Video Clips, News & Updates on former Ohio State Basketball Players
Friday, February 16, 2024
Pro Buckeyes In Asia - Part Three - Amir Williams Wins 3rd Career Domestic League Championship With Title In Malaysia !
(Malaysia - Buckeye Veteran Amir Williams Celebrates League Championship With His NX Matrix Teammates - Late January 2024)
(Pro Buckeyes In Asia 2024 - From L To R - Amir Williams - Malaysia - Evan Ravenel - Japan - Jared Sullinger - China - Sam Thompson - Mongolia)
Our Series covering Professional Buckeyes playing on the Asian continent takes us to Malaysia where another Buckeye big has continued to enjoy consecutive seasons of individual & team success in recent years. This post is more of an overview of Amir Williams's pro career in general. Let's catch up!
Well Traveled & Well Played - We always marvel at how the game of Basketball can take players around the world leading to life changing experiences, opportunities & connections. The game of Basketball is perhaps the second most popular sport in the world behind Futbol (soccer). The sheer number of players & level of competition in North America is extremely fierce..then when factoring in the world at large, it's insane to think about just how many guys are competing to reach the upper echelon of the sport.
As we all know, only a very small percentage of Basketball players will ever come close to competing in the NBA, the G-League (previously known as the D-League) or high level Overseas play. But for players with the capacity & perseverance to make professional basketball a viable career, many opportunities are abound.
The fact remains that making it to D1 level College Ball, getting paid to play as a professional for consecutive years while experience longevity, individual & team success is a great accomplishment. Success is exactly what former Ohio State CenterAmir Williams has been experiencing in recent years as a pro ball player. The Detroit County Day product is now a seasoned ten year veteran of professional basketball having played in four different continents in North America, Europe, Asia & Oceania.
Amir Williams' resume of clubs reads like an undercover government agent or mercenary. There's stops in Mexico, Canada, UK, New Zealand, Switzerland, Hungary & Malaysia.
His pro career out of Ohio State began in the NBA G-League (#6th Overall Pick in the G-League Draft) with the Rio Grande Vipers (2015/2016) & the Iowa Wolves (2016/2017).
Rio Grande had a pretty loaded G-League roster at the time featuring would be legit NBA guys in Montrezl Harrell & Lithuanian Donatas Motiejunas in the front court. It was a bit of a tall order for Amir to come in as a rookie and establish himself as a feature big on a playoff G-League squad vying for the league title. Not unlike his play in Columbus, it would take Williams some time to get comfortable with the new level of play and earn more than a limited role.
Furthermore, while his stats remained unremarkable in his second year with Iowa, that is where you could see him getting more comfortable against G-League competition as he didn't have to play a certain role in pressure filled situations like his time with Rio Grande. Bigs like Amir Williams, who might be on the raw side in early development stages just need to play, play & play some more. In our view extensive game minutes/reps where players have the freedom to play, make mistakes & learn from adversity without worrying about getting benched can be instrumental in one's development. (check out the following clips below of one of his big games with Iowa - 18 & 18!)
Passport Time - As we examined how Amir's career trajectory has played out..it looks like he was able to benefit from playing in different countries, seeing different styles of play & learning how to best maximize his skills for a club in the pro game. He was able to post double double averages in his 3rd (New Zealand) & fourth (Switzerland) seasons before really coming into his own at start of the 2020's decade as a veteran in his late 20s/early 30s.
When we view clips of Williams in recent years, we see a much improved player who is in the best shape of his life physically. His frame is much more toned without the extra weight and he looks like a more fluid athlete. Basketball wise he has expanded his game all the way to shooting three point shots and he's actually comfortable in handling the ball and taking defenders to the rack. Make no mistake, the formative years of college is a long time away from a player's professional prime..players get a lot of better and this is not the same Amir Williams we saw at Ohio State.
Amir's four/five year stretch starting from 2019 to the current 2023/2024 season has been impressive with a steady 17.5 & 12 average of points & rebounds spanning seasons in the UK, Canada, Switzerland, & Malaysia. He had a great 2019-2020 run with the Worcester Wolves of the British Basketball League that featured a career highlight in winning the BBL Cup Tournament Title. Williams led Worcester with 23 points & 13 rebounds in the Cup Finals (pictured left after the game).
His stint in the United Kingdom was potentially shaping up to be the best individual & team season of his career, but their playoff post-season (along with all sports around the world) got canceled due to the global pandemic.
Amir's return to basketball after Covid came in January 2021 when he joined Swiss club BBC Nyon ( a team that went 1-12 prior to his arrival). to help them win some games to close out the 2020/2021 season.
AW's travels would then take him to the London Lightning of Canada's NBL where he played from 2021 through 2023. The Lightning are one of the strongest teams in Canada's top domestic league, and it must have been a breathe of fresh air for Williams after enduring a losing season in Switzerland the year before. Amir & the Lightning won back to back Canadian League Championships in 2022 & 2023. Williams had some monster games in his NBL stints including a 40 point, 18 rebound game on 5/12/2022 & a near triple double stat-line of 16 points, 11 rebounds & 8 blocks on 3/24/2022 among others.
(Videos - Clips from AW's 2019/2020 Season in the UK - A message from Amir to fans after the season gets canceled, a clip from Swiss news as they profile Williams' arrival to BBC Nyon in Switzerland, highlights from one of his career 40 point game in Canada)
Enter The Matrix - Amir Williams stayed quite busy in 2023. The timeline is a bit confusing, but in the same calendar year as his final stint in Canada, Williams also landed in East Asia to play in the 2023 ABL Invitationals with Malaysian squad NS Matrix. The ABL Invitational is a tournament organized by the ASEAN Basketball League, a cross-regional league featuring teams from Far East Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong ect.
Both Amir & his new Malaysian club were apparently satisfied with the pairing as Williams would re-join NS Matrix for their 2023-2024 Domestic League Season. Malaysia's Domestic MBL is a just a six team league with a regular season that ran from November 2023 to January 2024. Williams, now at age 33, played in 17 games total with an average of 16 points & 8 rebounds. His impressive run with NS Matrix culminated with the 2024 MBL Championship..Amir's 3rd consecutive Domestic League Title!..Detroit's own was named MVP of Game One of the Finals from a dominating 29 point, 17 rebound, 3 Blocks performance. In series clinching Game Two of the Finals, Williams was a straight up menace on the boards with 17 rebounds to with 9 points.
What's more, the accolades did not end with the Game One Finals MVP as Amir would additionally be named to the All Malaysian League First Team along with the Center of The Year award! It will be interesting to see if Amir Williams opts to continue his career in Asia like fellow Buckeyes Jared Sullinger & Evan Ravenel. Switching to a different basketball market almost every other season has largely proven to be successful for Williams, but as we have noted..several Asian Domestic League clubs seem to invite friendly situations & environments to Buckeye bigs.
Amir Williams is currently playing some of the best ball in his career. In our opinion he can definitely play in the highest caliber leagues in Asia right now. We would like him & his agency pursue a step up in competition & level of play to see where he potentially stacks up against the best of Japan or China. We're rooting for ya A-Dub!
(Article - Eurobasket - Embracing The Game - The Growth Of Popularity of Basketball In Malaysia )
(Videos - Check out the numerous videos of Amir Williams in action in Asia in the ABL Invitationals & MBL Finals with NS Matrix!)
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