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Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Marvin Williams coming into his own
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
It will happen one day. People will look at Marvin Williams and say, “Great player. Nice moves. Sweet jumper. Good kid,” and stop there.
There won’t be the contrasting thought, which hangs around like an albatross. One day, they won’t look at Marvin Williams and say: “Great player. Nice moves. Sweet jumper. Good kid. But he was drafted ahead of …”
There it is — the “but.” Williams knows it’ll hang around until the Hawks get really good for an extended period. It will happen one day. If it doesn’t, Williams may go down as one of the most underappreciated athletes ever to pass through this town.
“No question. I know that’s been talked about a lot,” the Hawks forward said Wednesday. “But I can’t take it personally. I know when I was drafted this team needed a point guard, and they already had Josh [Smith] and Josh [Childress] and they were bringing Joe [Johnson] in. It’s just how things played out. But I’ve never felt like people were attacking me personally.”
He knows. Hawks fans may forever debate whether Williams was the right pick three years ago, when the team drafted the small forward second overall, ahead of point guards Deron Williams and Chris Paul (who’ve become two of the league’s premier playmakers). But if it’s possible for a player to be a great pick without being the right pick, Williams is getting there.
The Hawks dumped Indiana on Wednesday, 107-95, for their fifth straight victory, words not written in these parts in eight seasons.
Williams (14 points, five rebounds, five assists) was not the biggest reason for this win. He made only two of six shots before two late buckets.
But he is a major reason the Hawks are 12-5 since a 3-7 start. In the six games before Wednesday, Williams averaged 21.2 points, and he ranks third on the team in points, rebounds and field-goal percentage. In short, he has made the jump the Hawks needed him to make.
“I think he would’ve made the jump last year if he wasn’t hurt,” coach Mike Woodson said, referring to a broken hand in the preseason that forced Williams to miss the first 17 games. “That set him behind big time. He lost so much conditioning, it was like he forgot how to play again.”
Probably culture shock.
Any player would have difficulty going from the winning tradition at Chapel Hill to the lack of same with the Hawks. But try this: Williams played only one season at North Carolina, and the Tar Heels went 33-4 and won the national championship. The Hawks went 26-56 and 30-52 in Williams’ first two NBA seasons.
Add youth — Williams would be a senior this season — the hand injury and the constant reminders of the Hawks’ void at point guard, and one of two things happen: The kid either melts down or toughens up.
Guess which way Williams went?
“I’m definitely glad I went through those tough times,” he said. “It was a learning experience. Coming off a national championship, going from not just winning almost every single night but winning big to losing almost every single night and losing big, it was a huge adjustment for me. But without those tough times I don’t think I would’ve been able to grow to where I am today. Everything happens for a reason.”
And what would that reason be?
Williams laughed.
“You just look back to where you were and you think, ‘I don’t want to be there anymore,’ ” he said.
He is smart and talented, and all you need to know about his work ethic is what happened Christmas Eve. Williams and a few friends drove to Philips Arena to practice — at 10 p.m.
“Coach Woodson wanted us to get some work in over the break — and I like practicing at night,” he said, smiling.
The comparisons to Paul and Williams neither surprise him nor bother him. “Chris and Deron were great players in college — I knew they would make an impact in the league,” he said. “People have asked me, ‘How do you feel when you see how they’re doing?’ But really, I don’t worry about it. All I can do is worry about myself.”
No worries. Wrong pick and great player somehow intersect.
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