Good Game/Bad Game: a scouting exercise for training camp invitee Trevion Williams
Can Williams force his way into the Warriors' future plans ala Marquese Chriss? Numbers, film, passing highlights, pick-and-roll defense, and much more.
The start of training camp is only one day away now and I’m a little at loss for what I can write about that I haven’t already written about, so I decided to extend my Good Game/Bad Game exercise to one of the Warriors’ training camp invitees, Trevion Williams. An undersized big man, Williams played four years at Purdue and went undrafted this past summer. Prior to signing a training camp deal with the Warriors, he played for the Boston Celtics in summer league and played just 14 minutes a game in five contests.
As Williams has done since college, he impressed observers with flashes of serious court vision during summer league:
When the Warriors signed Williams, I was somehow led to believe that he profiled as a defensive liability in the NBA ala Enes Kanter. In my observations, this was not the case. I ended up watching three of Williams’ games for this Good Game/Bad Game exercise and came away believing that Williams could actually be a solid (and occasionally reckless) defender in the NBA.
The broad outlines of Trevion Williams’ skillset are this: he’s a great passer, a very active defender, and he’s more of a post-up and face-up big than he is a pick-and-roll big. Williams’ defects could be well masked in the Warriors’ system and if given playing time with the adults — Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Jordan Poole — during training camp, I could see him doing well enough to intrigue Steve Kerr.
Trevion Williams has an uphill battle ahead of him to earn minutes. Steve Kerr has said that the Foundational Six are set in stone and that the rest of his rotation is up for grabs, but James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga have organizational cachet in their favor and veteran forward/center, JaMychal Green, is a proven playoff contributor. Barring injury, I doubt Williams will have much of an opportunity during training camp, so it’s very likely that all the words I’ve written and all the time I’ve spent learning about Trevion Williams will amount to nothing.
But consider the tale of Marquese Chriss: in training camp of 2019, Willie Cauley-Stein, Kevon Looney, and Alen Smailagic all came down with injuries before the Warriors’ first preseason game. Recently acquired big, Omari Spellman, and Chriss were all of a sudden the last two bigs standing, and by the second game of the preseason, Chriss had made a compelling case for a roster spot with his impressive passing and athletic ability at the center position:
Trevion Williams is not Marquese Chriss, but the passing ability that the two players share provides an intriguing blueprint for how Williams could make his mark during training camp. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were born to maximize bigs with elite passing ability. Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, David West, and Chriss stand out as some of the more prolific passing bigs of the Steve Kerr era, but neither of them is a perfect comparison for what Williams brings to the table.
Unlike Green, Bogut, or late-career West, Williams likes to hunt his own shot. Williams reminded me of Eric Paschall in both good and bad ways — both players have the explosiveness off of the dribble to win isolation or post battles and can get in trouble when they get too stubborn with the ball in their hands. But while Paschall passed mostly as a last resort, Williams clearly enjoys passing the ball. In this regard, he’s much more similar to Chriss, who delighted in passing out of DHO’s and hitting cutters from the top of the key.
One thing that Williams shares with all of the centers I’ve listed above is a shaky three-point shot. The Warriors’ frontcourt already figures to have trouble spacing the court — Kevon Looney, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, and JaMychal Green have exactly one solid shooter between them — so it’s hard to imagine how Williams would fit into the team’s roster construction unless he were to steal minutes alongside the Warriors’ shooters: Steph Curry, Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Moses Moody.
Now let’s get into some numbers and film!
Here are Trevion Williams’ numbers in college:
2018-19 season: 5.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.4 blocks, 0.6 turnovers, and 1.9 fouls a game on 54/33/51 shooting splits in 10.3 minutes a game. Advanced stats: 118.1 ORTG, 95.0 DRTG, .222 WS/40, +4.5 OBPM, +2.0 DBPM, 6.4 BPM.
2019-20 season: 11.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.4 blocks, 1.6 turnovers, and 2.3 fouls a game on 51/33/48 shooting splits in 21.5 minutes a game. Advances stats: 107.4 ORTG, 92.3 DRTG, .195 WS/40, +6.7 OBPM, +2.1 DBPM, +8.9 BPM.
