Michigan Basketball: Grad transfer D.J. Williams feels like a perfect fit

George Washington guard and former Illinois player D.J. Williams is becoming a graduate transfer and he makes perfect sense for Michigan basketball.

When it comes to adding talent to the 2019-20 Michigan basketball team, it’s looking more and more like that talent will need to come via the transfer portal.

Michigan basketball is certainly still holding out hope that it can get Jalen Wilson back in the fold and as it was reported last week, Juwan Howard is supposed to meet with Wilson and his mother at some point.

Yet, we haven’t heard anything about Wilson and Michigan since then. That could mean nothing. It could also mean that the Wolverines are falling out of favor and Wilson is narrowing his choices to Kansas or North Carolina.

Of course, that is all speculation but it’s hard to feel good about Michigan’s chances for Wilson right now, which shifts the focus to the transfer market and specifically, to graduate transfers.

Graduates that transfer can play right away and while Michigan showed interest in Anthony Mathis earlier this week, he ended up going to Oregon. Justin Pierce was another target earlier this offseason that ended up going to North Carolina.

The list is dwindling quickly and the Wolverines are running out of potential candidates. Tevin Mack of Alabama is one possibility, although UM hasn’t shown much interest and neither has Mack.

Another player that became available Friday though, could very well be a potential fit and that’s 6-foot-7 guard, D.J. Williams of George Washington. The former Chicago product that played two seasons with Illinois before transferring to George Washington is going to enter the portal as a grad transfer and with UM in desperate need of a starting guard, Juwan Howard should make a call.

Williams averaged 13.7 PPG and 4.7 RPG for GW last season and even scored 16 points in a loss to the Wolverines early last season. He only shoots 29 percent from 3-point range but he got four free-throw attempts per game last season, even if his overall shooting percentage is inefficient.

The fact that he played previously in the Big Ten and is from Chicago, should give the Wolverines an in thanks to Howard. Another advantage might be new assistant Phil Martelli, who coached in the A-10 last season at St. Joe’s. That’s the same conference as George Washington, so not only will Martelli know the kid, he will have a good feel for what kind of player he is.

When Williams came out of high school in 2015, he was the No. 78 player and he certainly has the ability to make Michigan basketball better in the short term. He’s not a perfect player by any means, but he’s good enough to plug in at shooting guard for next season, without tying up a scholarship long term.

Michigan could still have as many as five scholarships to offer for next season and with Williams, the Wolverines would no longer have a glaring hole in their starting lineup at shooting guard.