Charlotte Hornets: The Importance Of Marvin Williams
NBA veteran Marvin Williams has played a huge role in the early success of the Charlotte Hornets.
The Charlotte Hornets are 14-9 and there’s plenty of credit to go around when attempting to figure out just why they’ve been so darn good this season. Steve Clifford has rebuilt this team with players that other teams laid on the scrap heap and has them rolling both offensively and defensively.
Kemba Walker has made a leap in his fourth year as a pro, becoming a reliable shooter for the first time in his career. Before his recent injury and suspension, starting center Al Jefferson was also quietly having a good season despite not being a perfect fit for the new up-tempo, three-point heavy system.
Then there’s the guy that I would deem as the “X-factor” this season. It’s a cliché, but good teams truly do need role players that bring everything together — player that fits his role so perfectly and impacts the team in a positive way despite that small role.
I’d make the argument that early this season Charlotte’s X-factor has been power forward Marvin Williams. After several years as a player that many might label as a “bust,” Williams has finally carved out his niche in the NBA.
A Long And Winding Road
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Williams has had an interesting career. He’s the definition of a “journeyman” and the type of player that gets called a “veteran” as a term of endearment and respect. He’s a pro’s pro and a player that quietly does his job every night. He wasn’t always that type of player; he was supposed to be the next big thing.
Throughout his amateur career he was thought of as a blue-chip prospect that had the potential to develop into an NBA star. After an impressive high school career that saw him ranked as the 11th best player in the country by Rivals.com, Williams took his talents to the University of North Carolina.
He played super sub for the Tar Heels, averaging 11.3 points and 6.6 rebounds in only 22.2 minutes per game on a team that ended up winning the 2005 NCAA Championship. After the season Williams declared for the NBA Draft, where he was projected to be a top five pick.
Those projections would hold true, as the Atlanta Hawks would select him second overall in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft, ahead of such players as Chris Paul and Deron Williams.
Williams struggled to become an impact player for Atlanta. In seven seasons as a Hawk he averaged 11.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game on 45 percent shooting and 32.9 percent from outside. Fine numbers for a role player, but not the star level impact that is typically expected of a high lottery pick. Williams had developed into a solid overall player, but not one that could live up to the lofty expectations that were unfairly laid on his shoulders.
Off To Utah
A change of scenery seemed to help. Before the 2012-13 season he was traded to Utah, where the baggage of being a top prospect would no longer haunt him. During the 2013-2014 he blossomed as a role player with the Jazz.
He took more three-pointers and played more power forward than he ever had in his career and it paid off. During that season he scored 9.1 points per game and shot 35.9 percent from outside, a sign of things to come as the NBA started to embrace small-ball.
After some success as a power forward in Utah, Williams decided to come back to the state where he played his college basketball. In the summer of 2014 the Hornets signed Williams to a two-year, $14 million deal. The plan was him to serve as a backup power forward and occasionally find his name in the starting lineup. It was purely a depth signing at the time, but it has ended up being much more than that.
Back To North Carolina
After an adjustment period, Williams ended up having a nice first season back in North Carolina. He started 37 games and shot 35.8 percent from outside in an attempt to bring Charlotte’s stuck-in-the-mud offense some spacing.
This season with Charlotte, Williams has perfectly acclimated to his role as a stretch-four and a veteran leader. Now as a permanent fixture in Steve Clifford’s starting five. Through 23 games Williams is averaging 11.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per 36 minutes while knocking down 36.3 of his three-point attempts. He’s attempting 4.4 three-pointers per game, which is a career high.
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His outside shooting has been his most valuable contribution to the Hornets. Without him spacing the floor I find it difficult to imagine this team having as much offensive firepower as they do. With Williams on the floor the team is 4.8 points per 100 possessions better and he has the eighth best real plus/minus for power forwards at 3.08 (also the highest on the team).
With Williams’ help, this Hornets team ranks sixth in the NBA in made three-pointers (230), 10th in three-pointers attempted (644), and 12th in three-point shooting percentage (35.7 percent). That may not be Warriors territory, but it has helped bring some variety to their offensive attack and you can’t argue with the results in win/loss column or a seventh rated offense (106.1 points per 100 possessions).
The trend seems to be that when Williams plays well then the Hornets play well, especially when he’s hot from outside. When his shot isn’t falling the Hornets have a tendency to struggle. In wins, Williams sports a true shooting percentage of 60.9 percent, compared to 50 percent in losses. Similarly, he posts an offensive rating of 119 and a defensive rating of 97 in victories, while posting an offensive rating of 99 and a defensive rating of 109 in losses.
He played his best game of the season last Wednesday against the Miami Heat. Williams shot 7-for-11 from the field to finish with 18 points, knocking down four three-pointers. His effort helped the Hornets to an 18-point victory over the Heat.
Compare that to Saturday night’s game against the Boston Celtics. Williams struggled, shooting 0-for-6 from deep, and the Hornets lost to Boston, snapping their four-game winning streak. As Marvin Williams goes, so go the Hornets.
This is all without mentioning the fact that Williams is a versatile defender that has shown the ability to guard wings on the perimeter and big men down low. His career high defensive rebounding rate of 19.1 percent has also helped Charlotte remain an adequate defensive rebounding team (14th in the NBA in defensive rebounds) without Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and now Al Jefferson.
Next: NBA Power Rankings: Week 8
He may not be as good as stretch-4s like Draymond Green or Paul Millsap, but he’s having a huge impact on Charlotte’s winning this season. Call him a glue guy or an X-factor, the terminology doesn’t matter. For the time being, you can call him a winner.