Amari Williams selected No. 46 overall by Celtics (via Magic) | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Reaction

Amari Williams selected No. 46 overall by Celtics (via Magic) | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Reaction

back here on CBS Sports HQ on the clock presented by Jeep Boston Celtics make a selection amari Williams is the pick there the kid out of Kentucky a big old body there uh look this is a kid that we saw uh get after it for Kentucky he played 22 minutes a game he was a certainly a role player for them uh had some valuable minutes when you look at this for Boston does this make sense for them right now as uh they just traded away Drew Holiday Christophs Porzingis we’re at the point in the draft where I don’t have anyone on my board who I consider a definite NBA player meaning they’re going to be on a roster next year and given that scenario Amari Williams is a player who has the tools to be intriguing because he’s got size length mobility and ball skills because he can really handle and pass the basketball before he got to Kentucky he played at Drexel and prior to that he grew up in the United Kingdom where some say he was even a point guard so he can handle and pass the basketball the problem is he can’t shoot right now so he can move he can protect the rim and you can run some five out offense which Boston has liked to do so there’s enough thread there to pull and see if you can make something out of it which at this point in the draft is I think the best you’re going to do
yeah 10.9 points 8.5 rebounds in that final year of college he did five years of college basketball first at Drexel like you mentioned then at Kentucky uh 7 foot 76 wingspan he’s going to play drop coverage and play that well but when you get him out on the perimeter things can get a little difficult for him and like Fin said he’s a total nonshooting threat at this point in in his career and though we have seen some other bigs that we’ve said that about often it’s the 19-year-old or the 20-year-old this is a 23-year-old 5-year college player who still has shown no ability to stretch the floor at all so it’s reasonable to be skeptical he’ll ever be able to do that in any sort of meaningful way i I will say this he’s got an opportunity they just traded Porzingis al Herford’s my age luke Cornett’s coming up i mean there’s there’s an opportunity there to go try and be a third string center maybe even a backup i
Is there a player that you would have taken differently here in this spot for Boston
there’s two players i in the end of the first round they took Hugo Gonzalez liam McNeely would have been the pick for me um and then early in the second they moved that pick now they got four second rounders but I thought there was a clear pro on the board and Ryan Kulkrunner both of those players McNeely and Kulk Brener could have stepped in and been I believe rotation guys next year for a Celtics team that is having to shed contracts to get out of that second apron and all the penalties that go along with it so McNeel and Caulk Brener I I thought would have been a ideal scenario for the Celtics they opted to go with two more defensive oriented picks uh we’ll have to see how that goes
and then um subsequent to the earlier pick that’s when Maxim Reno came off the bench if you’re Phil uh Boston rather in theory it have been awesome if he dropped to you but he was off the board by the time they selected at 46 X

Adam Finkelstein and Gary Parrish join CBS Sports HQ to grade Amari Williams being selected No. 46 overall by the Celtics.

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