Jaylin Williams Scouting Report

Fifth-year seniors need to be ready immediately. And Williams is more than ready! What'll be his role? What will lead to him sticking in the league for many years? Find out more below.

With 141 games in five seasons under his belt, Williams becomes an all-time Auburn great, crowning his legacy as an SEC champion. His role as a connecting forward led to the Tigers playing a fluid system where usage-heavy teammates could shine. That’s what NBA teams will ask of him.

He got selected to the SEC Community Service Team last season and is an impact-maker off the court as well. Culture-setters and team-first players are crucial for NBA franchises to build a winning team around. With franchises valuing the above-mentioned, Williams should have his foot between the door already without his basketball to back it up.

This scouting report will solely focus on his NBA role and the level of impact he could make at the next level.

Physical Profile

At 6’8.25" without shoes, Williams is a bruiser-typed forward who leverages his strength to create space for others inside the arc. With his 238 pounds Williams making a living inside the arc led to him playing a consistent five years at the top of the SEC. In defensive box-outs, Williams puts a lot of energy on the court.

Williams has a consistent motor. Despite playing at a high-intensity level, he could benefit from an NBA strength and conditioning program in the future. Not because he’s out of shape, but Williams is in a rare selection of good screening combo forwards who can stay on the floor in the latter stages of the game due to his excellent free-throw shooting—83.2% on three attempts per game.

On top of his archetype, Williams offers decent verticality and could switch to serve as a rim protector outside of duties as a help-side defender. Having a seven-foot wingspan is the extra length that helps him in this process. Despite his hip fluidity not benefitting Williams, the years have taught him to find a way to manage his physical areas of development.

Defense

NBA teams will try to target Williams in schemes due to his physical profile. Therefore he must show that he can close out against spot-up shooters on the perimeter. In the first play below, Williams gets stuck in the screen, but the positive in that play is him not forced to fight through it and pick up a foul. At 1.8 personal fouls, the numbers support the fact Williams can effectively defend without fouling.

In terms of his footwork, Williams’ experience gives him the edge to come in as a defender on day one. He sets his pivot foot quickly in his last step on closeouts, helping him to slide his feet or power up to contest the jumper. The maturity is his game is also visible on rotations.

In the third play below, he rotates after his teammate in the middle doesn’t stick to his assignment. Despite giving up an open three, it’s executing defensive reads that count to NBA decision-makers in these types of defensive plays, When it comes to his off-ball rotations, Williams shows good instincts in the last play below to step toward the perimeter to pick up the switch early to toughen a potential pull-up three. By making the ball handler beat him off the dribble, he can stick to the ball handler with more comfort.

When defending against ball handlers making plays out of closeouts, Williams has a few areas to clean up. The first one is his being vulnerable to biting on pump fakes, as shown in the second play below. A result of this in the NBA is that the average wing and guard will attack the rim while catching Williams in mid-air. Due to his slower first step, defenses will be forced to collapse to help defense and thus open someone else up in the interior.

Despite Williams’ excellent feel when it comes to rotations, the above-mentioned will lead to a risk for a team to maintain their defensive rating. Another area is Williams’ positioning when he’s closing out. He’s much more effective by forcing ball handlers to the strong side in case he gets beat off the dribble. But in the third play below, the ball handler is comfortably attacking the baseline, making the interior defense more vulnerable in giving up an open look.

In the last play below, Williams loses his balance on the closeout but recovers well. However, an NBA team will ask him to get into a hard defensive box-out stance as a part of his rotation, which could have led to a defensive rebound on his part and set Auburn up for a transition attack on the other side. This is no risk in his profile, but more a sign for an NBA decision-maker to focus on during team drills in the early parts of training camp.

There is less sample size in Williams as a pick-and-roll defender, but that’s another game-changer to earn a long-term career. While playing as a four, Williams has been challenged in switches during conference play. That’s an important area for NBA decision-makers to evaluate to judge if he can maintain his minutes in a fast-paced game with more ball movement and switches.

In the first play below, Williams’ maturity is on display. He doesn’t get lured to get closer to the ball handler in the high pick-and-roll. He slides his feet well and meets the rim-attacker around the mid-post. With a good second jump, he shows quickness in terms of correcting the bite on the fake, which is an important indicator to secure a team’s defensive rating as biting on pump fakes doesn’t have to lead to Williams giving up wide-open shots at the rim.

