'Now, more than ever, there's widespread uncertainty when it comes to how college basketball teams will actually come together when we talk about the sport in the offseason. There are still great teams on paper and proven commodities, but with so many moving parts from the transfer portal there's a lot more left to the imagination.
Throughout the offseason Cats Illustrated writers will be sharing takes in a Roundtable series on ceilings, floors, and expectations for the players on the roster. In other words, reasonable takes on best or worst case outcomes. Obviously nobody can predict injuries or other fluke scenarios, but given what we've seen and think, what's the range of expectation we should allow ourselves to imagine?
Here are takes on what's possible, good or bad, for incoming Tulane forward transfer Kam Williams.
David Sisk: One thing I learned from last year’s transfers is you have to watch these players in their old system. Tulane ran a five out. They tried to spread the floor and drive in isolation. Kam Williams is an off-ball offensive player. So he stood a lot, and didn’t get a ton of opportunities. He averaged exactly seven shots per game. A vast majority of them were three’s.
The best case scenario is that he falls into a rhythm like Koby Brea, because he is active in finding the trifecta. He could have that impact because he can shoot. He is also a good defender which allows helps find playing time. I’m not saying he is going to be Brea, but I think he can score 12 per game.
The worst case scenario is that he can’t play himself out of a deep rotation, and his playing time diminishes in league play. This would make for an Ansley Almonor comparison, but I think Williams is too good of an athlete for that to happen.
Justin Rowland: He's a really interesting player to me, mostly because his coach said he may be one of the best defensive players he's ever had. He was a really good prospect for them and did not disappoint at all in his freshman season.
My best case scenario expectation is that he could become a guy who plays 20-25 minutes per game, which is a lot for Pope. If he comes in and shoots well I'm still not sure I would expect him to average a ton of points just because of how deep this team is probably going to be, but knocking down a few threes in a few important SEC games could be a huge contribution for someone who could also be a major defensive upgrade.
The worst case scenario would be that Williams doesn't shoot especially well from outside and finds it harder to get minutes, but this seems like more of a worst case scenario for him than for Kentucky, because there's so much versatility and so many directions Pope can go with this team.
Jeff Drummond: I really like Kam Williams' versatility. In the film I've seen of him, he does a lot of things well. For that reason, I was reminded a bit of former Cat Darius Miller. He's a little bit taller and bouncier than Miller was, though, but he sees the floor in a similar fashion. I like how he attacks the rim off the bounce and tries to dunk it when he's close.
Williams is a guy you could really see blossoming into a star in Mark Pope's system. Of course, highlight videos are always going to accentuate the best things a player can do. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to SEC play. Worst-case scenario, I see an important role player who's one of the first guys off the bench for Pope next season.
