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The Vilnius “Rytas” team announced their first overseas purchase and became a little-known basketball player in Lithuania. Jarvisas Williams.
The real name of the 28-year-old and 202 cm tall attacker was Reigarvius, so there is a lot of information about him on the Internet under this name, but it is presented as an acronym.
Williams’ college career didn’t happen: He didn’t play a single game at Gordon College in the first two years and then moved to Murray State, where he became a prominent figure, averaging 15 points and 9.1 rebounds in the last two years. . . Then he was used more as a center, as evidenced by the fact that in 69 games he only tried to attack from a distance.
The only former friend of Williams’ team to reach the heights is Phoenix Suns defender Cameron Payne.
Williams was not interested in clubs in the National Basketball Association (NBA), so he headed to Europe in 2015. Handcrafted with the Wrocław Club Šlask. The Poles had to be happy with acquiring this high, as he became the leader (17.2 points, 8.9 rebounds per team), but the team did not stick to things and was at the end of the classification the whole time, and finally finished only 14.
It is true that Williams did not finish the season because he received an invitation from Tofash of Bursa. Now this club is very well known, but in 2016. at the beginning it still played in the second Turkish league. It was with the arrival of the American that Tofaš won the second division fights, and the athlete himself recorded averages of 13.4 points and 5.2 points in 20 minutes.
The Tofaš executives decided that Williams was not the player worthy of showing his skills in the top league, so he did not stick around for the next season and the athlete moved on to the next second league: France. The athlete stayed there for two years, defending the honor of Bouzalac from Dordogne and Calvados from Kano.
Averaging 15.7 points and 6.7 rebounds for Bouzalac, Williams helped the team advance to the top league, but again he didn’t get a chance to appear there. This is a situation analogous to what we saw in the case of Tofash.
Williams had no choice but to stay in the PRO B championship for another year, where this time he joined the Kano team. Although he played hard (16.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per minute), Calvados was only 14th.
In the summer, Williams had to return to the country where he began his professional career: Poland, where he joined Radom’s Hydro Truck team. The club did not beat the national team for the FIBA European Cup, and was only mediocre in the local championships, remaining in 11th position. The player’s own statistics were not bad again: 14.9 points and 6.6 rebounds.
2019 Williams’ career focused on the Netherlands, where he became a member of the Leiden ZZ. He averaged 18 points and 8.2 rebounds in the local championships and 14.1 points and 8.3 rebounds in the FIBA European Cup. ZZ didn’t do anything special in any of the tournaments – they were in fifth place in the Netherlands before the end of the season due to COVID-19.
Last year Williams had the opportunity to show his skills at a higher level, at the Vanoli Club in Cremona. In the Italian league, this team has been in the top eight in recent years, so it can be called a good average. Williams himself played a very important role (27 minutes per game) and scored 12.4 points and grabbed 8.3 balls. It is true that “Vanoli” did not make the playoffs, he was tenth.
The season was not successful for the club, but Williams drew attention to himself for a good fight under the baskets – he was second in the entire league. It was also close to the top ten in terms of utility scores collected – with an average of 16.9, it was eleventh.
The numbers in the Italian league, especially in the core teams, are sometimes misleading. A good example here is Pasvalys’ Milk Stars in 2018. Emmanuel Omogbo, who was also among the leaders in rebounding, was third in the league with an average of 8.9, but in Lithuania he had a hard time adjusting.
Williams, who said he also likes to play hard, can be called the “fourth number” of the oldest haircut as he hits badly from long range. In the first season in the second French league, he shot just 20 3-pointers in 42 games (he hit 5), while in another team he was already furious on the perimeter and fired 105 shots from distance in 30 games, hitting 32 (30.5 %). In the Netherlands, Williams already looked like a sniper: 43.1 percent. hit – 25 of 58 attempts. It is true that only 9 out of 28 (32%) are already in the FIBA European Cup. Most likely, the performance in the Netherlands is more of an exception to the rule, as in Italy he attacked from the perimeter only 31 times in 27 matches and hit only 6 times, which is 19.4 percent.
Obviously, Williams will be the player in whom opponents can take risks and focus more on the baskets, since he is not very dangerous either on the perimeter or when shooting from a medium distance. For the “East” this should not be very relevant if it will be used as the center most of the time.
Williams’ strengths are athleticism, speed, good bouncing and mobility. Thanks to his fast hands, he takes at least one ball during the match, and there are still many situations where the game tool hits and is taken by teammates or the opponents attack is simply interrupted.
The best way to take advantage of Williams is in 2v2 situations. At Vanoli, he scored 1,095 points per attack, which is “good” on the Synergy scale. You can tell that J. Williams descends under the basket very quickly and the only thing left is to pass the ball well, which Vaidas Kariniauskas or Margiris Normantas can do. It’s true that back-to-the-basket skills are very poor, so we won’t see much of her “breaking the tendrils” unless there is a very clear advantage situation.
Williams is also extremely aggressive “under the board” where he grabs a lot of balls in attack, including 2.3 per game in Italy. Usually the American himself chooses to replay an inaccurate throw from a teammate, but he doesn’t always manage to do it effectively as he chooses to attack from awkward positions through the hands raised by opponents.
Williams always seems confident, excited and eager to fight on the field. Although he doesn’t have a good shot, he does account for penalties very well – his career average is 77 percent.
Rytas will be able to apply his newcomer in the defense of exchanges, where his fast and long limbs will be perfect. Playing the center role, he often runs out of inches and pounds when it comes to dealing with physically stronger opponents, making him extremely vulnerable near the basket. Despite his athleticism, Williams is not a good goalkeeper who punishes opponents with blocks.
Conclution. Rytas has made quite a risky purchase as he is a player who has yet to taste FIBA Champions League fights. For most of his career, Williams played for average or even below-average teams, and the fact that he didn’t stay anywhere for more than one season suggests that clubs weren’t always happy with that. Two instances where he played well, but the best team didn’t retain him for next season is also a sign of mastery, and perhaps character. Williams will definitely add aggression under the baskets, and fans will be blown away by his plots, fights, and emotions.
Williams is a good pick for the reserve midfielder role, who could help in a very limited role in the role of a heavy lead. He is very suitable as a substitute for Ivan Buva, as he is a player of a different style – picrenol center that contributes to the protection of universality. The Croat, for his part, is slower and reinforces his game. It is true that both will have problems in defense: the Croat – “two against two” in defense, the American – close to the basket.
It was in the center that J. Williams played the decisive season at the Kremona club. Until now, Williams was only the leader of weak teams that did not claim anything or fight in the second divisions. Solid numbers in Italy sometimes give the false impression of being in an offensive league where among the most productive players were Luis Scola or David Logan, surviving a career twilight. Also, don’t forget that the team was only 10th.
With a limited budget, Rytas has no choice but to take a chance and buy an affordable player that may not have been taken seriously by other capable teams. Vilnius residents should expect J. Williams to adapt successfully and be useful not only in attack, but also in defense. So far, Williams’ “Morning” is the highest point of his career and we’ll see if he has the potential to climb even higher, and may have to return to lower-level teams.
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