2020-21 season: 15.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.7 steals, 0.6 blocks, 2.4 turnovers, and 2.9 fouls a game on 52/0/50 shooting splits in 25.1 minutes a game.
Advanced stats: 107.0 ORTG, 96.4 DRTG, .194 WS/40, +6.8 OBPM, +1.9 DBPM, +8.7 BPM.
2021-22 season: 12.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.6 blocks, 2.1 turnovers, and 2.1 fouls a game on 55/36/60 shooting splits in 20.1 minutes a game. Advanced stats: 114.9 ORTG, 93.8 DRTG, .245 WS/40, +7.4 OBPM, +4.4 DBPM, +11.9 BPM.
Williams started just 8 of his 34 games in his freshman season and then 22 of 31 games in his sophomore season before becoming — effectively — the full-time starter for Purdue during his junior season. But in Williams’ senior year, 7’4 big man, Zach Edey, took over the starting center position and Williams came off the bench for all but 4 of his 37 games. Williams, was, however, a key part of his Purdue team and played 20 minutes a game in the games I watched, frequently closed second and fourth quarters over Edey.
You’ll note that BPM loves Williams. That makes sense. He’s a box-score stuffer and BPM, per @nbastatlord on Twitter, loves big men who pass the ball and collect steals, the point of overvaluing those numbers.
So keep that in mind while looking at Williams’ numbers. You should also take Williams’ three-point shooting with a massive grain of salt — his free-throw shooting never topped 60% during college and his career-high in attempts per game was just 0.4 this past season. Williams made one of his four shots from deep in summer league, which indicates that he’s willing to try and expand his game to make a mark in the NBA, but don’t expect him to space the floor.
What is most encouraging in Williams’ statistical profile is his assist numbers. Williams had a negative AST:TO ratio until his senior year, which is when his passing really clicked. In 20 minutes a game, he upped his assist numbers significantly from 3.6 per 40 minutes in his junior season to 6.0 per 40 minutes as a senior, and his AST:TO was an acceptable 1.43.
Williams’ passing is the skill that will most obviously translate at the NBA level, but he’s unlikely to ever shoot with the same amount of aggression as he did in college. Per 40 minutes, Williams took 16.5, 17.9, 20.7, and 17.9 shots a game in his four years at college — that will simply not happen in the NBA.
December 12, 2021 vs. NC State: 82-73.
22 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 4 blocks, 3 turnovers, and 1 foul on 10/14 FG, and 2/5 FT in 33 minutes.
In the Good Game/Bad Game exercise, this is what I’m counting as Trevion Williams’ “good” game and it is a box-score marvel. Williams came just one assist short of a triple-double and was probably his team’s best player in 33 huge minutes off of the bench. Purdue’s starting center, Zach Edey, played just 12 minutes in this game and after Williams started the second half, he took just one breather before playing the final 13 minutes of regulation and an overtime period.
I watched these three games out of order and this was my final watch. In that context, I’d already forgotten which game came first on the calendar, so as I was watching it felt like this was the game where Williams had learned from his mistakes in the later games that I watched.
What stood out to me in this game was Williams’ prowess as a passer. On a team with more adept shooters, Williams would have had double-digit assists and recorded a triple-double. Williams did a great job of being patient in the post and sprayed kick out passes to open shooters, he repeatedly hit cutters near the hoop from the top of the key, and he was decisive in attacking the rim when he put the ball on the floor.
This game also demonstrated the feast-or-famine nature of Williams’ pick-and-roll defense: Williams poked the ball away from ball-handlers three times, but I counted at least four possessions where his aggressive trapping got him in trouble and led to a bucket for NC State.
In the final 13 minutes of the regulation, Williams played a big role in Purdue’s comeback and scored or assisted on 9 of his team’s made shots. NC State put Williams into a fair amount of defensive actions during high-leverage situations, and for the most part, he held up ok.
One of Williams’ poke steals in the fourth quarter led to a fastbreak bucket for his teammate Jade Ivey, and shortly after, Williams got too aggressive and gave up a bucket trying for another poke steal. The botched poke steal seemed to sober Williams up — for the rest of the game, he kept it simple in his pick-and-roll coverages, which paid dividends in overtime.
