A Jalen Williams pick in 2022 NBA Draft could help Cavs in multiple ways

Williams’ splits, and how he could mesh with the Cavs

As far as this past season, Williams led Santa Clara in points and assists, and for per game splits, had 18.0 points and 4.2 assists per contest. In a more featured role in his junior year for the Broncos, Williams came into his own, and had a third-year leap, as a result.

In his sophomore campaign, he had 11.5 points and 2.3 assists per contest, and had 7.7 points and 1.9 assists per outing as a freshman. In those seasons, he played 31.6 and 25.5 minutes per outing, for context.

Regarding Williams’ skill set, with more opportunities on-ball it seemed this now-past season, and with more chances as a sophomore, he showed plenty of polish in the mid-range as a shot creator, and used his change-of-pace to get to the rim, too.

He plays at his own pace, and can use hesitations, jabs and crossovers to get to his spots, where he I believe could be a capable on-ball presence for the Cavaliers, when he’s in, I’d think more so off the bench in first year or two, maybe.

Along with the mid-range feel and driving as a counter, Williams displayed improvements this past season as a deep shooting threat, and was able to knock down some looks via pull-ups. In pick-and-roll, too, he made defenders pay for going under in 2021-22, and his shooting motion looks as if it can translate early on in the NBA, with his wingspan and handle involved, also.

Williams connected on 39.6 percent of his three-point attempts last season, albeit on not a particularly high volume of 3.2 per game.

That said, the motion is fluid, and I personally think early on, if the chances came for him, he could be a viable catch-and-shoot player. He showed some capability as a movement shooter this last season, too, which has me optimistic. More of his looks were on-ball, regarding shots overall, but Williams placing in the 97th percentile on halfcourt catch-and-shoot plays, per Synergy Sports, even on not a really high volume, was notable from 2021-22.

That progression, combined with his on-ball abilities, make him believe Williams could potentially be a key bench shot creator pretty early on for Cleveland, or maybe after a year or two, possibly end up as Cleveland’s long-term starting 2. Either way, while I’d prefer Collin Sexton over Caris LeVert to extend, if they had to choose, which seems to be realistic at some point, if Williams were to become an upgrade over either down the road and move either to a bench role, so be it.

Regardless, with Williams’ three-level scoring abilities, length and off-ball improvements, he could be ready to contribute early on, in my opinion.