In the second play, Williams shows more confidence against the decelerating ball handler on the jab step, forcing him to a tougher midrange jumper. This made Williams more comfortable with a hard contest on the shot. Decision-making is crucial to being a good pick-and-roll defender in the NBA. The third play is another value-riser in his profile as Williams does well to go around the screen and take on the charge as he saw the ball handler’s burst while entering lay-up mode before the finish.

Another value-riser in Williams’ profile is his ability to serve as an off-ball defender against cutters. To make it specific, his game is built to impact passing lanes on a better-spaced NBA floor. Williams doesn’t gamble on defense, but he makes well-thought decisions to make the game easier for his teammates.

In the first play below, Williams doesn’t hesitate to jump in the passing lane to force the ball handler to dump it off to a rim-finisher. His excellent positioning helps him to use his length to close the passing lane and come up with the deflection. He also uses his strength well as leverage to stop cutters when open driving lanes occur. In the second play, Williams puts his shoulder in on what should have been a dunk at the rim. But after another showcase of excellent positioning, Williams can impact the passing lane to come up with the steal whereafter Auburn attacks can cash in on the live-ball turnover.

The area that’ll benefit Williams’ minutes in late-clock situations is his ability to defend against sideline or baseline out-of-bounds plays. He’s yet again leveraging his strength to make his assignment earn every inch of open space after the incoming pass. While not playing as a full-time rim protector, Williams shows that he has the strength and positional size to play as a five when NBA teams try to put as many shooters on the floor in a smaller line-up.

Offense

At 39.5% on 2.5 threes per game, Williams shows he’s able to cash in as the recipient on open shots on the perimeter. That’s crucial to potentially play as a multi-positional piece, and in this case, as a five in a shooter-heavy smaller line-up as shown above. When looking at his release, Williams is a tad too slow in setting his feet, but his form and consistent release support the good numbers on his part.

A positive is that Williams doesn’t lower the ball under his waist to power up. That’s because he’s strong enough to keep the ball high and find a quick release as shown in the first play below. There’s room to grow as a shooter, especially if he’s able to set his feet much quicker, which is an area of development an NBA decision-maker should invest in.

In the second play below, Williams does well to move toward the ball and not just wait for the ball to arrive. In movement, he’s a tad quicker to set his feet whereafter he’s more fluid in getting up for his jumper. The numbers support that Williams is much more comfortable shooting from the left side, using his left as the shooting arm. That’s a positive due to him mostly being used in the interior or around the elbows.

However, at times, Williams is forcing the dip of the shot, especially when he’s shooting from above the break. It’s not a red flag in his profile, but more an area of development an NBA franchise can help him with in terms of removing that habit from his offensive profile. What stood out in the third play serving as an example, is that Williams was wide-open but still looked uncomfortable in his release, perhaps with attacking the closeout in mind. There’s a similar play as an example in the fourth play below.

Due to the play-finishing character of Williams’ interior scoring, the value of production as an upperclassman is the first thing an NBA decision-maker will look at. He’s scoring on 75.9% of his rim attempts excluding dunks of which he has more than one per game. Those are tremendous numbers showing his great decision-making and consistent finishing. Therefore, the production leads to it being a plus value for his draft stock. Especially considering that Williams will have to play with fewer ball touches, thus adding importance to his cutting game.

That’s the area where his leadership helps him to get to his spots. Williams is an active communicator who is continuously coaching his teammates on offensive sets. In the first play below, Williams communicates with Broome who keeps the defensive line busy, leading to a straight line drive and dunk. In the second play, Williams uses a fake after aggressively setting his pivot foot inside the arc, faking receiving a handoff to cut hard down the middle. In the last play below, the effectiveness of Williams’ cuts becomes visible. After his teammate utilizes the screen, Williams waits until the rotations are forced, whereafter he follows it up with the backdoor cut ending in a dunk at the rim.

In time, Williams will earn more ball touches to operate as a closeout-attacker. Teams need production from everyone to maintain their offensive rating, and Williams’ play-finishing and shooting off the catch don’t add enough scoring versatility for his role.

