briefly considered playing professionally in China and Europe before deciding to enter his name into the NBA’s D-League draft.
But the question remains, can he play? Well the simple answer is, of course, otherwise he wouldn’t even get a sniff of the D-League. But Williams can really, really play, he’s just really, really raw. It has never been a question of Williams’ athleticism when it comes to making the jump from prep to pro’s, it has always been the question of whether he would develop into a multi-faceted player and if his skill and basketball IQ would ever reach the same level as his stunning physical gifts.
Williams has the length and leaping ability to control the offensive and defensive boards despite being 6’8 and only 205 lbs (soaking wet), even against bigger, stronger and taller players. He’s very, very quick off of his feet and has excellent agility. Williams is very aggressive on the offensive side of the court and is very Tyrus Thomas-like in his penchant for put-backs and tip-dunks off of offensive rebounds. His vertical jump and wingspan should grant him the ability to rackup quite a few defensive rebounds both in the post and around the perimeter but Williams still has not figured out how to do this quite yet.
Along those lines, Williams is clearly much more focused and concerned with the offensive side of the ball than the defensive side, and this little habit of his will need to be quickly rectified if he has any hopes of seeing playing time in the D-League, let alone on the stage (they call the jump from Minor Leagues to Major League “going to the show” in baseball so I’m just throwing out “the Stage” now for the jump from D-League to the NBA, any suggestions are welcome).
Offensively and defensively, Williams is the quintessential tweener. Whether he develops into a small forward or power forward at the next level, Williams will have to add strength and muscle mass to his frame–and fast. Williams is not the best ball handler and he has difficulty hitting open jumpshots past 15 feet, but on the flip side, he is not very skilled in the post and is primarily a face-to-the-basket power forward. Were Williams able to add some back-to-the-basket post moves to his offensive repertoire as well as improve his dribbling and shooting ability, Williams would remind many 66ers and Thunder fans of the multi-faceted DJ White, with even more athletic ability at his disposal, especially quickness and vertical leap.
As of right now, I’d lean towards Williams developing into a, you guessed it, PF more than a SF right now (after all, we are talking about a potential Thunder roster spot so wouldn’t he have to be a PF tweener?), but with his eye-opening athleticism, Williams really could play either forward position and develop into a very, very nice player IF he wants to put the time and effort into developing the skill side (fundamentals and basketball IQ) of playing basketball to maximize the athletic gifts he already has.
Of course if he does develop and gets drafted by another NBA team after playing with the 66ers all year then I reserve the right to complain about this history making event as much as I want. But with Mullens (surely) going to the 66ers once their games start and Weaver (likely) seeing some action there, too, perhaps even running the point, those D-League games in Tulsa might just be a little more interesting and significant for Thunder fans than we ever thought possible.
Sounds like if he puts in the work (and on the weight) he could be the next Josh Smith. Smith is very much a tweener himself in that he gets the weakside blocks and sometimes rebounds of a PF, but loves taking low percentage (for him) shots outside of 20 feet and drifting around the perimeter on offense. Smith was even another preps to pro guy. I think if Williams really wants to make it in the NBA, he should hit the weights and watch Josh Smith.
@Keith
Excellent comparison, Keith…I was very hesitant to use someone as special and talented as Josh Smith for Latavious Williams because that’s an awfully high bar to set for him, but yes, the comparison in skillset, athleticism and work left to do are very, very similar.
I will say, though, that Latavious doesn’t seem to show the defensive penchant for blocking shots and grabbing weakside, defensive rebounds that Smith does and always has.
JG, did you have access to some of this guy’s film?
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
There’s a surprising amount of access to Latavious Williams out there, I’m assuming because of him being in two years of recruiting.
Furthermore, there are even more (almost shocking) amounts of stories, breakdowns, commentaries on him as well. From Scouts, to ESPN, to Rivals, to various other outlets that are a little less known, A LOT of individuals have had their eye on Latavious for a long time.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Wait, I didn’t answer your question. Yes, I did.
But so can a lot of people. I’d imagine a simple google of “Latavious Williams video” would hit at least 10-15 different sites, all with different footage.
@J.G.
