City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2024-25 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 4. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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Justice Williams’ return to Philadelphia didn’t go as planned. 

Robert Morris’ exhibition game at Villanova on Sunday should have been a chance for Williams to shine on the court in the area where he grew up, though it’s been five seasons since he played a meaningful contest in the region. Instead, he was sidelined, still in the end stages of recovering from offseason surgery, resigned to sitting on the bench in a sweatsuit, cheering on his Colonial teammates. 

But that’s fitting for a player whose career thus far hasn’t turned out as envisioned — and he’s learned there’s nothing wrong with changing course.

“[You’ve got to] just run your own race, and moreso, honestly be the main character in your situation,” he told CoBL in a post-game interview. “You don’t have to compare yourself to anybody else.”

A 6-foot-4, 175-pound combo guard, Williams arrived at Roman Catholic as a freshman ahead of the 2017-18 season, part of a much-heralded duo with forward Jalen Duren. On North Broad, they teamed up with Hakim Hart (Maryland/Villanova), Seth Lundy (Penn State) and Lynn Greer III (St. Joe’s/Temple) to lead Roman to a 13-1 record in the Catholic League and a successful defense of the PCL championship. 

Duren was a star that freshman year, averaging a double-double as the future first-round NBA draft pick immediately was a high-impact player. Williams came off the bench as a freshman but excelled as a sophomore, averaging 18.8 ppg as Roman went 18-10, losing to Neumann-Goretti in the PCL title game. 

In the midst of the COVID pandemic, both Duren and Williams transferred to Montverde Academy (Fl.), playing out the 2020-21 season at the prep powerhouse. They returned to the Philadelphia area to star for Team Final in the 2021 offseason, where Williams was a quality supporting piece on a team featuring Duren, Dereck Lively, Emoni Bates, Corey Floyd, Otega Oweh and others.

Both then made their collegiate decisions later that summer — Williams to LSU, Duren to Memphis, each deciding to forgo their senior years and start college immediately.

Duren, like he had in high school, thrived immediately. The 2021-22 American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, he averaged 12.0 ppg and 8.1 rpg for the Tigers before going pro.

Williams said he hadn’t initially planned on reclassifying from the 2022 graduating class up to 2021 and enrolling early at LSU, but the opportunity presented itself and he took it. The plan at first, he said, was to redshirt that year, but injuries thrust him into the rotation.

He played in 20 games with one start for LSU his freshman season, averaging 1.7 ppg on 27.5% shooting. His numbers improved slightly as a sophomore — 3.3 ppg in 23 games (7 starts) on 33.7% shooting — but he hit the transfer portal in the offseason, landing at Robert Morris. 

“I just wanted to come back to somewhere that was going to give me the opportunity to play,” he said, “and for sure be in range of Philly.”

“He’s always been a really humble kid and he’s low-to-no maintenance, which isn’t always the case when you have a kid going from high-major to mid-major,” RMU coach Andy Toole said. “You wonder, ‘how’s he going to approach this, how’s he going to look at it?’ He’s been so awesome to coach and to be around.”

It was during that first year in Moon Township that Williams started to find his confidence again. A former four-star recruit, he admitted that it took a bit to realize that the dream he’d had in high school, one shared by many a Division I recruit  — start for four years at a high-major powerhouse, get drafted in the first round — wasn’t quite going to be his path.

His Robert Morris debut was a 21-point, three-assist showing against Xavier, one of seven straight double-digit games to show he was back. Starting 29 of 31 games on the season, Williams averaged 12.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 2.5 apg as RMU finished 10-22 overall, with a 6-14 mark in the Horizon League. 

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a culture shock,” Williams said, “but that’s the beauty of it as well. I feel like I got experiences on both sides. It’s definitely two different levels but I’ve also taken a lot of things from the mid-major level.

“In my opinion, I feel like on the court, they kind of play harder than high-major,” he continued. “Practice habits as well, I feel like practices are way harder because everybody [at the mid-major level] might not have that talent level to make up for taking plays off or not having that effort.”

Prior to his meniscus injury — about which Williams said he considers himself “day-to-day” with a return close by — he spent the season training in spots around the country with Duren. When the pair were in Philly, they’d be joined by friends playing college and pro ball, like MCS grad Jahim Bethea and others.

The former Roman big man is thriving in the NBA, in his second year as a full-time starter for the Pistons after starting 31 of 67 contests as a rookie in 2021-22. Last year, Duren averaged 13.8 ppg and 11.6 rpg, making 61.9% of his shots; through the first three games of this season, he’s averaging 11.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg and 3.7 rpg while hitting 86.7% of his shots (13-of-15).

Williams said he hasn’t gotten to spend too much time around the Pistons during the season, but he’s taking advantage of his close friend’s experience to help his own knowledge of the professional lifestyle.

“Even though he’s younger than me, it doesn’t matter, I’m still a student of the game, age in basketball doesn’t matter,” Williams said. “[I’ll ask about] little stuff like ‘how long will y’all be in the ice tub, how many times a week, what do you do before this?’ He definitely gives me info on how they move around the league.”

Williams said since his injury, the first major one of his playing career, he’s been reading more, mentioning The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist as two that have stood out to him. 

After this upcoming season, Williams said, the plan is to pursue a career as a professional basketball player. That plan he dreamed of as a talented 15-year-old might be long out the window, but he’s comforted in knowing that whatever’s been thrown his way so far, there’s still plenty of promise in the future ahead.

“As an athlete, you’ve got to be able to adjust and adapt to whatever the situation is,” he said. “That was what I had to do, and I feel like I did it.”