When looking at his plays out of closeouts, Williams doesn’t show much variation off the dribble. He has decent handles, but not the offensive creativity to be a self-creating forward in the future. That’s not necessary in his case because he compensates for the above-mentioned with his interior scoring. He has a great touch around the basket with his hook game, mostly scoring on baby hooks. In the first play below, Williams utilizes his strength to find enough room for the hook finish from close range.

An NBA team will value threes off the dribble as extra versatility, especially later on in the shot clock. Therefore, the second play, where Williams finds the open three after the shot fake, will be an example that’s valued by NBA front offices, despite the miss. With a trend of teams adding more ball handlers to their depth chart, Williams must be able to create for himself to a certain degree.

In the third play below, we see Williams attack the closeout resulting in another hook attempt from the midrange. While finishing half of his attempts, the self-creation level is also around 50%. That’s a healthy number, as you don’t want a complementary piece to have too many self-created looks.

An NBA team is mostly buying Williams’ physicality inside the arc. We see fewer post-ups in today’s era, but that doesn’t take away that Williams will find a portion of offense via this play type. Mostly because his strong upper body combined with his strength will lead to potentially Williams punishing mismatches inside the arc after switches. The fourth play below shows the strength advantage against his position, let alone when he’s faced against smaller guards and wings.

In addition to Williams’ NBA role, his screening is also what will come in handy. He sets hard screens that not just force defenders to make a decision. Williams plays more in a European style when it comes to his screening, focusing on positioning and serving as a wall, rather than quickly cut. This leads to pick-and-pop sequences being a natural cause where he can thrive with his three-point shooting.

The above-mentioned is shown in the second and fourth plays below. There is an area of development for Williams, as he tends to force the shots in this play at times. In the third possession, Williams is facing his opponent in an isolation setting after the switch. Instead of playing within the flow of the offense, Williams tried to make it a double-digit lead, which trickled down to Yale scoring on the other end. Not a red flag, but more a rare mistake that caught attention due to how consistent Williams is with his shot selection.

At 1.9 assists per game and a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in four of his five years at Auburn, Williams’ passing is a positive aspect of his profile. What stands out is that he’s a good ball-mover who doesn’t get outside of his boundaries. He sticks to his role but shows a willingness to execute his reads with more risky passes. At only 1.1 turnovers per game, the above-mentioned still leads to a healthy number.

Williams’ good footwork is the base for him to create open looks for spot-up shooters on the perimeter. In the first play below, he gets the entry pass, but can’t find a clean angle for his signature hook shot. Whereafter he uses his footwork to lure help defense to follow that up with a kick-out pass to the elbow. In the second play, Williams does well to not force the shot upon the cut against the well-organized defense but uses the fake to again activate the help defense for another kick-out pass.

NBA teams will ask Williams to serve as a ball-mover, thus making the above-mentioned a value-riser in schemes based on ball movement. In the third play, we see a more risky pass, where Williams makes a good read after attacking the rim via the elbow with the bounce pass for the potential dunk. An acceptable turnover is due to him sticking to the flow of the offense, which is crucial in deciding if a mistake is acceptable or not. With the basics being right, it’s feasible that Williams will be a neutral passer in the NBA.

NBA Draft Projection

Williams will enter next season as a 24-year-old. This is valuable considering the NBA readiness of his game combined with Williams having a clear role on day one. Connecting forwards are crucial archetypes to complement usage-heavy stars. Winning teams like to have these players on cheap contracts, therefore making it a trend that experience becomes a more valuable intangible in draft evaluations by front offices.

He isn’t going to be drafted for his long-term potential. That’s a given. Williams will come in to impact a team’s offense with his shooting off the catch and screening in the early phase of his career. After earning more ball touches, his plays out of closeouts will lead to him being a neutral factor for a team’s offense.

The maturity of his game also values his defense, especially in serving as a pick-and-roll defender. However, unnecessary jumps are what Williams needs to eliminate from his game to succeed in the NBA.

One of the key questions NBA front offices try to answer with experienced forwards is availability in late-game situations. With Williams’ low foul number and excellent free-throw shooting, he shows the maturity to play in clutch minutes when his number is called.

In terms of talent, Jaylin Williams belongs in the top 58 prospects on draft night. However, I project him to end up as an undrafted free agent who’s getting signed immediately to maintain his flexibility in selecting the teams that fit him the best. In terms of fit, I would like to see him end up on a rebuilding team due to his off-court values as a culture-setter which is one of the reasons that made him an all-time Auburn great.