Zags in Summer League: Johnathan Williams Struggles to Score

I was lucky enough to see Johnathan Williams up close and personal when I attended the Sacramento Summer League on Thursday. This is a pretty cool summer basketball event known as the California Classic (why the Miami Heat are in it and not the LA Clippers, I don’t know). Hopefully this event will return again next summer because it provides extra NBA exposure for these athletes.

Williams went 0-3 from the field in a 77-71 loss to the Golden State Warriors on day 3 of the Sacramento Summer League. He did get his first start of the summer league which is a good sign going forward but he just couldn’t put the ball in the hole.

Williams has proven to be a very consistent rebounder as he finished with 7 rebounds, 4 being offensive, in the game against the Warriors. He also came up with 1 pretty sweet block and 1 assist. J3 finishes his third and final game in the Sacramento Summer League game with averages of 4.7 PPG while shooting 41.2% from the field, 8.0 RPG (which is tied for the best on the team with Moritz Wagner), and 1.7 BPG in 29.0 MPG.

Williams and the Lakers now have to jump on a plane to travel to Las Vegas as they play the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday at 11:30 PM ET on ESPN. Let’s hope we can see more shots fall in the basket for J3 while he is in Vegas. We know Williams can rebound and protect the rim but he needs to prove he has some offensive skills if he wants a spot on an NBA team.

*Arden Cravalho is a senior at Gonzaga University... Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho