Indiana University junior small forward Troy Williams will enter this year’s NBA draft but has no immediate plans to hire an agent, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter links). The school has confirmed the news. The 6’6″ 21-year-old is a fringe second-round prospect, checking in at 83rd in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and 86th with Chad Ford of ESPN.com. Williams plans to get a clearer picture of his draft stock before deciding whether to withdraw or remain in the draft, Wojnarowski adds. He can retain his college eligibility as he takes part in workouts for teams and, if invited, the NBA combine, so long as he pulls out by May 25th and doesn’t hire an agent.
Williams upped his scoring average slightly this season compared to his sophomore year, from 13.0 points per game to 13.3, but his per-game rebounding average dipped from 7.4 to 5.8. Perhaps most importantly, he developed a 3-point game, hiking his number of attempts from 13 to 75 and nailing 34.7% of his looks from behind the arc this year. He connected on five of eight 3-point attempts during a 21-point performance in Indiana’s season-ending Sweet 16 loss to eventual finalist North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.
The native of Hampton, Virginia, earns high marks from Ford for his defense. He was 51st in the 2013 Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of prep powerhouse Oak Hill Academy.