Any suggestions on a few of the more interesting links? I just looked him up on youtube and I get the typical dunk here, dunk there highlights.
@J.G.
Josh Smith was in no way a finished product when he entered the league either. It took him 2 years to do much on the boards and only last year did he post a solid FG% for his position. I think Josh Smith is very much a player who has been highly overrated by his highlight reel plays. Now, is he a quality starter at a relatively strong position? Yes, but I honestly wouldn’t call him a supreme player by any stretch.
Though even if you are high on Smith, which is fine, I think having Williams watch him isn’t asking too much. Smith is a poor ball-handler and passer, just like Williams, but he gets the most out of his talents when he plays within himself. When he plays around the basket he gets a lot of passes where he just has to finish. When he blocks out he can haul in a lot of rebounds. When he rotates properly he gets monster blocks. And conversely when he doesn’t do those things it’s very very easy to take him out of the game. Josh Smith is actually a pretty great player for any player based more on athleticism than skill. All his good and bad points are easy to see and can hopefully teach players to play within themselves and work with their strengths.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Do you subscribe to Rivals and Scouts by any chance? The majority of information on him was easy to find when he was a big Memphis signee (I’m originally from Memphis but graduated from Oklahoma State for my undergrad) so if you followed the Tigers, there was an ample amount of Latavious love out there, even through the Derrick Rose SAT stuff, up until and a little after signing day.
Not sure if youtube has extended clips of his post game, defensive rotations, etc. He also played at the Manhattan Classic when Kansas State was pushing for him so there might be some old footage of that still lying around too if you want to google that.
Otherwise, it was just something of a coincidence that the 66ers took a player I’d already had on my radar as a Memphis fan. And by no means do I want anyone to think that this is an end-all summary, either, just another fan’s thoughts on what little he’s seen, but even a little is usually enough to get a good idea on a player, strengths and weaknesses wise.
I gotcha. No, I don’t subscribe to either. I’ll check to see if they have any free stuff on him.
Now you’ve got my interest piqued. I wanna see this kid play!
Yeah, I honestly thought the Josh Smith comparison from Keith was a sarcastic backhanded compliment, but then I realized maybe it wasn’t? haha…
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Haha…well I was just afraid everyone was going to be like, “Dude, what were you doing watching the D-League draft on NBATV last night? Get a life, loser.”
Please don’t judge me, it’s just…drafts. I don’t know why but I just love them, like a moth to a flame. If there was a Bowling Tricks Draft on the Ocho, I’d probably watch that too, maybe even brush up on who was in it and what their relative strengths and weaknesses are.
@spike
The thing about Josh Smith that has always frustrated me is that he has such an unique set of talents and such a raw combination of athleticism that if he ever could put it all together and really buy into the philosophy of whoever is coaching him, man, he’d be a nightmare (though him being the youngest player to 900 blocks in NBA history shows that he already is something of an imposing force around the rim).
But yeah, I took it as a compliment but can see the backhanded part now, too.
@J.G.
Isn’t that just the thing with Smith? If he were to say one day, “You know what? For the rest of the season I’m not playing more than 15 feet from the basket on offense and I’m going to consistently make rotations on defense,” he could easily be a 20 and 10 guy with 3.5 blocks. But he won’t, because he loves taking bad shots and focusing more on defensive highlights. I suppose it could be a backhanded compliment to compare these two, but I really didn’t mean it that way. Josh Smith is like a how-to basketball video for elite athletes. Every game even the average fan can watch and say, “Wow, that was an amazing use of his natural talents,” just as easily as, “wow, if that guy would have just stuck to what worked, he wouldn’t have been a liability on the court the last 5 minutes.”
@Keith
Excellent post.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Check this profile on him out from Draftexpress.
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Latavious-Williams-5681/
@GAP
Thanks for the link. I didn’t know Draft Express did D-League recaps.
nice Article. As LW Agent I would like to add that he has as much talent at his age as several of my current and past players he is a kid who has a PASSION” for the game. He is willing to work and has proven to me to have what it takes to play at a high level in the NBA, I look forward to watching him develop over the D League season.
ay man he sounds nice nd all. bt what if this kid dnt develop… we’ll be calling him the next ndudi ebi ahhaah (who member him)!