Here are 2 interesting workout summaries for Jay Williams, former Duke guard and #2 pick, who worked out with UConn guard Marcus Williams and others last week in LA. It sounds promising, and we are in need of a backup PG. To my knowledge, he has no plans of working out for the Kings, but it would be exciting to get a former #2 pick as a FA pickup. It came from draftexpress.com and was cut out of the larger article, http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?mod=print&a=1321.
Jay Williams, 6-2, 24 years old, Point Guard, Duke
Eric Weiss
The real surprise of this workout to be sure, Jay Williams’ comeback has been rumored since the beginning of last season. Jay picked an excellent workout partner to spar with over the past month in picking Marcus Williams. The two players are so similar in size and skill set it just a great pairing for all that they are working on.
While Jay Williams’ game may at one point have consisted of raw speed and power, it now has taken on a much more cognitive tone. Williams is still a physical marvel as his body looks to be hewn out of stone. He uses his strength and physical presence on both sides of the ball and was extremely vocal as well.
Jay was perhaps the best overall shooter of the 3 players working out. While Marcus hit his shots equally well from any point on the court, Jay clearly had the cleaner and quicker shot. Jay had a little bit of difficulty hitting his step back jumper driving right to left, but these misses were shots that rimmed out and Williams displayed all the form and ball rotation any player could ask for. His drives were strong and he finished with a series of different in-between shots, including reverses, tear drops from the baseline, tear drops from the center, finger rolls, off glass, off the wrong foot, etc.
It makes sense that Williams would have developed his shot significantly over the past two seasons because it is probably the first thing he could do on a basketball court while recovering from injury. But, Williams certainly seized the opportunity and put the time into his shooting consistency and it showed. Williams started off by rimming out some of his three point attempts, but finished off with a strong 8 for 10 showing. His ball rotation, arc, and elevation were fundamentally flawless.
In the competitive play, Jay’s experience and physical maturity made him stand out. Jay put on a passing clinic with every type of quality assist in the book. He looped easy entry passes over the top of a fronting defender, he drove right or left and found the spot up shooter, he would bounce a pass to the cutter out of the corner of his eye, or he would cut the bounce pass with the quick no-look that would give his teammate a clear path for the dunk. Jay out-passed the more heralded Marcus Williams and really stole the show in the assist department, showing far more pure point guard tendencies than the Jay Williams of a few years ago who was recklessly diving toward the lane looking to score or simply looking to figure it out when he got there.
As far as motion was concerned, Jay looked controlled and confident in his movements. He used a good crouch and wide footing to keep a low center of gravity to accelerate out of his breaks, and handled the ball very well even when the defensive pressure was brought to bear. Jay looked as comfortable going left as he did right when attacking the basket or setting up teammates, and controlled the ball with either hand. His change of direction and footwork enabled him to get to spots on the court where he could make plays, and almost every possession he controlled resulted in a basket. Jay showed nice footwork and foot speed and kept himself moving much like Marcus Williams.
The most outstanding element of his showing was the vocal nature he displayed on almost every play. He would mix it up between playful banter and serious council. You could tell on the court that everything that transpired was important and worthy of detailed attention.
There were not a tremendous amount of negatives to his showing. He had a little difficulty finishing shots going left, but nothing evident from his movement or delivery indicated that this was some type of problem. Also, not getting a chance to look at his physicals, there is no way for us to determine how durable he is now or what possible issues may remain from the past. But NBA teams will certainly look into the possibility of all physical concerns and if he is cleared to play there’s not much to complain about. With 6 or 7 workouts already in the books, starting with the Toronto Raptors, it shouldn’t take long for Jay Williams to find a suitor for his talents.
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Jonathan Givony
Just seeing Jay Williams walk onto the court was a surprise in itself (we had no prior warning), but then seeing the strides he has made in the past two years since his accident came as a downright shock.
From the moment the workout started and till the second it ended, there was absolutely no doubt how committed Jay Williams is to the task at hand. He wants to play in the NBA more than any player I have seen train in the past 3 years, and he goes at it with a determination that would impress even the most casual of fans. Williams executed every drill with tremendous precision and intensity, going the extra mile and doing more than he was told even when there was absolutely no need to.
In the shooting drills he showed the best form of the three, but was streaky in the way that he would heat up and then cool off abruptly. He shot 3/8 in the first straightaway NBA 3-point shooting contest, then 3/7, and then 8/10 His ball-handling skills are phenomenal as always, and his personality made this a light-hearted workout when appropriate, but still serious enough when it was time to truly get down to business.
