Scouting Report

Marvin Williams is an athletic freak. If you look at him, he may remind you of a less bulky LeBron James. Of course, James possess offensive capabilities that even Williams would admit are out of reach for him, but at 6-9, 245 pounds, Marvin has a similar build. Williams is also close to James in the athleticism department, which is a pretty huge compliment. He is a great leaper and is explosive at the rim, which, of course, makes him a perfect fit for the Hawks’ transition game.

Sadly, that’s about the only real thing Williams has going for him at this point in his career. Williams has not developed like the Hawks had hoped he would when they drafted him with the second overall pick in 2005. On top of that, his lack of contribution is magnified by the fact that the Hawks chose him over Chris Paul and Deron Williams, two players that may have them playing for a championship if they had been taken by Atlanta.

Williams has the physical skills to be a good basketball player but his mindset has not been right since he entered the league and the Hawks have tried but failed to get him to become a more aggressive baller. He is an OK catch and shoot player but he’ll likely pass up on an open shot or hold onto the ball for a few seconds too many when isolated at the high post simply because he doesn’t have that attackers’ mentality. There is still time for Marvin to change that, at just 24 years of age and with a new coach coming in that could rejuvenate the squad as a whole, but he hasn’t shown the initiative to call a proposed personality change likely.

Though his numbers were not awful, his lone offensive strong point last season was his performance in transition, which ties directly into his athleticism and the Hawks desire to get out and run on the break. According to Synergy Sports Technology, Williams scored 1.37 points per possession in transition on 152 opportunities, the 29th best mark in the league. In this particular part of the game, Marvin is a perfect fit.

Everything else, at least offensively, remains in question. Prior to last season, Williams looked like he was starting to come around both with his willingness to shoot the ball and his ability to knock down said shots. But last year, with Jamal Crawford taking some of his minutes, Marvin’s shots per game dropped from 10 to eight and his three-point field goal percentage dropped from a promising 36% to 30%.

On the other end of the floor, however, Marvin has showed some value. Though he is not extremely strong, Williams is long, smart, and has solid fundamentals, allowing him to use his quick feet on switches, making him a very versatile defensive option as well as being the Hawks’ shutdown defender. In games against LeBron, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant, Williams gets the assignment to make like tough on them.

Last season, Williams held LeBron to six-of-20 shooting from the field (30%) and 0-of-5 from deep for just 14 points. Though James would comeback the following night and drop 48 on his birthday against the Hawks in a rare back-to-back against the same team, Williams didn’t give up and forced the best player in basketball into one of the worst nights of his career. Also, in two games against the Nuggets, Williams has held Carmelo to 38% field goal shooting on 40 attempts and kept the very efficient Durant below 45% from the floor in two meetings.

Williams can hit that an outside shot consistently so long as he takes that shot consistently, but again its all about him and whether or not he is going to take the open looks he is given. Marvin is also pretty effective from the high post in a one-on-one situation thanks to a quick first step and excellent athleticism and hops that allow him to finish at the rim over almost anybody. If he ever felt comfortable making that move more than a couple times a game, then we may see him grow into a more complete player. But until then, he’s going to be an athletic defender that flourishes in transition and is seemingly scared to do much else.