Charlotte Hornets miss out on Mark Williams vs Jalen Duren matchup
By W.B. Whitted
Jalen Duren will not play against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, February 27, 2023. An ankle injury will keep him from suiting up against the team that drafted him last season. In the previous two games that he’s played against the Hornets this year, he averaged 10 points and 16 rebounds in the two contests.
One large difference for the upcoming game was going to be that Mark Williams would have a prominent role. Williams played a total of 81 seconds in the two games. Williams has since been elevated from the G-league. Moreover, with Mason Plumlee’s trade, Williams has now started six straight games at center for the Charlotte Hornets.
The two centers will always be compared to one another. Duren and Williams were taken 13th and 15th respectively in the 2022 draft. Duren was immediately traded in a three-team deal that sent him to the Pistons.
Charlotte Hornets have developed Mark Williams differently than Detroit’s Duren
It was obvious that the team was going to move on from Plumlee when the Hornets made the decision to draft a center in the first round. When they selected two, the decision on who they selected said a lot about what they thought about the players, and what the Hornets assessed as the team’s needs.
Duren was thought to be one of the best athletes in the draft. Williams displayed real defensive prowess. Combine that with his height advantage (7’1 instead of Duren’s 6’10) and his prolific shot-blocking (he averaged 2.8 blocks per game his sophomore year and he won Defensive Player of the Game) and the Hornets felt that Williams was a better fit.
Duren’s role has been different from Williams’. The Pistons have allowed their younger players a large role to play and make mistakes. He has started 27 games. Williams has spent a large percentage of his rookie year in Greensboro with the Swarm.
It will take a few seasons before it is known whether the Hornets kept the right center in their draft-day dealing. Not only will it be a referendum on which player is best, but it will also be a referendum on the development process of young players. Does it make sense to slowly graduate a player from college to G-League, to bit role? Or does it make more sense to throw rookies out on the NBA floor to figure things out?
More than just Hornets fans will be interested to see the finished product of the player given the importance of player development, particularly for teams that are in rebuilding mode. The Pistons have jettisoned most of their veteran player presence in order to make room for young players like Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey. With two of the worst records in the NBA this season, the Pistons and Hornets are playing for more than just a game—they’re playing for differences in philosophy.