K.J. Williams

INTRODUCTION: Former at Murray State with which he reached the highest point in college history in the NCAA tournament. Three times in the OVC first team in 2022 he also won the MVP award of the Conference. For his last year of eligibility, he moved to the Tigers where he was the leading scorer and rebounder but in the darkest year (2-16 and last place in the SEC) of the university.

PHYSICAL: He has a good combo with strength and mobility, he doesn’t have great elevation but he moves well around the court. He has no problems with physical contact even if over the years he has shown a greater predisposition to play beyond the arc. It’s not particularly fast, it’s rare for him to finish a fast-break. He has sufficient footwork and a decent wingspan. 

OFFENSIVE PHASE: Good scorer able to find the basket in different ways, from the low post he manages to create space with his body and has a soft touch and a good selection of pump fakes but is also effective as a roller. In this last season he has increased the amount of shots from beyond the three-point arc (4.3 attempts per game) while maintaining an important percentage (41.1%) proving to be a stretch big-man. He struggles in situations where he is forced to pass the ball and at the moment he still doesn’t have an effective start to beat aggressive close-outs. Very active presence in rebounding situations (2.9 on average). 

DEFENSIVE PHASE: An effective defender near the glass, he has fairly fast hands and manages to steal a good number of possessions (1.3 per game) while he doesn’t have the right combination of elevation and timing to be a credible rim protector (0.6 in his collegiate career). Fair rebounding presence in his own half court (4.8) struggles when he is called to defend on the perimeter not having the necessary lateral mobility and this leads him to be foul prone.

IMPROVED AREAS: He has potential that could be very interesting for European basketball but he needs to work on his ability to read situations and involve his teammates more. He has a winning mentality growing over the years at Murray State but with a struggling LSU he has shown annoyed body language and poor chemistry with his teammates. He can have a better impact defensively and has to handle foul problems better; if he doesn’t stay too tied to the NBA dream it could be a great deal for a European reality.

PRO 

• Shooting range
• Physicality
• Valid scorer

CONS 

• Rim protector
• Passing
• Disposable to sign quickly (I think he want to try Summer Leagues) 

STATS

Match	32
Points	17.7
Rebounds	7.7
Assist	1
2P	53%
3P	42.2%
Free throws	80%
Minutes	32.4