<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">At least one NBA executive believes Illinois junior Deron Williams improved his stock as a draft prospect with his performance Saturday against Arizona, and he believes Williams can end up as a lottery pick. ''He did help himself,'' the source said on the condition of anonymity. ''He played well and defended [Salim] Stoudamire well. ''It depends on the Europeans. If the league doesn't get carried away with the Europeans or the high school kids coming out, he could be a lottery pick.''</div> Source
He certainly couldn't have hurt his stock during the tourney. Leading a team to the final four isn't easy, and coming back on a third rank team with under five minutes to go isn't easy either...
I think he's a potential lottery pick, but in my opinion, there are still two point guards who are likely to go higher than him. Those two being Felton and Paul. However, Williams is a phenomenal player and a great court leader and I could see him landing at least somewhere in the first round.
Williams has a size advantage and if Illinois goes all the way,and he looks good,he will be about even with Paul,already he should be a top 10. Upon closer inspection several of the Project Euros will slide quite a few slots from the mocks currently around,though some will show well,and-or some teams may imagine the next peja or whoever.
I say he'll be a lottery pick, but like Moo said, Felton and Paul will go ahead of him. But if Felton and Williams go head to head in the championship, I'd think that whoever is the best out of these two will go higher than the other. Just what I think though...
Mr. Williams was certainly very impressive, he did lock down one of the best offensive players around, Salim and he did knock down crucial threes. Of course this tourney has helped him. He has been steady throughout which is exactly what one needs at the next level. If he lands after 10, he'll be a steal, looks a very good rounded player.
