Across the last two weeks of NBA basketball, the Charlotte Hornets played their best stretch of the season. They won four of seven games, placing 14th in net rating (plus-1.6) over that time frame, compared to 25th (minus-5.6) on the season.
Mark Williams, finally healthy after battling a nagging foot injury, has played some of the best basketball of his career during those last two weeks. The third-year 7-footer only appeared in 62 career games over his first two seasons but always remained productive. He’s done the same across the last two weeks, averaging 21.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 blocks on a solid 63 percent true shooting clip.
Productive players on bad basketball teams always face the same line of questioning — does their individual success translate to winning impact? For Williams, his best stretch of production seems to correlate with Charlotte’s recent improvement. Williams’ play-finishing, at the very least, amplifies elite passers like LaMelo Ball and boosts offensive output.
Just How Good Is Williams’ Play-Finishing?
His play-finishing and interior scoring greatness isn’t anything new. He’s been a productive finisher since the moment he entered the league, converting 70 percent or above of his rim attempts each season. He’s finished 70.6 percent of his shots at the basket this season, skying above the rim on lobs, rolls to the rim and offensive rebounds.
A dunking machine, he’s already dunked the ball 54 times, sitting him 24th in the NBA, despite playing at least 10 fewer games than everyone ahead of him. Ball, one of the better interior passers in recent league history, creates easy shots for Williams at the rim to boost his efficiency.
Mark Williams is a dunking machine, dunking the ball the third most often of any NBA player. His 2.9 dunks per game (according to Synergy) only trail Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert.
He benefits so much from LaMelo Ball’s playmaking presence pic.twitter.com/SiWJihHihJ
— Sportscasting NBA (@SportcastingNBA) January 29, 2025
Compared to all centers, though, Williams’ finishing efficiency sits just above average, placing in the 63rd percentile this season. When he can’t dunk the ball, which he can most of the time, he must rely on his unspectacular touch. That lack of touch will likely impact Williams’ creation and secondary scoring more than his play-finishing, given his sheer size. He isn’t as effective away from the rim, converting 38 percent of his midrange shots this season.
He’s shooting just above 50 percent this season on layups (51.3 percent), placing him in the 33rd percentile among all players. Of the 64 players shooting more than four layups per game, he ranks 54th in efficiency and second to last among big men with only John Collins trailing him.
Among NBA players ranking top 25 in total dunks, here are the least efficient layup finishers:
Trayce Jackson Davis – 40.8%
Derrick Jones Jr. – 44.5%
Bam Adebayo – 45.8%
Rudy Gobert – 47.1%
OG Anunoby – 50.9%
Mark Williams – 51.3%
Yves Missi – 51.3%— Sportscasting NBA (@SportcastingNBA) January 29, 2025
An Offensive Rebounding Machine
Despite unspectacular intermediate efficiency, his elite offensive rebounding increases his margin for error. He vacuums in errant shots, creating second and third chances for his teammates at a high clip. Since he entered the league, Williams snared offensive boards as frequently as most bigs, placing in the 94th percentile in offensive rebounding rate (12.8 percent).
An enormous catch radius helps him snag rebounds out of his area. When he can’t secure the ball cleanly, Williams swats balls back to the perimeter to create open threes for his teammates. These kickouts and tapouts have significantly boosted his assist rate from a paltry 5.9 percent last season to 17.7 percent this season, jumping from the eighth percentile to the 69th.
Most of these assists are generously counted handoffs; Charlotte’s high-volume 3-point shooting approach certainly enriches his passing numbers. Williams’ passing out of offensive rebounding chances has become a notable value add, though. Sixty percent of his assists this season lead to threes (3.0 per 100 possessions).
mark williams’ assist rate jumped significantly from his first two seasons (3.3% -> 5.9% -> 17.3%). most of these are generously counted handoff assists he but hits some solid tap/kick outs after offensive boards pic.twitter.com/gW52yXbYPL
— ben pfeifer (@bjpf_) January 27, 2025
A Shaky Defensive Ceiling
Despite his tangible offensive impact, metrics view Williams as an equally negative defender. His plus-2.1 Offensive Estimated Plus-Minus puts him in the 90th percentile, but he offsets that with a minus-2.1 Defensive EPM (second percentile). Strong shot blocking (4.5 percent block rate) hasn’t translated to defensive impact, as the Hornets’ defense improves by 2.7 points per 100 possessions without him on the floor.
It’s fair to attribute some of his poor defensive impact to his teammates; Williams spends most of his time on the floor next to one of Ball or Miles Bridges, two of the sport’s worst defensive players. However, in his 102 minutes without Ball or Bridges, Charlotte’s defensive rating was a putrid 129.8.
Even without Ball or Bridges, Charlotte’s lack of perimeter defensive talent makes life challenging for a purely deep drop big man like Williams. His point-of-attack defenders often lose on screens, forcing him to defend in two-on-one situations.
Williams isn’t without blame, though. He lacks the mobility to defend from disadvantages and move out to the perimeter, limiting Charlotte’s defensive options. It’s possible his lower body injuries have stacked up some and damaged his movement skills. When the Hornets ask him to defend at the level of the screen, he often can’t contain speedy handlers.
That poor mobility, as well as a tendency to jump at fakes, leads to a high foul rate; Williams commits 3.1 shooting fouls per 100 possessions, placing him in the 14th percentile league-wide. Young big men often struggle with fouling and he’s no different. Williams has appeared in exactly 82 career games, though, despite playing in his third season this year.
We must parse confounding variables to determine any player’s true value on the court, especially on historically dysfunctional teams like Charlotte. But the Hornets have won more over the last two weeks than they have in quite some time, and Williams deserves credit for that success. Even considering his defensive limitations, his play-finishing adds tons of value to a team with an elite lead initiator and high-volume 3-point shooting.
Assuming Williams can maintain long stretches of good health, he’s worth monitoring as a valuable complementary piece for the future. Whether Charlotte is the place for him to reach the best version of himself is yet to be seen.
All stats accurate prior to games played on Jan. 29.
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