The best is yet to come for Williams

Amir Williams, the Lightning’s premier big man, is an efficient scorer and top shot blocker. As his minutes continue to climb, he just may be the key to the team’s chances at a fifth NBLC title this season.

(Photo: Luke Durda).

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Amir Williams has done his share of dancing.

March Madness holds special memories for the London Lightning centre. As a member of the powerhouse Ohio State Buckeyes a decade ago, the 6-foot-11-inch centre went to the Big Dance four straight years, including a run to the 2012 Final Four in New Orleans during his freshman year.

“You couldn’t hear anything during the course of the game. It was incredible,” he said of the game held in front of 70,000-plus fans in the New Orleans Superdome. “You could be standing right next to your teammate and you can’t hear a word. Just being in that environment, in that energy, and you’re playing in that game, that is something special I feel I will never forget.”

In that Final Four matchup, the Buckeyes lost to the Kansas Jayhawks 64-62 in a game where the 19-year-old Williams didn’t score, but nabbed a steal, in three minutes of floor time. Despite never winning the tourney, the March memories were about all those exciting moments for Williams.

“The competition goes to a whole new level once you reach the tournament. Every possession counts. We won a game at the buzzer. We lost a game at the buzzer. People know how fun this time of year is,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable journey and something you gotta embrace and enjoy when you get there because you don’t know when it will end or if you will get back.

“All the hard work that you put in during the season, and then you get a chance to play on one of the biggest stages, against the best competition in college basketball, it is an amazing experience.”

This week, the American returns to the floor seeking to re-establish himself as one of the NBL Canada’s top big men. Between an unexpected isolation, a short pre-season, and a recent bout of COVID, Williams feels he has yet to show Bolts fans his best game – a scary thought, perhaps, for the rest of the league.

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Before his time with the Buckeyes, Williams was the No. 1 ranked high school athlete in Michigan (and No. 53 in the nation). He finished his four-year career with the Buckeyes ranked fifth all-time in school history for shots blocked.

The Detroit native spent time in the NBA G-League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston Rockets affiliate) and Iowa Wolves (Minnesota Timberwolves affiliate). He has also made professional stops playing in top leagues in New Zealand, Switzerland, Hungary, and the U.K.

But Williams never expected his career would include a stop at Hogwarts.

Starting this year in the Middle East, financial issues faced by his franchise left Williams in limbo, stuck in his hotel room, unable to speak the language or work out in team facilities – and bored out of his mind. Shaky Wi-Fi made his devices almost useless, and his sanity was rescued by one English-language channel that showed American movies all day.

“I watched a lot of movies – some I knew, some I didn’t, but I had no choice. Sometimes I was like, ‘Man, what the hell am I watching?’ But I couldn’t change the channel because no other channel was in English,” Williams laughed. “You’ll watch almost anything when there is nothing else to do. I didn’t know anything about Harry Potter, but five Harry Potter movies came on in that time span, so I was like, ‘Well, I gotta watch a little bit.’”

Fresh from that experience, Williams signed with the Lightning on Feb. 14 as a key piece of head coach Doug Plumb’s powerful front court.

“Amir brings a pedigree to our team that few players have. He was an All-American, ranked in the Top 100 players of his class, and played for one of the top colleges in the NCAA,” Plumb said. “He has all the tools to become one of the most dominant bigs this league has seen and will anchor our defense this season.”

So far, Williams is averaging 13.3 points and 6.9 rebounds in seven games (four as a starter), in just 22.7 minutes per game. (Coach Plumb has strategically limited the big man’s minutes thus far as his conditioning ramps back up).

(Photo: Luke Durda).

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When he hit the COVID list on March 17, the team lost their leader in field goal percentage (.700) and one of the most dominant defenders in the league. He missed two games and remained in second place in blocked shots (averaging 1.57 per game).

COVID sapped the big man’s strength for a day or two last week, but otherwise he has felt no ill effects of the virus beyond trying to fight off boredom of being sequestered alone for a week in his room. (No Harry Potter marathons this time, however. March Madness helped the Buckeye get through it this time.)

Williams returns Thursday to play against the Sudbury Five in London.

His short-term goals include further conditioning, getting back into a rhythm on the court, and working himself back into the offense.

“My role is simple: score in the post, score with my back to the basket, rebound, defend at a high level, block shots, score on pick and rolls. It can be easy to adjust to that type of system,” he explained. “We love to run. We do a lot out of transition with our team. Everybody gets out on the break and runs. I feel like this type of system, this type of team brings out the best in me.”

The big man’s role has evolved greatly over the last generation or two. Gone are the deep-rooted redwoods sitting on the block. Enter the more athletic big man who can rebound and pass at an elite level. In Plumb’s scheme, it also helps if that big man is a clamp-down defender, which is exactly Williams’s speciality.

“On defense, I have got to be the biggest communicator when I’m out there. Somebody has to be the anchor tower defense and I feel like I’m that guy for our team,” he explained.

Even without Williams, London has maintained its league-leading defense, as the team sits tops in steals per game and second in blocks. They are holding teams to only 96.1 points per game, 42.3% from the field and only 31.4% from 3.

Now, the team returns one of the league’s top shot blockers and floor leaders.

“As a big man on defense, I should be talking about coverages, knowing where all the guys are supposed to be, and making sure they are there, rebounding, defending the paint, protecting the paint as best as I can,” he explained. “That is something I’ve been accustomed to my entire career, since I was a kid. It has become second nature for me to defend the paint.”

Williams was always the biggest kid on the court – plucked at centre on every team since he picked up a ball. (Well, there was that time when he convinced his coaches to play him at point guard in middle school…)

There was never a growth spurt, as some big men experience, but rather he just continuously grew – his family constantly buying ever-bigger shoes until he finally hooked up with AAU squads as a teen and they provided the shoes.

He loves the big man role, though, and he’s constantly seeking to improve.

“Being big is all I’ve known, so I have just looked for ways to add more things to my game, like being able to shoot, being a guy you can rely on to go and get you some points in the paint, being a guy that can create my own shot in the post. It just comes with the territory,” Williams said. “I love this role. You keep playing, keep working at things you’re not yet great at until you are great.”

Williams now looks to make some more March memories – and maybe some championship ones beyond.

“This season is going fast, and I am good to go. Being able to get back on the court, being able to get some work in, stay smart about it, I should be back to my normal self. And I am ready.”