January 17, 2022 vs. Illinois: 96-88:
14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 turnovers, and 2 fouls on 6/18 FG, 0/1 3P, and 2/2 FT in 23 minutes.
This was the second game I watched as I did my research on Trevion Williams. When I did my box-score scouring, I picked out this game because of his inefficiency from the field, but I was also intrigued by the fact that Williams picked up 5 assists in 23 minutes. This game turned out to be an excellent representation of Williams at his worst and then, later on, his best.
Williams checked back into the game for this fifth stint of the night with a little less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter. At that point in time, Williams had shot 4/16 from the field and only tallied one assist. Williams had spent much of the game prior to that trying to attack in the post with little to show for it.
By my count, Williams had been 1/7 on post-ups in the first 35 minutes of the game but he had shot 2/3 on face-up and dribble drives in that same period. Williams seemed particularly excited to go at Illinois’ big man, Kofi Cockburn, who has three inches and nearly 30 pounds on Williams. As you’d imagine, a lot of the Williams vs. Cockburn possessions did not end in Williams’ favor.
But in the final five minutes of regulation and the two overtime periods that followed, Williams assisted on four shots and scored two buckets in the paint, both of which started with him facing up and attacking off of the dribble. Williams’ late-game effectiveness was remarkable and the result of a shift in playstyle. Earlier in the game, Williams’ post possessions turned into long backdowns and fading hook shots, but in the most meaningful minutes of the game, Williams attacked facing the basket and used his low-block possessions to patiently probe and wait for open cutters.
In the final minutes of the game, Illinois went out of its way to attack Williams. By my count, Illinois shot 7/13 on these such possessions; two of the buckets scored were tough mid-range jumpers, one came after Williams very nearly poked the ball from a ball-handler trapping a pick-and-roll only to lose the advantage after diving on the floor, and one came in the waning seconds of the game as Williams avoided fouling on a fastbreak.
January 20, 2022 vs. Indiana: 65-68.
2 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 turnovers, and two fouls on 1/4 FG and 0/2 FT in 15 minutes.
Trevion Williams played only 15 minutes in Purdue’s loss to Indiana University, most of them in the first half. Purdue’s starting center, Zach Edey, played the bulk of the team’s minutes at the center position, but during crunch time, it was Williams who was on the court. What was most remarkable was that Purdue felt comfortable putting the ball in the hands of Williams, the team’s backup center, during the game’s most critical moments.
The results, however, were mixed: Williams missed a fading hook shot on the right block with about 1:45 left in the game, he hit one of his teammates cutting off a pindown screen with a brilliant assist from the top of the key, and then he air-balled a shot hook shot with 37 seconds left.
Williams held up better than I expected on defense — this was the first of Williams’ games that I watched — and did a good job of freeing up his teammates with screens and dribble handoffs, but turnovers were an issue, particularly in the post. Couple those post-up turnovers with missed hooks shots and Williams had about five wasted possessions on the block in a game that Purdue lost and went down to the final possession.
Offense:
Good:
Williams is an excellent passer for a big man. I’m tempted to say that he’s an excellent passer, regardless of position. You can run an offense through Williams for possessions at a time, whether it’s out of the post, or the top of the key as he waits for an open pass to develop. Williams is creative enough as a passer that he’ll try and force some of those openings open and occasionally succeed. Williams makes unexpected passes at unusual angles and will throw one-handed crosscourt passes as well as off-the-dribble passes.
Williams is a capable face-up player who can explode off the dribble to the hoop. Williams has a deceptive crossover jab step out of triple-threat position and he’s strong enough to body his way through smaller defenders. Williams also has good footwork in the post and solid body control.
Bad:
Williams can get very stubborn when he wants to get to the hoop. Williams can over-dribble and monopolize the ball for significant amounts of possession time, only to get forced into bad shots. Williams is not contact averse, but against bigger players, he sometimes resorts to fading hook shots or inefficient acrobatic finishes.
