Following his team’s Sweet 16 loss to Michigan on Thursday night, Texas A&M sophomore Robert Williams told a group of reporters, including Olin Buchanan of TexAgs.com and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic (Twitter links), that he’ll enter his name in the 2018 NBA draft pool.
“Yeah, I’m declaring (for the draft). Definitely, I’m declaring,” Williams said (video link via Matt Trent of KAGS Sports). “I’m finishing the semester at school, but I’m declaring.”
Williams, a 6’10” forward/center, was viewed as a possible lottery pick for 2017, but elected to remain at Texas A&M for a second season. In his sophomore year, he averaged 10.4 PPG, 9.2 RPG, and 2.6 BPG with a .632 FG%. Williams also made his presence felt in the Aggies’ two NCAA tournament wins, shooting 9-of-12 from the floor and racking up 27 total rebounds in those two games.
Currently ranked 13th on ESPN’s big board, Williams is projected as the No. 11 overall pick in Jonathan Givony’s most recent mock draft at ESPN.com. Givony likens Williams to Rockets big man Clint Capela, observing that the youngster’s ability to get to the rim, finish pick-and-rolls, block shots, and grab offensive rebounds is “tailor-made for the NBA.”
While Thursday night’s announcement from Williams came in a post-game scrum, he figures to issue more official confirmation at some point in the near future. He’ll likely specify at that point whether he’ll hire an agent or simply test the draft waters — based on his comments on Thursday, I’d bet on the former.
I’m a fan, potential good fit in a lot of places
Get used to the bench.
I will take a few million to ride the bench. So what?
Does he have elite athleticism or something like that? I saw somewhere had him as high as #6 on their draft rankings and while his numbers are solid, they don’t seem to jump off the page or make you think that he’ll be anything more than a Clint Capela (who is a fine NBA starting big, but not the type of guy you might want to use a high lottery pick on).