3 Hornets whose stocks are skyrocketing, 2 that are fading fast

Skyrocketing: Mark Williams

The 2022-23 season was widely considered a disaster across the board. However, one positive came out of a season that did not go according to plan—the emergence of Mark Williams.

Williams came on strong late last year, almost averaging a double-double in his 17 starts down the stretch (11.6 points, 9.8 rebounds). While this was an impressive run of performances from Charlotte’s young big man, the Hornets still needed Williams to prove that this was not a fluke performance in a lost season, and so far, he has done exactly that.

The second-year big man out of Duke is averaging 14.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 1.0 assists, and 1.0 blocks in 26 minutes per game. Williams has shown improvement across the board early on this season. The important aspect of this is that it is coming on a very similar workload to that of last season when he entered Charlotte’s starting lineup (26.9 minutes).

While Williams has appeared to be a solid contributor for the Hornets, there is one area that would see his stock rise even higher. 85.7% of his field goal attempts this season have come within three feet of the basket. The 80.6% conversion rate on those is great and is something that Williams should look to keep up. However, it would be nice to see Williams take and make some more shots a little further away from the basket. If he can accomplish that, it would create some much-needed space on the floor, while also providing opportunities to teammates cutting to the basket. This could lead to their offensive performances reaching that next level and hopefully lead to the Hornets becoming relevant in the Eastern Conference sooner rather than later.