Pacers Host Troy Williams, Cousins, Gbinije, McClellan, Wallace, Finney-Smith for Workouts

Troy Williams, Indiana Forward

Year: Junior

Height: 6’7″

Weight: 218

Wingspan: 6’8.25″

Last Season Stats: 13.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.0 APG, 51.3 FG%, 34.7 3P%

Draft Stock: Undrafted

Of course, the player that likely isn’t even going to be in this year’s draft gets the most attention from fans and media on the first day of pre-draft workouts. It makes sense — Troy Williams, if hypothetically drafted by the Pacers, would be the first player that Indiana has drafted from an Indiana college since hometown favorite Damon Bailey in 1994 (and we all know how that turned out). The hype surrounding Gordon Hayward a few years ago was pretty high, although I’m sure everyone is happy that we just missed out and instead took some nobody named Paul George instead. People from Indiana like Indiana basketball and they probably like IU basketball even more than they like Indiana. We won’t hear the end of the Williams’ talks until he officially opts out of the draft.

For fun, we can still look at his credentials. Williams was a consistent scorer for Indiana in their season and tournament run, scoring 13 points a game at around a 50 FG%. He played second fiddle to Yogi Ferrell (who probably won’t be in the NBA after this year either) but didn’t miss a beat as the Hoosiers made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

Highlights (like you haven’t already seen them):

There’s no doubt Williams can be a special player. He has star potential even if that’s only because he’s a junior and not a graduating senior, and if he decided to find an agent and go through with the draft process this year he might find his way onto an NBA roster. That being said, Williams faces an opposite situation to that of Tyrone Wallace’s. Williams needs his senior season to develop as a leader and a ballplayer.

It’s obviously not my decision, but it does seem like the situation is heading in that direction anyway. Williams didn’t impress at the combine, which isn’t good for guys who have smaller bodies of work than 4-year players.  Williams said he was “50-50″ on whether he’d stay in the draft or not, but it’s probably not that close.

Hypothetically speaking, he would bring a lot to the table. As aforementioned, wings are always needed in this league, and the Pacers are in dire need. If Williams could bring consistent scoring and energy off the bench for the spurts where Paul George needs a rest, that already puts him ahead of almost all of last year’s rotational guys. If he were to develop into a starter his 6’7” height puts him in an awkward place, being a bit too small for a small-ball forward (not saying he can’t do it) and a bit too big for a shooting guard. Unless George is moving to the 4, his fit in our starting lineup would be a bit clunky.

But hey, it seems like half of the Pacers fandom are done with the whole George Hill hometown-hero thing, so they’d eat up Williams.

Again, that’s hypothetically speaking. Williams has the most potential of all the players the Pacers saw workout on Tuesday, but he has to turn that potential into tangible evidence that he’s worthy of being on an NBA roster. He’ll most likely return for his senior season at Indiana. It’ll most likely be the best thing for him. We’ll most likely continue this discussion at this time next year.

Next: 8p9s Roundtable: Nate McMillan Is The New Boss

The Pacers will continue their pre-draft workouts today, where they’ll look at future prospects including Ryan Arcidiacono (Villanova), Wade Baldwin IV (Vanderbilt), Matt Costello (Michigan State), Max Landis (IPFW), Patrick McCaw (UNLV) and Kaleb Tarczewski (Arizona).