Williams' bet on himself pays off
The bet Grant Williams made on himself when he opted to forego his senior season and remain in the NBA draft payed off big on Thursday night when the Boston Celtics selected the two-time SEC Player of the Year with the 22nd pick of the draft.
Williams becomes the first Tennessee player selected in the first round since Tobias Harris in 2011.
The first SEC player to win consecutive Player of the Year Awards since Corliss Williamson in the 1990’s, Williams appears to have landed in a good spot with the Celtics.
A playoff team with proven young talent like Gordon Hayward, Cam Tatum and Jaylen Brown, along with veteran Al Horford, the Celtics should provide a stable environment for Williams to develop without the pressure of needing to contribute immediately.
Williams hosted a draft party in his hometown of Charlotte where he learned that he was heading to the winningest team in NBA history.
Williams journey from a completely unheralded prospect to a first round NBA draft pick has been well documented. Despite growing up in the middle of ACC country he generated virtually no recruiting interest from ACC schools. In the end he essentially picked Tennessee over Yale, which is borderline incredible.
Williams immediate showed the college basketball world that he had been overlooked and that virtually everyone had been wrong in their evaluations of him. He averaged 12.6 ppg and 5.9 boards that first year while shooting 50.4% from the field.
He blossomed into one of the best players in college basketball as sophomore 16.5 ppg and 60.0 rounds en route to his first SEC Player of the Year award
He capped off his college career with a virtuoso junior campaign that saw him averaging 18.8 ppg and 7.5 rebounds per game while upping his shooting percentage a scorching 57%. Williams earned consensus first-team All-American honors while helping to lead the Vols to 31 wins and a Sweet 16 berth.
The manner in which Williams not only improved markedly in each of his three college seasons but also completely transformed his body over that span led to him becoming one of the more unlikely first round picks of the night considering his career trajectory.