Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 pm  |  22 responses

Latavious Williams Skips Out On Memphis For China

Memphis-recruit seeks pro career in China.

Latavious Williams announced he will play in China this upcoming season instead of starting his freshman year at the University of Memphis.

The news may come as a shocker as Williams is not a big-time prospect like Brandon Jennings and Jeremy Tyler, both of whom made the decision to play professionally overseas. Williams, a 6-8 Mississippi-native, made a release on Tuesday about his decision. “It was a difficult decision,” Williams said. “But after consulting with a number of people, and taking my family situation into consideration, playing overseas is the best move for me.

“It will not be an easy transition, but I have surrounded myself with a core of very competent people who I trust and who have my best interests at heart, so I am confident that things will work out very well,” he continued. At the time he put out the release, new Memphis head coach Josh Pastner was unaware of Williams’ decision. The former Christian Life Center Academy standout became Pastner’s first recruit back in May.

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  • frank Posted: Jul.22 at 2:04 pm
    first

  • Tarzan Cooper Posted: Jul.22 at 2:14 pm
    who? some latvian is going to china? huh?

  • Gerard Himself Posted: Jul.22 at 2:28 pm
    Latavious? I learn something new everyday.

  • ave. joe Posted: Jul.22 at 2:34 pm
    meh

  • DP Posted: Jul.22 at 2:51 pm
    My mississippi brothern, why would you do something so…I’ll say, stupid? oh well I hope he reps my state well over in china but staying at memphis probably would have been best for him. He is not going to be a lottery pick or first rounder next year so I don’t get it. Money has to be good. play wit it.

  • Leo Posted: Jul.22 at 2:55 pm
    As going overseas becomes more and more common, will this pressure the NBA to abolish it’s (possibly illegal) age limit? If the purpose of the limit is to force players to go to college it’s not working. Surely, prep-to-pros would benefit more from training with NBA teams than from playing in leagues of lesser quality.

  • Justin Posted: Jul.22 at 3:28 pm
    I doubt players in China get paid more than they do at the University of Memphis.

  • niQ Posted: Jul.22 at 3:38 pm
    Well more and more people are going to play overseas because they can.

  • Z Posted: Jul.22 at 3:46 pm
    Justin with the zinger! The NCAA is now just a big ol’ farm system. The only thing is that most of its players (who don’t care one bit about getting a degree) are starting to figure out that you can play in the minors and get p-a-i-d. Playing in the NCAA will give you more exposure with the american fans but not with NBA teams. Scouting is so advanced now that they have detailed reports on anybody with NBA potential. Seems like a no brainer for someone that doesn’t want to graduate. If this kid Williams can play, the NBA will find him… in China or Memph U.

  • Teddy-the-Bear Posted: Jul.22 at 4:49 pm
    Co-sign Z.

  • Royal Posted: Jul.22 at 5:00 pm
    Good luck Latkcjsddsjkl Williams

  • Josh D Posted: Jul.22 at 5:01 pm
    What kind of Family Situation has he got in which it is neccesary to go play in China

  • Josh D Posted: Jul.22 at 5:05 pm
    Says something about depth of conference USA if they can loose this guy and still be favourites fo C-USA

  • Dacre Posted: Jul.22 at 9:13 pm
    Eat the what the?!

  • Freedom Fries Posted: Jul.23 at 3:46 am
    What? Where’s Serena’s lascious salacious lascivious thick backside??? Isn’t what this is supposed to be about?

  • Jukai Posted: Jul.23 at 10:27 am
    Z: sure, ask Brandon Jennings how Europe helped him.

  • Allenp Posted: Jul.23 at 2:59 pm
    Jukai
    He was still a lottery pick. And I’d argue that Jennings suffered from biased media reports that refused to place his stats and European experience in the proper context.
    But that’s just me.

  • aL Posted: Jul.24 at 12:54 am
    why the hell are you talking bout jennings!?talk about the guys name..if you could call it a name..

  • Fauzi Posted: Jul.25 at 4:49 am
    At least he get paid…

  • Nelson Posted: Aug.7 at 2:55 am
    The real reason that the NBA put in this rule that you have to wait a year after high school before you can play in the NBA is because the NBA players didn’t like high school players taking away the roster spots of NBA veterans, and making huge salaries that were higher than those of proven NBA veterans! So the NBA put in the one-year rule and the salary scale, which forced rookies to make tiny salaries for the first 3 years. In the past, rookies were being given contracts that were higher than most veteran NBA players! One day, high schoolers will be getting foreign contracts higher than most NBA players, and the NBA will realize that they’re losing top talent to foreign teams. And that will be the end of the 3-year salary rule and the one-year NBA rule. Hahaha! nkscouting@gmail.com

  • Boo Gotti Posted: Sep.18 at 1:14 pm
    Get off cuz back he no wat he doing its on now!!!!!!

  • SLAM ONLINE | » Knocking Down the Mountain Posted: Sep.27 at 11:24 am
    [...] less terrifying to the NCAA, I’d imagine, is the news that Latavious Williams is bailing on his commitment to the University of Memphis to play professionally…somewhere else. I should say I don’t know much about young Mr. Williams. Prepstars has [...]

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