By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
During the last few years, Ulm has been the ideal platform for coaches and players to make it to the top European level. The examples are many, the most recent ones being the Brazilian duo of Yago Dos Santos and Bruno Caboclo, who are currently Turkish Airlines EuroLeague rivals in Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, respectively.
Now, another new player is wearing Ulm’s jersey who is already taking the BKT EuroCup by storm. Trevion Williams boasts the league’s best performance index rating, 22.8 per game, but what’s most impressive is how he is doing that.
The 2.08-meter center is currently averaging a double-double with 14.5 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. This is no small feat for the 23-year-old Williams, who fits the EuroLeague prototype for an athletic big man. Undersized, explosive centers for many years were — and remain — a must for EuroLeague contenders, and Williams could be next in line to take such a step forward.
In his first season in Europe, Williams is one of the main reasons for Ulm’s 6-3 EuroCup record so far. The German champions are right on track for the quarterfinals, and with the single-elimination format until the semifinals, they can set their sights as high as anyone.
A decade ago, the incredible 2003-04 season and the first to do it
Williams is having a season to remember and there’s no sign of his slowing down. If he manages to complete the season averaging a double-double, he will be the sixth player to do so having played 10 or more games in a season. The funny thing about it is that this happens almost once a season per decade.
Before Williams, the last player to average a double-double was Vladimir Golubovic back in the 2013-14 season. The Serb big man, who had a solid career, averaged 19.3 points and 10.1 points that season while taking Aykon TED Ankara Kolejliler all the way to the EuroCup Quarterfinals.
Golubovic was the first to average a double-double in the EuroCup since a decade earlier, 2003-04, when in three players did so. Jason Forrestal of Superfund Kapfenberg averaged up 10.3 points and 10.0 rebounds over 10 games in his only EuroCup season. Giant big man Priest Lauderdale averaged 19.3 points and 11.3 rebounds in 11 games for Lukoil Academic. And Dutch center Gerrit Hammink had 15.3 points and 11.5 rebounds in 12 games for Rheinenergie Cologne.
If those three centers averaged a double-double in the same season, the first EuroCup player to do so came a year earlier in the inaugural 2002-03 campaign of the competition. K’Zell Wesson introduced himself on the continental level with an average of 14.0 points and 12.7 rebounds in 10 games that season for Cholet Basket.
By current standards, Wesson would also qualify as an undersized center. His legacy lives on after 20 years with Williams carrying the torch.