Philadelphia 76ers: Jalen Williams is a high-floor, high-ceiling draft prospect

The Philadelphia 76ers need a starting small forward.

With Danny Green expected to miss much of the season with a torn ACL and Matisse Thybulle‘s further very much up in the air, the Sixers simply can’t afford to ignore the wings for yet another draft and hope they can secure magic either via trade, their MLE, or the veteran minimum.

No, with the 23rd overall pick at their disposal and one of the deepest wing drafts in recent memory looming just over the horizon, Philadelphia has a very real chance to secure a starting-caliber forward in the mid-20s who could play a very important role for years to come.

But who should the Philadelphia 76ers target? Surely fans already know about E.J. Lindell, the most commonly mocked player around at pick 23, but is there another option in that same general range who could provide similar value but in a different way? Why yes, there are about a half dozen players who fit that bill actually, but none the more impressive than Jalen Williams, small forward… Santa Clara? Wait, isn’t that the town from Lost Boys? It is; goodness, this is going to be a weird one.

Jalen Willaims checks a lot of boxes for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Jalen Williams might be the most fun player in all of NCAA mid-major basketball. He’s a near-40 percent shooter from deep, a competent ball-handler, an ambidextrous scorer, and a pest on the defensive end of the court, where he put in work versus the best scorers the WCC had to offer on his way to one of the most impressive careers in Santa Clara history.

Serving as by far the biggest fish in the WCC’s pond, Williams was largely tasked with running the Broncos’ offense as both a scorer and a facilitator, where he averaged 18 points and 4.2 assists per game. He’d drive to the bucket with an eye on the wings for an open look, throw laser passes to cutting teammates off the baseline, and even pull off some James Harden-esque moves both off the pick-and-roll and with his own fun little stepback J.

And on defense? Well, Williams has a little Robert Covington to him in that he’s a long, lean forward with an eye for picking off passes and an ability to switch over multiple positions as a top-of-the-key defender. Though he didn’t take on the toughest talents the college ranks had to offer during his three-season run in the vampire capital of the world, with a few games against Gonzaga serving as his career’s toughest challenges, the tools are there for Williams to be a wonderful 3-and-D wing with auxiliary playmaking upside which could prove incredible value for the 23rd overall pick indeed.

Goodness, could you imagine having another plus playmaker like Williams playing next to Harden and Tyrese Maxey this fall? Think of all the lineups, the substantiation, the cuts to the basket with a well-placed lob. We’d never have to see a player like Georges Niang or Furkan Korkmaz inbound a pass ever again.

Really, the Philadelphia 76ers just need to secure a plug-‘n-play wing in the 2022 NFL Draft. Find a guy who can guard multiple positions and hit 3s at a 38-41 percent clip, and it doesn’t particularly matter if he can dribble particularly well, set screens, or rebound the ball – though all three would be nice. Fortunately, Jalen Williams can fill those roles, but that’s just the surface of what he can do. No, with the athletic ability to be just as good off the ball as on it, Williams is a high-floor, high-ceiling player who could do a little bit of everything the Sixers need both now and moving forward.