NBA Comparison: Jeff Adrien

Strengths: Undersized PF who does his best to make up for it with effort and strong run/jump athleticism … While he weighs in at under 220 lbs, he is a big time fighter on the glass and in the low post … Has an ability to get really low on box outs, great timing and attacks the ball … Knew his strengths and took mostly good shots, shot over 60% FG during his two years at Murray State … Runs the floor really well, was incredibly effective in transition and works to beat his man down the floor … Very good at getting behind the defense and finding open space on the floor to make the cut … Good hands, finishes quickly and really hard to stop once he is given a step to the hoop … Finished a lot of plays above the rim, quick leaper given his size and definitely embraces contact … Uses his body to provide space in the post, has fairly wide shoulders … Provides nice help defense, with some weak side shot blocking ability … Got to the FT stripe at a high rate … Cut his turnovers down quite a bit, played more under control … Played 31.7 mpg in college, was ready to contribute as soon as he got there and appears to be a hard worker …

Weaknesses: Bigger post players gave him a lot of difficulty defensively and also seems to have issues with quicker perimeter forwards … Slow release on jump shot, quite unorthodox and does not seem to have much value stretching the floor … While strength was not a major issue in college, he would have a very hard time matching up with NBA PF’s, will need to add some girth … Ball skills are not great, was not asked to do much off of the dribble and was not much of a playmaker … Was not much of a factor in the pick-and-roll in college, did not have great success as a roll man … Much better over his strong shoulder in the post … A 66.3% FT shooter, not terrible, but not exactly eye opening … Had hits to both his blocked shot total and defensive rebounding as a senior … Not incredibly quick laterally, had a tough time when covering the ball … Was not as efficient in OVC play as a senior, plus Murray State played a rather soft non-conference schedule, tough to gauge him against top level competition …

Notes: Played at Gordon State College, where he finished his time there with over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds … Was Honorable Mention NJCAA All-American as a freshman, winning Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association Freshman of the Year … As a junior at Murray State, led the NCAA in field goal percentage at 64.8% … Named All-Ohio Valley Conference 2nd Team and to the All-OVC Newcomer team in 2013-14 … Murray State won the 2014 CIT championship, with Williams making the CIT All-Tournament team … One of two players to rank in the OVC Top 10 in both scoring and rebounding as a senior … Named All-OVC 1st Team and NABC All-District 19 1st Team for 2014-15 … Selected to the NABC Reese’s All-Star Game, finishing a team leading 16 points to go with 4 rebounds … Had 112 dunks in his two years at Murray State according to play-by-play data at StatSheet.com … Tough player who excels running the floor, provides energy and is relentless around the ball … Athleticism definitely makes him someone to keep an eye on, very strong when given a full head of steam to the cup … Size could be an issue in the NBA, definitely had a tough time keeping big men away from the hoop and covering speed at times … Has a chance to be an energy player in the right system, with athleticism and toughness to definitely contribute as a pro … Question will be whether the NBA will take a chance and hope he develops a little more strength and skill set, may have to take an outside route to get to that level

Michael Visenberg 6/23/15