[OhCanada-Participant]

Making this thread because I see Ziare Williams ranked higher than guys like Josh Giddey or Jalen Johnson in just about every mock I see. Keon Johnson is another guy who I think is overrated but he isn’t in the same category as far as inefficiency goes so I’ll save that for another day.

Whats everyones thoughts on these two talented freshman? I think both of these players will slip in the draft and theres a chance either one could go undrafted. If they are successful at the next level it will be an anomaly. Both players entered this season projected as high lottery picks but due to inefficiency and weight concerns both players have already seen their stock drop. Just how concerning are these issues?

Heres the stats.
Ziare Williams – 28 mpg, 37.5% fg, 29% 3pt, 2.9 to, 2.4 pf
Brandon Boston – 30 mpg, 36% fg, 30% 3pt, 1.4 to, 2.0 pf

No player as far as I looked back has even entered their names in the draft with this type of inefficiency let alone get drafted. Its hard to compare these stats with past prospects because players just don’t enter the draft from college with these types of numbers. The one case is Cam Reddish.

Cam Reddish – 30 mpg, 36% fg, 33% 3pt, 2.7 to, 2.4 pf

However in Cam’s case the majority of his shots were three pointers whereas Boston and Williams took nearly twice the amount of two’s than three’s.

Isaiah Joe shot nearly 36% fg but thats because Arkansas had him taking a whopping 10 3pt per game which he hit at 34%. Jaden McDaniels almost fits the criteria. He shot 40% fg and 34% 3pt while also having a higher turnover and foul rate. He wasn’t quite as inefficient though and so far looks like he has a bright future but thats mostly due to his defensive impact. Michael Porter Jr. fits but he only played 3 games. Now I didn’t look back 100 years but its safe to say none of the players in the NBA were drafted after playing college years like BJ Boston or Ziare Williams. Lougentz Dort shot 40% fg and 30% 3pt but hes another guy that found minutes due to defense and has built around that, he also went undrafted.

Whats even more alarming is when you start to look at a list of “drafted” players who had these types of struggles as a freshman but entered the draft as a junior, or senior successful role players remain absent from the list for the most part. The only successful role player I could find in the past three NBA drafts to ‘even nearly’ as inefficient a college season was Quickley and he shot 35% from 3pt in limited minutes that year with a low turnover rate. It wasn’t too bad. Players on that list are…Elijah Hughes, KZ Okpala, Isaiah Joe, Immanuel Quickley, Carsen Edwards, Justin James, Isaiah Roby, Jordan Bone, Chandler Hutchison, Jacob Evans, Jevon Carter, Melvin Frazier, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk.

If that doesn’t raise any red flags theres also the weight issue. Theres really no players in the NBA that are 6’5 or taller that weight less than 200 pounds unless they are PG’s. Even then its very rare. Theres a few exceptions but those players have solid ballhandling abillity. Zach Lavine, Dejounte Murray, Caris Levert, Will Barton and thats all I can really think of. All of those players also have an incredible first step. Maybe the one exception is Andrew Wiggins, he’s probably around 195-205 but he’s also a freak athlete something Ziare and BJ just aren’t.

I currently have Ziare Williams 24th on my big board and BJ Boston 32nd and to be honest I think even thats a bit high. The reason why they aren’t even lower is because I think theres a pretty good chance that Houston and or Oklaholma City takes a chance on these guys, and to me thats their best bet at getting drafted.

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

Totally with you here, just would say Ziaire might be a little better athlete than you give him credit for. His wingspan is somewhat average for his height though. BJ Boston has defense, but is pretty one dimensional. As far as Houston or OKC being the most logical teams to draft them – spot on! When a team’s that bad, go for the fences on high risk/high reward. The way it’s looking however, both these players are more on the high risk side with a somewhat low floor. I think you can add Marcus Bagley to the same list. I’d way rather take a chance on an older wing prospect like Herbert Jones who has a better chance at making an impact.

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