Utah Jazz: Marvin Williams 2013-14 Outlook

Last offseason, the Utah Jazz traded point guard Devin Harris to the Atlanta Hawks for Marvin Williams. Marvin had one more guaranteed year on his contract, plus a player option for 2013-14. Jazzland was buzzing at the time. The hope from Jazz fans was that Marvin, a former No. 2 overall pick in the draft, might be able to fulfill more of his potential on a team that didn’t rely on Joe Johnson and Josh Smith so heavily on the offensive end. Marvin had always been a solid player for Atlanta, a good shooter with good size for a small forward, but never quite had a real breakout season. One year after the trade, it’s worth taking a look back at Marvin’s first season with the Jazz and his future with the team.

Marvin opted into the final year of his contract with the Jazz. This is not surprising due to the $7.5 million salary he will collect. Unfortunately for Marvin, he would have earned nowhere near that amount in free agency this year. Marvin had very rough season last year. It was a real step back for him in almost every statistical category. Despite starting most of the season,  he averaged the lowest number of minutes per game in his eight seasons in the NBA, the lowest amount of field goals per game, lowest field goal percentage, lowest number of rebounds per game and lowest number of points per game of his career. There was no major category that he recorded a career best. Claiming his player option of the final year of his very large contract was a no-brainer.

With news shortly after the season ended that Marvin would undergo surgery on his Achilles’ tendon, one could wonder whether a nagging injury was to blame for his poor performance last season. However, there are other things that would have had a huge impact on Marvin’s season last year. Most notably, Marvin played the bulk of his minutes with Utah’s most common starting lineup of Mo Williams, Randy Foye, Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson. The one thing those players have in common: A seemingly overwhelming desire to shoot the basketball. Marvin went from a situation where he was likely the third offensive option in Atlanta to being an offensive afterthought in Utah’s starting lineup. This is evidenced by Marvin having his lowest usage rating, number of field goal attempts per game and number of free throw attempts per game of his career.

It is estimated that Marvin will miss around one month of the season as he recovers from surgery. If he can come back strong and healthy, it is likely that he will have a much better season than the last. In fact, it has the potential to be the best of his career. With the Jazz deciding that this is the year to dive headfirst into their “youth movement,” Marvin’s most common playmates of last season will all be on different teams next year. What does this mean for Marvin’s place in the offensive pecking order? It likely bodes well. Gordon Hayward is the only player in the most likely starting lineup that has proven a capable offensive option against starter caliber talent. Alec Burks and Enes Kanter have shown promising flashes of offensive capability, but it remains to be seen if those flashes can turn into consistent production with starter-level minutes against starter-level opposition. Derrick Favors‘ elite athleticism and size will help him score points, but needs a lot of polish to his offensive game. Trey Burke will be a work in progress in his first year and it’s possible (likely?) that he will need help from his teammates to be an above-average offensive player as a rookie

Best case scenario for Marvin? He starts next to Gordon Hayward on the wing at some point during the season, gets close to career highs in usage rate and many other offensive statistical categories and sets himself up nicely in a contract year. The worst case is he is slow to recover from his injury and coach Tyrone Corbin opts to “youth-anize” Marvin and bury him deeper on the bench behind Utah’s young core.