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Tennessee basketball: Grant Williams testing NBA waters best news Vols could get

By Caleb Calhoun

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after being fouled during the second half of the game against Kansas Jayhawks at the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Barclays Center on November 23, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after being fouled during the second half of the game against Kansas Jayhawks at the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Barclays Center on November 23, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee basketball junior forward Grant Williams is testing the waters for the NBA Draft. That’s the best news the Volunteers could get.

When you’re a two-time All-American and a two-time SEC Player of the Year, it’s almost inevitable you’ve earned the right to see where you’d land in the NBA Draft. As a result, Tennessee basketball got the best news it could possibly get on Tuesday.

One day after the news that Rick Barnes is staying in Knoxville, Grant Williams announced that he is testing the NBA Draft waters. This is similar to what Admiral Schofield did last year. Williams will test it, see what his chances are, and then make a decision.

There’s nothing wrong with doing that. And as the Vols’ leading scorer over the past two years, what more could you expect from him? Of course he was going to check it out. But by not committing, the Vols have a chance for his return.

Even after losing Schofield, their big man in Kyle Alexander and their point guard in Jordan Bone, if Williams returns, excitement is back to the same level for next season. After all, one of the guards, Jordan Bowden or Lamonte Turner is bound to stay. Josiah James is a five-star ready to make an immediate impact. And DJ Burns can come in to help the inside game after redshirting.

So the roster would be stacked enough for Tennessee basketball to be elite again. In fact, Williams returning gives this team the potential to be even a little bit better. It could be worse as well. We don’t know yet how James or Burns will turn out.

What’s clear, though, is that the Vols weren’t going to get any better news than Williams testing the NBA waters. And here’s the real kicker: there’s a great chance he returns. Remember, Williams is an undersized power forward.

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At 6’8″ and close to 240 pounds, he won’t get away with just having a strong inside game in the NBA. One thing he needs to work on is stretching the floor. He has shown an ability to hit three-pointers when left wide open, but he’s always hesitant to shoot.

It’s likely that NBA scouts tell him he needs to become a more legitimate threat from outside. Given how great of a free throw shooter he is and the fact that he hit 15 three-pointers and shot nearly 33 percent from beyond the arc this year, an offseason working on that shot could make him a more complete player.

And that wouldn’t just help his NBA prospects. With Schofield gone, that would significantly help the versatility on Tennessee basketball next year. Rick Barnes’s offense could be much deadlier if Williams could consistently stretch the floor.

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Knowing he needs to work on that, the Vols may be in for some even better news in a couple of weeks. Barnes staying and Williams returning would be a boost for the program that is impossible to describe. Combine that with Williams’s focus on where he needs to improve, and you could have a very special team again in 2019-2020.

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