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The second-year big man showcased an intriguing set of skills as a rookie to build upon moving forward.
Clarifying the future of the Charlotte Hornets stalled throughout much of last season as LaMelo Ball battled repeated ankle injuries and missed 46 games. But on 24 separate occasions, visions of a prosperous world flashed across the screen. That’s the number of times Ball connected with rookie center Mark Williams for a bucket. Hopes of a dynamic pick-and-roll tandem bubbled.
Maybe that’s how the Hornets would start to fashion a vivacious, dazzling offense around their star 22-year-old creator. Ball’s ball-screen manipulation and playmaking creativity paired aptly with Williams’ sprightly, sprawling finishing. Charlotte rosters its franchise point guard in Ball, who earned an All-Star berth at just 20 years old and earned a five-year rookie max extension earlier this summer.
Williams may not be as firmly entrenched into the Hornets’ plans, but he certainly endeared himself well as a rookie this past year. The former Duke Blue Devil averaged nine points (65.9 percent true shooting), 7.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 19.3 minutes per game. After starting center Mason Plumlee was dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers in mid-February, Williams succeeded him and averaged 11.6 points (64.4 percent true shooting), 9.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 26.9 minutes per game.
Williams’ size pops on both sides of the court. He’s 7’1 with a 7’7 wingspan. Few players across the league approach or match those measurements. The benefits of their selectivity is evident and his coordination amplifies the impact. He’s already pretty effective in drop coverage. He’s disciplined, covers ground fairly well and is almost impossible to seamlessly shoot over or around. Lobs or pocket passes are rarely available because he’s entirely content to accept death by floater. Shots at the rim are either arduous or nonexistent.
Although his mobility doesn’t approach the level of players like Bam Adebayo, Jaren Jackson Jr. or Nicolas Claxton — a trio of All-Defensive-caliber big men — his size mitigates some of the shortcomings. He’s best in standard drop coverage, yet showed faculty operating near the level of the pick and hedging as well. It’s very tough for offenses to avoid his domain. I expect him to be a moderately malleable ball-screen defender because of his intersection of size and relative fluidity. He is by no means a plodder and that provides a sizable margin for error at his stature.
For as functional and domineering as he can be, I still hold reservations about his chances of anchoring an elite defense. He does not consistently cover for the breakdowns of his peers as much as he thrives in structure; combatting chaos is not his calling right now. Whereas the aforementioned defensive titans erase prior mistakes in seemingly overmatched situations, Williams must learn to incorporate those instincts and techniques into his repertoire if he wishes to rise to loftier heights.
He’s not particularly adept in 1-on-2 situations, illuminated partly by his willingness to sit home against floaters. He tends to be reactive rather than proactive as a helper and low man. Too often, he takes a poor angle on rotations or is overeager in his pursuit of blocks. Drivers regularly find laydown passes when he’s in the vicinity because of his imprecision; deploying that 7-foot-7 wingspan vertically AND horizontally will propel him to grander tiers defensively.
Refining his lower body and core stability will also be critical. He struggles decelerating and absorbing contact. Both jeopardize his verticality, an area he must improve independent of strength shortcomings. Opponents attack his midsection and dislodge him for space to neutralize some of that overwhelming length. Williams is a good and talented defender with considerable room to grow as he lasers in on the nuances and develops physically.
On Williams’ end, the tantalizing prospects of his partnership with Ball stem from his diversity as a roller. Last season, he shot 70 percent at the rim (55th percentile among bigs, per Cleaning The Glass) and 46 percent from midrange (27 of 59, 60th percentile), converting looks in an array of facets. Rigid finishing as a non-spacing big men will sink offensive congruence as the games grow in importance (think about Mitchell Robinson in the second round or Jarrett Allen in the first round this past season).
In conjunction with his coordination and widespread dunk radius, Williams has showcased interior touch, a push shot floater, patience and crafty footwork amidst the trees, and comfort briefly putting the ball on the deck. Ball’s passing web is vast and ingenuitive, and his starting center next season will reap the benefits. He doesn’t always need to spoon-fed, though. He touts wiggle room to problem-solve, a trait that sometimes takes big men years and years to discover, if at all, rather than as rookies.
I do wonder about the upper limits of Williams as a ball-screen big. I love his viability as a versatile finisher and have some faith in his potential as a midrange shooter. But the passing needs plenty of reps to sharpen. He’s a bit myopic on the short roll and seems to miss baseline cutters or wing shooters frequently in favor of shakier, rigid decisions. Sound, shrewd passing reads are nestled occasionally in his rookie year tape, so this could be the sort of skill that blossoms as he plays alongside Ball over the next few years.
Charlotte’s initiators outside of him last season rarely invoked traps from the defense, which meant Williams wasn’t routinely thrust into short-roll situations. Ball’s passing and pull-up shooting present a novel threat to the opposition, however, and a healthy season for him will benefit everyone involved, Williams’ short-roll game included.
As his peers, Walker Kessler and Jalen Duren, garnered the All-Rookie team nods at center, Williams asserted himself in the shadows of the Hornets’ malaise and injury riddled 2022-23 campaign. Heading into year two, he should be able to gauge the scope of his chemistry alongside Ball (and No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller), while building upon the promise of year one.
Charlotte’s recent history of big men is a busy carousel of short-term fixes and a shrine devoted to the health of Cody Zeller. Williams might be good enough to remedy that and capably answer the bell for many years to come. At the very least, his rookie season opens the possibility — an encouraging reality for him and the Hornets.