In the 3 on 3 was when we really started getting feelings of déjà vu. Williams got his team off to a very quick start by absolutely dominating through his passing; showing outstanding court vision both on the drive and dish as well as from static positions. Bounce passes, lobs, or two-handed bullet passes threading the needle between multiple defenders for an easy basket; everything was made so simple for his teammates. He hasn’t lost anything in the ways of his point guard skills from his time at Duke, and to a certain extent appears to have greatly improved, and he did it all gracefully and effortlessly with no hesitation whatsoever. Readjusting himself to the speed of the NBA will be one of the first things he will need to do, but from what he showed us here, he is clearly on the right track.
Being so strong in his lower body with an extremely low center of gravity, he changes gears quickly and powerfully and gets to where he needs to on the floor with the greatest of ease. His first step and overall quickness looked absolutely fine, and this might have been the best sign to come out of this workout as far as his recovery process goes.
Further emphasizing the type of player he is at the moment was the activity level he showed. He was constantly getting in the passing lanes to come up with steals, going down to the low post for offensive rebounds, and just outsmarting and outplaying everyone else in stretches with his intelligence, experience and sheer tenacity. His 3-point shot warmed up quickly as the game progressed, particularly from the corners where he knocked down a number of 3-pointers from NBA range.
Where Williams really shined was with the leadership skills he’s always possessed throughout his career. He was constantly talking to his workout buddies and giving them little tidbits of advice, encouraging them, showing them how they might improve on certain things, and seemingly telling them to take every opportunity they have right now since you never know when that opportunity might be gone.
Williams looks the part on an NBA point guard and plays like one too. His full explosiveness might never be back, but he’s obviously coming to grips with that and is learning how to do the little things that most basketball players pick up later on in their career. His lateral quickness might be the thing that he needs to improve the most on at the moment, as players like Strawberry and Marcus Williams blew by him at times with their initial first step. With that said, there is little doubt from what we saw here that he can contribute somewhere next year in a backup role, and there is always the upside of him regaining most or all of the physical tools that made him such an incredible college player to start with. The passing, shooting and intangibles he brings to the table should allow him to start off in a 10-15 minute role, and anything beyond that is gravy both for him and the lucky NBA team that is able to sign him. What's strange is that at age 24, he is actually younger than a few players in this draft.
Jay Williams, 6-2, 24 years old, Point Guard, Duke
Eric Weiss
The real surprise of this workout to be sure, Jay Williams’ comeback has been rumored since the beginning of last season. Jay picked an excellent workout partner to spar with over the past month in picking Marcus Williams. The two players are so similar in size and skill set it just a great pairing for all that they are working on.
While Jay Williams’ game may at one point have consisted of raw speed and power, it now has taken on a much more cognitive tone. Williams is still a physical marvel as his body looks to be hewn out of stone. He uses his strength and physical presence on both sides of the ball and was extremely vocal as well.
Jay was perhaps the best overall shooter of the 3 players working out. While Marcus hit his shots equally well from any point on the court, Jay clearly had the cleaner and quicker shot. Jay had a little bit of difficulty hitting his step back jumper driving right to left, but these misses were shots that rimmed out and Williams displayed all the form and ball rotation any player could ask for. His drives were strong and he finished with a series of different in-between shots, including reverses, tear drops from the baseline, tear drops from the center, finger rolls, off glass, off the wrong foot, etc.
It makes sense that Williams would have developed his shot significantly over the past two seasons because it is probably the first thing he could do on a basketball court while recovering from injury. But, Williams certainly seized the opportunity and put the time into his shooting consistency and it showed. Williams started off by rimming out some of his three point attempts, but finished off with a strong 8 for 10 showing. His ball rotation, arc, and elevation were fundamentally flawless.
In the competitive play, Jay’s experience and physical maturity made him stand out. Jay put on a passing clinic with every type of quality assist in the book. He looped easy entry passes over the top of a fronting defender, he drove right or left and found the spot up shooter, he would bounce a pass to the cutter out of the corner of his eye, or he would cut the bounce pass with the quick no-look that would give his teammate a clear path for the dunk. Jay out-passed the more heralded Marcus Williams and really stole the show in the assist department, showing far more pure point guard tendencies than the Jay Williams of a few years ago who was recklessly diving toward the lane looking to score or simply looking to figure it out when he got there.
