Robert Williams was not supposed to be at the NBA combine. Here's a story two weeks before the combine indicating he like a lot of the top prospects were skipping the combine. The agent generally decides whether the prospect should attend and how much they should do.
https://sports.yahoo.com/complete-2018-nba-draft-combine-list-211843026.html
Sure. I just know that he didn't do the combine and that hurt his stock because some GMs hoped to see him there. There's obviously no obligation, but unless you're a known no-miss prospect, not showing up at the combine is construed as having something to hide. Moreover, some players show up even if they don't plan to participate in the drills just to do sitdowns with teams.
There is no obligation to show up at the draft. I like Williams even more for staying home and watching it with his family. Considering how he dropped, it was a smart decision optically.
No, but many players do. Those projected to go in the lottery certainly do. I thought his absence was unusual.
He didn't blow off the conference call. He overslept and it sounds like the team's communication was partially at fault.
"Dog ate my homework" excuse. Means you didn't care enough to make sure you're up and available. Set as many alarm clocks as you need, tell everyone in the house to wake you up, go to bed on time. It's all within your control if you care enough.
Williams did get suspended for an exhibition game and the 1st two regular season games. Most definitely not good. However the situation at Texas A&M was bad with several teammates getting suspended during the season including 1 getting dismissed from the team.
I'm surprised no details have come out. Maybe it's just nothing, but in the context of all the other eyebrow-raisers it doesn't help.
Don't know why you brought up his only starting 40 of 61 games. Texas A&M was a very poor fitting collection of players. The coach sometimes tried bringing Williams off the bench to offset Williams and Davis playing together.
Mostly because I think that if you're such a great talent then you're a mortal lock for the starting lineup, and everything else gets adjusted around you. But that's conjecture. Again, like everything else, it might amount to nothing in the end, but all of these are obvious red flags at this point.
I think you're color blind. Those flags are not even pink. Williams is a late bloomer not some great talent that was projected to be an NBA player since he was 12. He was #64 on the RSCI rankings for the 2016 high school class. He wasn't a projected one-and-done lottery pick so his freshman performance was to a degree a breakout season. Williams is an intriguing raw project but he's also a two time SEC defensive player of the year.
http://www.draftexpress.com/RSCI/2016/
Here's a story on the Texas A&M suspensions. Just says he was suspended for violating A&M policy. Clearly wasn't anything too bad and it was only once unlike some of his teammates.
https://www.theeagle.com/aggie_sports/texas-a-m-basketball-team-dismisses-caldwell-suspends-chandler/article_24f57b2e-0f84-11e8-819c-1b29ae93ee4c.html
i am in the "let's see what we have here and see whether the bad optics are predictive or not." let's not over react, but let's pose real questions. i mean, gerald green famously fell asleep during a session with ainge trying to teach him how to read film. it took him a long time to figure things out in his life.
koz relentlessly asks (and that is okay) is robwill a GG redo? we don't know, but we might soon enough. will he be a good citizen this summer? i hope so.
but please let me address your response to Koz.
first, your initial paragraph is unrelated to koz's arguements. he doesnt argue that robwill no no talent or wasnt ranked highly. so, i am not sure how that point fits into the larger argument. remember, GG was highly ranked before he fell in the draft. talent is not a predictor of knucklehead-ocity.
your
second paragraph raises a good point on the suspension. NONE OF US KNOW WHY HE WAS SUSPENDED. he is only 20 years old and i know that my choices at that age were not always stellar, sage, and wise.
i grew out of it, mostly. (please do not confirm this with my partner.
)
is robwill a knucklehead at present? it could be so, given what we have seen so far. but it is not a lock by any means that he is a knucklehead.
will robwill be a knucklehead in the future? could be. but i think we need to wait and see before casting any judgement. oh, and by the way, Koz did not say "robwill = knucklehead for sure."
Koz fairly raised good questions on our newest baby celtic.