JaCorey Williams – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile

June 20th, 2019

JaCorey Williams

PF – 6’8, 220lbs – Born 12th June 1994

   Canton Charge   

Williams has intrigued the Cavaliers for sometime now. They have signed him for each of the last two training camps and allocated him to Canton both times; they are clearly none too subtle about wanting to keep him around. And so while Williams has yet to make the regular season roster, don’t think for a minute the Cavaliers brass didn’t notice the subtle improvements in his output this season.

The biggest one is in his assist rate. A face-up power forward who has hitherto been more of an athlete than a skill-based player, Williams’s continuing developments in his ball skill and his offensive poise will be key to him being able to convert this physical profile into an NBA gig. Williams left Arkansas after three seasons to transfer to Middle Tennessee State to prove that he was able to do more than just defend as a press specialist and get garbage points – and also just a liiiiiittle bit because of a forgery arrest that saw him dismissed from the team – and in demonstrating far greater post-up ability in that season than Arkansas ever allowed him to do, he achieved that. Now, with the physical profile of a face-up four, Williams is out to prove that he can add some handle to that game.

There is range still to add to the jump shot. Williams continues to be a post-based player, someone featured regularly in the Charge’s half-court offence, and who is always able to get to his much, much favoured left hand. Mobile and athletic, he also runs the court well, goes to the glass and still gets those garbage points, and-1s and short hooks. Williams is improving his ability to drive from the perimeter, which in turn gives him more usage as a hand-off and pick-and-roll player. As with everything he does, it is left hand dominant, yet the speed is there and the handle is catching up.

Always playing with good energy and activity, using the strength in his frame, Williams bounces around the place on both ends of the court and usually gets near the action. He is still wild at times, but the fact that he is now trusted to take dribbles is a far cry from his Razorbacks days. Williams has been something of a late bloomer who got out to a choppy start in his career, but who has become a very good G-Leaguer. And even if he is only on the radar of one NBA team, he’s on the radar.

– 20th June, 2019

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