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Bathed in the Rapture: The Mark Williams Thread

ESPN has Mark at 21/24 with 15 ORB today

HornetJail wrote:ESPN has Mark at 21/24 with 15 ORB today

I noticed he went from 16 points and 16 rebounds to 15 and 16 on NBA.com.

Did I miss where they took a point away? Would've been a 20/20 game otherwise

Hornets PR

UPDATE: Williams has now been credited with 15 offensive rebounds, a @hornets record, and 24 total rebounds, tied for the third-most in a game in franchise history.

#LetsFly35

"Bathed in the rapture of Mark Williams" - Eric Collins 11/10/23

Glad to see Mark and LaMelo played well. I watched the first 2 minutes, got down 15-3 and turned the game off

It's nice to see that Mark and Nick are finishing what they are given but it's hard to ignore that it seems more strategical from opponents than anything those 2 are doing specifically. We suck at the 3 compared to other teams because we are never playing 5 out because our small ball sucks. We suck at guarding the 3 because at this point every team has a dozen ways to basically guarantee an open 3 when guys like Mark and Nick are on the floor.

Feels like teams have come to the conclusion that it's easier to give us 25 efficient points from the center position and torch us everywhere else. If Mark can just become so damn good that teams are forced to actually adjust to address it in a way that majorly concedes something else then maybe we actually have something but I'm not convinced that I've seen that quite yet

When miles is back I can see Clifford doing small ball with Washington at centre

Moses Malone Territory: The Mark Williams Thread

Not sure about everyone else but I'm damn excited about the future of our core 3 Ball/Miller/Williams. These guys fit together and they all unselfish.

If we can hire a good HC the future is bright in Charlotte.

I think we should rename the thread
Bathing in the Rapture of Mark Williams Thread

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fatlever wrote:I think we should rename the thread
Bathing in the Rapture of Mark Williams Thread

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

Almost like someone suggested that yesterday

Mark Williams has become one of my favorite players to watch. He is the anchor at the 5 this franchise has been missing for years and the defensive impact he provides cannot be overstated. While he only averages 1 block a contest, the effect he has in the paint is obvious as opposing wings know better than to challenge him on drives and routinely settle for lower percentage mid range shots and floaters. If he played back in the 90s before the game was as perimeter oriented, I think he would easily be among the league leaders in blocks.

When it comes to pick and rolls, finishing assists received in traffic, ally oops, mismatch switches and put backs, he's nearly automatic as evidenced by his absurdly impressive FG%. The area where he struggles is scoring back to the basket when he has an opposing center squarly established behind him on defense. I've noticed this quite often and it was most glaringly evidenced in the recent Washington game where Gafford blocked his shot 3 times on one possession.

One thing I think he could easily incorporate into his repertoire to eliminate situations like this and really elevate his game to the next level is a proper hookshot. Right now, Mark's hook is more of a low release push shot that fails to leverage the huge length and wingspan advantage he has over most players in the league by failing to achieve full extension of his arm before releasing the ball (Perlexingly, Biyombo had the same problem and also only has a pseudo hook thats more of a quasi push shot. The only thing I can guess is that when some of these guys start playing basketball at a young age and are able to physically overpower their opponents in HS and college, its something they never have need to properly learn or hone).

One center with a similar measurables who I would encourage Mark to watch film and aspire to emulate, who used the hook to great advantage was Mutombo. Like Mark, he was long and lean and wasnt the focal point of most offensive sets and wasnt going to physically overpower/uproot opposing bigs established on defense behind him. Nor did he possess the footwork or sophisticaed counter moves of a Ewing or Olajuwon. However, once he added to hook to his bag, he could launch it at will, converted them at a high % and almost nobody could block it.

In the clip below (complements of Lamar incidentally), Mutombo deploys it against Bill Cartwright twice in the first 60 seconds and again at the 2:30 mark and once more at 4:19. Notice the subtle seperation achieved with the off arm (which will never be called), the full extension with no bent elbow and the ball being delivered with nothing more than a flip of the wrist when the arm is at its apex.

https://youtu.be/lX89ijwRFV8?si=bNc_X1lnhNbT1puJ

Learning it is nothing more than repetitive practice, muscle memory with focus on full arm extension and firing it with only the wrist. If Mark can fix the mechanics of his hook shot and add a proper one to his game similar to Dikembe's, 90% of opposing bigs save for the likes of Victor and Gobert will be powerless to contest it (preventing Daniel Gafford episodes) and we could also start to target him a few times a game on post ups

I love Mark, but if I am being 100% honest with myself I think he might be playing too heavy right now. Evidence by how much his shot blocking has fallen off this year. He has been contesting a lot of shots, but he seems like he is getting their a split second too late which has resulted in a lot of goal tending and just guys floating up shots over him that seem like they are going in at a decent rate.

Comparison Nick is averaging 2.9 blocks per 36 compared to just 1.1 for Mark.
Teams shooting 59% inside of 6 feet against Mark, 43% vs Richards.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defense-dash-lt6?CF=FGA_LT_06*GE*4:GP*GE*5&Season=2023-24&dir=A&sort=LT_06_PCT

Mark's touch with the ball around the rim and using the backboard has been absolutely elite. I don't even care about the rest, what he's doing there and rebounding wise is more than I could've ever asked a Hornets center to give. The blocks will come, the better defense will come. He's going to have to add more strength too, but he has not even hit 82 games played yet. He's basically still a rookie.

Rich4114 wrote:Mark's touch with the ball around the rim and using the backboard has been absolutely elite. I don't even care about the rest, what he's doing there and rebounding wise is more than I could've ever asked a Hornets center to give. The blocks will come, the better defense will come. He's going to have to add more strength too, but he has not even hit 82 games played yet. He's basically still a rookie.

Yeah just noting some of his struggles. I wouldn't be shocked if he led the nba in goaltends but I haven't seen that advanced stat anywhere.

Mark is 9th in the league in PER at 26.3

JMAC3 wrote:

Rich4114 wrote:Mark's touch with the ball around the rim and using the backboard has been absolutely elite. I don't even care about the rest, what he's doing there and rebounding wise is more than I could've ever asked a Hornets center to give. The blocks will come, the better defense will come. He's going to have to add more strength too, but he has not even hit 82 games played yet. He's basically still a rookie.

Yeah just noting some of his struggles. I wouldn't be shocked if he led the nba in goaltends but I haven't seen that advanced stat anywhere.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Nick are top two in the league in goaltending. That’s due to our defensive scheme and letting guys get into the paint so our bigs need to chase behind and try to block late.