Look Who's Transferring Now (The Basketball Portal)

[DZ83CK]

While I’m confident that Williams will be an upgrade over last year’s reserve wing/guard (because they were extremely weak), he is not well ranked. This’ll be an opportunity for Diebler to show that he and his coaches can scout effectively.

True, he is not highly ranked, but ultimately Diebler was not really selling a starting role at this point, which makes it tough to get top talent unless you overpay. Especially nowadays with the portal, if you're not giving a guy an obvious route to major PT, they're going to think it's going to hurt their future NIL earnings if they accept a smaller role & won't want to come. Also, you've got to take those portal rankings with a grain of salt - they all told you that Aaron Bradshaw was a lot better addition than Micah Parrish.

Jimmie Williams is a really good fit - seemingly not a guy with genuine NBA prospects, but nevertheless it's very easy to see him fitting in well with the team & system. He has some versatility, experience & a well-rounded skillset. IMO, the key here is fit - I believe the staff is prioritizing finding guys who are the best overall fit. This is the kind of addition you look at and say, they could have gotten a guy with more NBA-level talent if they really wanted but didn't. Let's see if the system-/team-first approach pays off.