NBA Rumors: Charlotte Hornets Want Marvin Williams?

The Charlotte Hornets aren’t going to wait long to start trying to replace their power forward.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the former Charlotte Bobcats are looking into acquiring free agent Marvin Williams to fill the shoes of Josh McRoberts, who agreed to a deal with the Miami Heat yesterday on the full mid-level exception.

Drafted second overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2005 NBA Draft, Marvin Williams has long been considered something of a bust, thanks in no small part to being taken ahead of star point guards Chris Paul and Deron Williams. His career averages of 10.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game aren’t terrible, and in his best season Williams averaged a respectable 14.8 points and 5.7 boards per game, but they’re not quite what you’d hope for from a No. 2 pick.

After spending seven underwhelming seasons in Atlanta, Williams was traded to the Utah Jazz for Devin Harris. In two seasons with the Jazz, Williams averaged 8.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

Sadly, however, Williams is probably one of the best power forwards still available in free agency. Charlotte could let Cody Zeller and 2014 draft pick Noah Vonleh duke it out for the starting power forward spot, but neither is ready for that much responsibility if the Hornets want to continue the momentum from their postseason appearance last season.

According to Woj, the Jazz want to keep Williams but may not be willing to pay him what Charlotte will. The Hornets have also met with restricted free agent Gordon Hayward, but the Jazz have already said they will match any offer sheet for him. Williams would represent at least some kind of compensation for losing McRoberts, but he’d really just be a stop-gap until Vonleh or Zeller were ready for the starting job.

The Hornets can’t really help they lost their fair-haired power forward, but hey, any time you can go from Josh McRoberts from Marvin Williams, I guess you have to do it.