2018 NBA Mock Draft: Where do Doncic, Ayton and Bagley land?

If teams learn the lessons of big men in this era of the league — that there are more than enough to go around, and to be truly valuable they must be great on defense or incredibly versatile on offense — Williams and Mitchell Robinson, the draft’s third tier of big men, may fall. Atlanta is in a position to be patient and grab one, should they fall this far.

Williams is a puzzling prospect whose effort waxed and waned over the course of the season, perhaps because he was frustrated with an offense that did not maximize his strengths. Instead, Williams was forced to play with another big most of the time, rarely found opportunities in simple pick-and-roll finishing situations, and had no success trying out a jumper midway through conference play.

His passing and defense inspire hope as potentially above-average skills for his position, and if he finds a team with good play-making and spacing, he could fill the Clint Capela archetype that teams will surely covet based on Houston’s success developing Capela the last few years. Atlanta isn’t the team to do that yet, but with a blank slate of a roster, they can craft a team that works for Williams.

That said, much is up in the air with Atlanta announcing yesterday they have moved on from coach Mike Budenholzer.