As far as motion was concerned, Jay looked controlled and confident in his movements. He used a good crouch and wide footing to keep a low center of gravity to accelerate out of his breaks, and handled the ball very well even when the defensive pressure was brought to bear. Jay looked as comfortable going left as he did right when attacking the basket or setting up teammates, and controlled the ball with either hand. His change of direction and footwork enabled him to get to spots on the court where he could make plays, and almost every possession he controlled resulted in a basket. Jay showed nice footwork and foot speed and kept himself moving much like Marcus Williams.
The most outstanding element of his showing was the vocal nature he displayed on almost every play. He would mix it up between playful banter and serious council. You could tell on the court that everything that transpired was important and worthy of detailed attention.
There were not a tremendous amount of negatives to his showing. He had a little difficulty finishing shots going left, but nothing evident from his movement or delivery indicated that this was some type of problem. Also, not getting a chance to look at his physicals, there is no way for us to determine how durable he is now or what possible issues may remain from the past. But NBA teams will certainly look into the possibility of all physical concerns and if he is cleared to play there’s not much to complain about. With 6 or 7 workouts already in the books, starting with the Toronto Raptors, it shouldn’t take long for Jay Williams to find a suitor for his talents.
-------------
Jonathan Givony
Just seeing Jay Williams walk onto the court was a surprise in itself (we had no prior warning), but then seeing the strides he has made in the past two years since his accident came as a downright shock.
From the moment the workout started and till the second it ended, there was absolutely no doubt how committed Jay Williams is to the task at hand. He wants to play in the NBA more than any player I have seen train in the past 3 years, and he goes at it with a determination that would impress even the most casual of fans. Williams executed every drill with tremendous precision and intensity, going the extra mile and doing more than he was told even when there was absolutely no need to.
In the shooting drills he showed the best form of the three, but was streaky in the way that he would heat up and then cool off abruptly. He shot 3/8 in the first straightaway NBA 3-point shooting contest, then 3/7, and then 8/10 His ball-handling skills are phenomenal as always, and his personality made this a light-hearted workout when appropriate, but still serious enough when it was time to truly get down to business.
In the 3 on 3 was when we really started getting feelings of déjà vu. Williams got his team off to a very quick start by absolutely dominating through his passing; showing outstanding court vision both on the drive and dish as well as from static positions. Bounce passes, lobs, or two-handed bullet passes threading the needle between multiple defenders for an easy basket; everything was made so simple for his teammates. He hasn’t lost anything in the ways of his point guard skills from his time at Duke, and to a certain extent appears to have greatly improved, and he did it all gracefully and effortlessly with no hesitation whatsoever. Readjusting himself to the speed of the NBA will be one of the first things he will need to do, but from what he showed us here, he is clearly on the right track.
Being so strong in his lower body with an extremely low center of gravity, he changes gears quickly and powerfully and gets to where he needs to on the floor with the greatest of ease. His first step and overall quickness looked absolutely fine, and this might have been the best sign to come out of this workout as far as his recovery process goes.
Further emphasizing the type of player he is at the moment was the activity level he showed. He was constantly getting in the passing lanes to come up with steals, going down to the low post for offensive rebounds, and just outsmarting and outplaying everyone else in stretches with his intelligence, experience and sheer tenacity. His 3-point shot warmed up quickly as the game progressed, particularly from the corners where he knocked down a number of 3-pointers from NBA range.
Where Williams really shined was with the leadership skills he’s always possessed throughout his career. He was constantly talking to his workout buddies and giving them little tidbits of advice, encouraging them, showing them how they might improve on certain things, and seemingly telling them to take every opportunity they have right now since you never know when that opportunity might be gone.
Williams looks the part on an NBA point guard and plays like one too. His full explosiveness might never be back, but he’s obviously coming to grips with that and is learning how to do the little things that most basketball players pick up later on in their career. His lateral quickness might be the thing that he needs to improve the most on at the moment, as players like Strawberry and Marcus Williams blew by him at times with their initial first step. With that said, there is little doubt from what we saw here that he can contribute somewhere next year in a backup role, and there is always the upside of him regaining most or all of the physical tools that made him such an incredible college player to start with. The passing, shooting and intangibles he brings to the table should allow him to start off in a 10-15 minute role, and anything beyond that is gravy both for him and the lucky NBA team that is able to sign him. What's strange is that at age 24, he is actually younger than a few players in this draft.
