Here is [the link](https://theathletic.com/4049832/2023/01/04/nba-rookie-rankings-jalen-williams/) to Vecenie’s full article for The Athletic, which has his Top 15 rookies and in-depth breakdowns of other players. For those who are paywalled or only interested in J-Dub content, Jalen is #3 behind Banchero and Mathurin, and Vecenie says the field is closing on Mathurin at #2. Here’s what Vecenie wrote about J-Dub (there are a couple times he refers to videos embedded on the website, which aren’t included here):
It’s not an exaggeration to say Williams was the most meteoric riser in basketball over the calendar year of 2022. A late-bloomer physically who shot up from 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-6 after committing to Santa Clara in high school, Williams was just on the periphery of the NBA Draft picture at the start of 2022, a curiosity in the West Coast Conference — a league that, outside of Gonzaga, had not produced a first-round pick in 20 years — because of his 7-foot-2 wingspan and prodigious production. Teams were interested in getting eyes on him and learning more about him, but very few actual NBA decision-makers had been out to see him by that point. Over the course of the pre-draft process, more scouts got eyes on him, and few players did more to help themselves than Williams did as he performed very well throughout both individual and team workouts. He proved that he wasn’t just a small-school statistical darling, taking it to high-major players he faced off against. That resulted in him being selected in the lottery because it’s really hard to find multi-skilled guards with NBA size, potential to morph into a secondary ballhandler, the capacity to make good decisions and a real likelihood to shoot.
As much as any team, that intersection of plus positional size with NBA-level skill has been what Oklahoma City’s front office has valued in recent years at the draft. Think about guys such as Josh Giddey, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Tre Mann, Ousmane Dieng, Aleksej Pokuševski, Darius Bazley: What all of these guys have in common with Williams is that they all have ball skills and plus positional size/length. If these evaluations end up right, Oklahoma City is putting itself in position to be able to play five-out offense while also being able to swallow up the court with length defensively. Williams has thrived filling a lot of different gaps for Oklahoma City, and in the process, he has made himself an indispensable part of the team’s rebuild moving forward. Williams entered the starting lineup full-time about a month ago and has generated offense by keeping things simple around Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander. Through Monday, he’s averaged 13.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists on 52.7 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3.
It helps to play with someone who attracts as much defensive attention as Gilgeous-Alexander and someone who is as consistently smart as Giddey, but playing off great players is a skill. Williams fills gaps out on the break and constantly makes himself available running the court for easy buckets. He makes sharp cuts into the midrange and toward the rim and is really sharp at attacking closeouts, using his shot fake and length well to put the ball on the deck. The goal is to get Williams downhill, where he can use that 7-2 wingspan and powerful frame to ward off defenders and create angles toward the rim. Oklahoma City finds a variety of different ways to do that. Williams has made 67.2 percent of his shots at the rim this season, a virtual tie for the best mark among all rookies along with Pistons center Jalen Duren.
It’s not uncommon to see him act as the screener for Giddey on one possession then actually be the person bringing the ball up the court and attacking out of a ball screen himself the next. When he’s on-ball, he is aggressive but poised — clearly a player who excels at changing speeds but is still learning how to use his frame when he’s not already downhill by the time he hits the paint. He loves the little midrange pull-up between 10 and 18 feet, shots he’s taking about twice per game and hitting at about 49 percent. This has a chance to be a real weapon soon. Williams is excellent at getting downhill, but where he really has a chance to be lethal down the road is with his deceleration. Check out this play against the Spurs, where he gets downhill out of an early ball screen then hits the brakes, puts it behind his back, stops and pops from 14 feet. It’s hard to deal with guys who are this big who can stop and pop that quickly.
Williams has been Oklahoma City’s Swiss Army knife. He can set screens, sit in the dunker spot waiting for a dump-off, 45-cut from the wing, attack closeouts to shoot or pass or just simply spot up and take catch-and-shoot jumpers. Already, he’s an effective NBA player just by keeping it simple and being a versatile offensive weapon. Eventually, the shot is going to fall off the catch (he has clean mechanics and hit 39.6 percent last year from 3 at Santa Clara). But further growth will come when he gets even more comfortable using his frame inside the 3-point line.
Williams isn’t the most explosive player, and you see that at times with his finishing as an on-ball creator. While Williams has been an impactful player putting pressure on the rim and scoring, he hasn’t been quite as good in those situations when creating on the ball. On spot-up drives, he makes 48 percent at the rim. As a ballhandler in pick-and-roll chances, Williams is hitting 55 percent at the rim, a number that is great for a rookie with so much more room for growth. He has a great sense for how his length creates unique angles against defenders and allows him to be an effective below-the-rim finisher, but he sometimes struggles to maintain the advantage all the way to the rim.
Check out this play against Philadelphia, where Williams has a real advantage against Furkan Korkmaz. He gets Korkmaz off-balance and opens up the driving lane, but instead of using his frame to keep Korkmaz on his hip then using his hip and the rim to shield the ball from the defender, he ends up in between steps, going up off two feet and throwing up a wild left-hand layup attempt that caroms off the backboard.
Eventually, things are going to slow down more for Williams, his footwork is going to get cleaner on these drives, and he’s going to be weaponized at a really high level as a secondary playmaker. Once the shot starts falling, it’s very easy to imagine him as an 18-point, six-rebound, three-assist per game guy who plays exceedingly well off superstars. I’d have Williams as a pretty clear first-team All-Rookie guy right now. He’s efficient, smart and knows his limitations while also still exploring them a bit as a young player. He’s a clear keeper for this core.
by butterbeancd
