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With the #55th pick of the 2017 NBA Draft the Utah Jazz didn’t trade their pick, move up, or sell - but selected point guard Nigel Williams-Goss with it. I honestly don’t know everything there is to know about the 6’3 PG from Gonzaga. But there are some guys out there who know him better. So let’s defer to them.
To quote Chris Schutte from our bros over at MidMajorMadness.com :
One of the things that made Gonzaga so good this year was their depth, but Nigel Williams-Goss was the engine that made them go. The junior point guard made a major impact on the Bulldogs with a well-rounded game that allowed him to do whatever Gonzaga needed on a given night.
However, Williams-Goss isn’t a lock to be selected in the NBA Draft this summer. The former McDonald’s All-American is projected by many mock drafts to go in the second round, or even undrafted. He falls into the trap of being good at multiple things, but not great at any. Nonetheless, Williams-Goss brings some things to the table that can help NBA teams.
Chris writes that he’s a capable floor leader who helps out with the dishes and the glass and has an improved shot. Being able to go 37 / 87 from deep and the line is something this team isn’t going to say “no” to at this stage. I don’t know if he’s going to be a long-term fixture with the team who drafted two point guards in the second round just LAST draft: Marcus Paige and Tyrone Wallace. Furthermore, we’ve seen guards drafted and then traded in short order - like Olivier Hanlan.
Furthermore, the Jazz could have draft and stashed some available players like bigman Aleksandar Vezenkov or Alpha Kaba who would go #57 and #60 respectively. A bigman who could be something is usually a better risk than a point guard who may not be better than anything Utah currently has.
But I really can’t nit-pick this too much. Utah needs a point guard. Having another steady hand out there to run things in Summer League isn’t bad. There are two practices a day. If he’s just a practice player who gets an opportunity to play in the D-League (I mean G-League) it’s not the end of the world.
NWG beat the odds by being drafted. He can do it again by surprising us all with his play on the court.
I can’t wait to see it!
And thus ends the “picks” section of the NBA Draft. And for those keeping score at home, the Jazz finished the night with three players they worked out.