Marvin Williams Could Be Huge Next Season

As the Charlotte Hornets season came to a disappointing end by missing the playoffs, we look towards the next season. While the draft and free agency may bring in new players, we must think about who can step up next year that is already a current member of the Hornets.

This year many players broke out of their shells. Cody Zeller and Micahel Kidd-Gilchrist showed their worth in the NBA even more this year than in previous years. Gerald Henderson and Bismack Biyombo also showed some more strength this year.

One player who played a bit better, but appears to be far from done growing as a Charlotte Hornet is Marvin Williams. While he’s no rookie with 10 years of experience, he still shows that as a Hornet, he’s not even close to done putting his impact on the court.

Although looking at the stats sheet, he’s easy to get confused with point guard Mo Williams, Marvin has made his own name for himself. In some of his seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, he put up double digit points per game. This was largely due to his minutes played per game, always being above 30 in those great seasons with Atlanta. This is something huge that he has been unable to get in Charlotte, and a huge reason for his numbers being down.

While Williams didn’t get that many minutes this year with the Hornets (26.1 minutes per game), I think head coach Steve Clifford should look into playing Williams a bit more next year. He’s shown in the past that when given floor time, he can make an impact. That’s what he was brought to Charlotte for, so there’s really no excuse to not play him.

This is an increasing problem with Clifford, as he’s even admitted that he was the reason for Lance Stephenson’s drop in production, because he couldn’t figure out how to fit him in with other guys. There seems to be a failure on Clifford’s part to really figure out how to distribute minutes, and it’s hurting players and how well their stats show up. If some of the players that don’t play much now got more time, they may be able to put much bigger numbers up.

Earlier in the year, I showed that Brian Roberts really does almost as much as Kemba Walker did based on points and assists per minute, rather than per game. It’s a matter of how much playing time these guys are given.

With Williams’ measly seven points per game last year it doesn’t seem like he really deserves more playing time, but he’s proven in the past that if he is given the time, he will put out higher numbers. This year he hardly was able to get used to seeing the floor and get in a groove with playing.

In the first game of this past season, Williams played over 30 minutes, and scored nearly 20 points. While there was a slow in his production per minute after that, he sped up towards the end of the season. Five games in a row towards the end of the season, Williams put up double digit points. This is largely due to the minutes he was given as the Hornets started to tank.

It’s certainly worth a shot, to try Williams again next year. Clifford should give him some minutes and see what his stats are like, based on a minute-by-minute basis, rather than a game-by-game basis. One thing is for sure, Clifford could not find a system that worked this year, or a way to use all of his players. Some of these guys are not efficiently used, and I’m expecting Clifford to figure out a way to use all of his weapons if he plans on keeping his job in Charlotte and making the playoffs next year.

Williams could be a huge force, just waiting to be awakened. While some think that he’s declining because he’s a veteran, I think he has a lot more in the tank than most people think. After all, he did lead the team in some key wins this season. He’s done a lot in the past, and what’s to say he couldn’t do it now?

Next: 5 Places Lance Stephenson May Be Next Season

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