Williams does not have a high motor. You can tell he loves blocking shots but he's not active on the glass. If a shot goes up and he's not in position he doesn't fight for position. It comes across as lazy. Good rebounders fight for position and are always moving towards the basket when a shot goes up. they don't watch the ball and see if it comes to them they go for the ball. Williams either doesn't have this instinct or he does not have a high motor. Good awareness on the defensive end just not a good rebounder IMO. He rolls to the hoop well but just isn't active on the glass. Very concerning to me. You can't teach motivation. He needs to pick up his effort.
His 10 rebounds per 36 minutes would disagree with you.
Is that really good, though? Notoriously poor rebounders Okynyk and Tyler Zeller have career per 36 rebound averages of 8 and 9.
Took a look at his Reb% numbers and a very similar comparison is someone like a Willie Cauley-Stein or Serge Ibaka type rebounder. Good but not great.
But it's a ridiculously small sample size that you really can't draw anything from.
Eye test says he doesn't have a good ability to read where the ball might miss based on the shot and move to that area. The great rebounders do this naturally. He doesn't block out very often, relying on his shear athleticism to rebound rather than using good rebounding technique, but that is pretty common nowadays.
I just think, in general, Williams has looked lost this year. Even in his playing time yesterday, it's pretty clear he just does not get a lot both offensively and defensively. The offense goes very simple when he is in the game.
But, if he works like crazy, gets better with his system knowledge and can develop some offense the team can implement besides a p&r alley oops, I think he has great potential.
I need to see good progress next year. I kind of expected what he gave the team this year. It was pretty obvious he didn't develop or learn a thing his second year in school. You could see how raw he was.
But he does just drip potential. As I said, I want to see progress next year. I hope he can earn minutes next year similar to what Theis has given the team the last couple years. I think we will know a lot more about Timelord a year from now.