Williams isn’t much of a vertical threat, so he isn’t the most threatening roll man, which can cramp the paint for ballhandlers, and his off-ball screens don’t always connect.
Williams didn’t demonstrate much of an outside shot either, which would ideally offset some of his limitations as a roll man.
Defense:
Good:
Williams has excellent hands for a big man and repeatedly blew up pick-and-rolls by coming out to meet the ball-handler and disrupting their dribble or poking the ball away for himself. When he stays below the ball, he does a good job of staying in between the ball and his own man and has a good sense of timing about when to scamper back to his man. Williams also holds up better than you’d expect as the last line of defense rim-protector. He can maintain verticality when he isn’t defending from behind and his long arms help him deter shots.
Bad:
Williams’ aggression in defending pick-and-rolls frequently gets him in trouble. If his attempts at swiping the ball go south, he can leave the rest of his team in a compromised position of having to rotate over and over again to cover open roll men or shooters.
Williams also guesses wrong more than you’d expect about where the pick-and-roll ball-handler is actually going. On several instances, Williams would come up high on the opposite side of the screen as if he expected the ball-handler to reject the screen — this would make it all the easier for the ball-handler to use the screen and get into the lane unimpeded.
Williams also failed to contest or even put a hand up against several layups and shots that came into his vicinity. Against bigger players, Williams often looks small and isn’t much of a deterrent in the post.
What’s next for Trevion Williams?
Considering the competition, I really doubt that Trevion Williams makes the Warriors’ roster. What I hope is that he wins himself a two-way spot over Lester Quiñones (The Athletic’s John Hollinger insinuated this summer that Quiñones friendship with James Wiseman factored into his contract) and plays spot minutes in load management games for the Warriors. After turning in a year of iron man health, Kevon Looney deserves to have nights off this next season; Draymond Green is coming off of a season where he missed a career-high 36 games and literally could not sit down for a period of a few weeks because of the paint caused by a herniated disc; James Wiseman just had one of the longest meniscus injury rehabs of recent memory and missed 10 games in his rookie season prior to his meniscus injury with a sprained wrist on top of missing exhibition and preseason games in college with a shoulder and then ankle injury — there’s a significant body of evidence that suggests James Wiseman is injury-prone.
This is all to say, I think the Warriors would benefit from having another big man around for emergency use. Trevion Williams is a flawed player — otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone undrafted — but his skillset fits naturally within the Warriors’ ecosystem and some of his flaws could be minimized here. It’s easy to imagine Williams spraying kick out passes for open threes to Steph Curry and Klay Thompson from the post or hitting Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga for dunks from the top of the key. In a system that prioritizes ball movement over pick-and-rolls, Trevion Williams’ lack of vertical spacing wouldn’t be a death knell — it certainly is not for Kevon Looney.
Let’s take a moment to actually consider Looney as someone that Williams can compare to: Williams is not the screener or rebounder that Looney is, but he’s certainly a more capable post-up threat, he’s a much better passer, and he’s a more explosive finisher than Looney (that isn’t saying much, but still). Williams looks more agile than Looney on defense and his ability to poke the ball out of his hands suggests a high ceiling for defensive playmaking if he can hone his aggressiveness. Playing alongside established veterans like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green would go a long way for Williams to harness his defensive potential and not create more problems than he’s solving on defense.
I’m not really sure how well Williams would fit with the Warriors’ second unit — I really don’t love the idea of a JaMychal Green/Williams frontcourt or a Kuminga/Williams frontcourt on defense — but I think there’s a path for Williams being a genuinely interesting and useful player for the Warriors with the right opportunities. Those opportunities, however, are unlikely to manifest themselves, barring an act of god or a Gary Payton II-esque preseason breakout — Bob Myers is already on the record stating that he’d rather not fill the 15th roster spot for the sake of financial considerations.
In all likelihood, this article will be relegated to the dustbins of internet history because Trevion Williams has a steep uphill battle to prove his worth for the Warriors. But don’t be surprised if Williams forces his way onto the court this season as a two-way contract player and shows enough in Steve Kerr's YOLO moments to warrant further consideration as a role player worth investing in.