Kali’s Korner: Mark Williams
Written by Nick Kalinowski
Standing at 7 feet tall and possessing an even longer wingspan, Mark Williams saw a massive increase in all major statistical categories this past season for Duke. Williams served as the bodyguard of the basket for the Blue Devils, racking up 2.9 blocked shots per game en route to the ACC Defensive Player of the Year award. Although he shared the spotlight with several other projected lottery picks, Williams’ defensive prowess and efficient scoring output has many media outlets projecting him as a first round-level talent in his own right. That being said, there are several glaring weaknesses to his game that may provide some caution to picking him early in the draft. With all that in mind, I hope to use this article to holistically describe Williams as an NBA prospect and attempt to predict where his draft range should be in this year’s draft class.
Strengths:
As evidenced by his impressive numbers, Williams’ shot blocking prowess is among the best in this class. More often than not, challenging Williams at the rim will conclude with the ball in the stands and you on your backside. He times his jumps extremely well and meets drivers before they reach the apex of their liftoffs. Williams’ confidence in his interior defensive abilities makes him a perfect cleanup man for an aggressive perimeter defense that chases shooters off the line, as he is often ready and willing to leave his assignment to provide help for his teammates. Williams understands defensive rotations well, often switching onto the man closest to the basket, and can be seen communicating with his guards on screens.
Williams finished second in the ACC in offensive rebounding and it’s easy to see why. His ball tracking skills are excellent, and he possesses the strength to fight through box outs to grab boards. Even against more athletic centers, Williams uses his mental advantage to beat opposing bigs to the spot and grab the ball before they can even react. On putback finishes, there is often no wasted motion, as Williams rarely needs to reassert his footing before converting a layup. He is adept at finishing through contact, and fouling him mid-shot will not deter him from converting.
Do not ever give a smaller player the assignment of blocking out Williams on an offensive rebound. He has no hesitation exploiting these mismatches, skying over his opponent to stronghold the rebound and, before the player can even react, softly bouncing the ball through the net for an easy two. These aggressive tendencies will lead to the infrequent over-the-back foul, but coaches in particular will love his hustle and effort on the glass.
Inside the paint, Williams has fantastic body control and timing with both hands, especially on missed tip-ins. On more than one occasion while scouting him, Williams called for a lob from one of his teammates, only for that player to instead shoot a missed floater or mid-range jumper. Still in the air from what he initially thought was a lob attempt, Williams retracted his hands from the rim area, waited for the ball to escape the cylinder, and tipped it back in.Interestingly enough, most of these were converted with his non-dominant left hand. These plays are another demonstration of his impressive ball tracking and interior scoring and show that he is equally effective from both sides of the rim when it comes to cleaning up misses.
It doesn’t happen often but Williams does show the occasional flashy playmaking read, such as on this transition play against NC State, where he redirects an errant Trevor Keels lob pass right into Paolo Banchero’s lap. Although he can get tunnel vision sometimes when operating out of the post, in more free-flowing situations, Williams demonstrates an acumen and willingness to share the rock with his teammates.
Williams is a decent drop-coverage defender, as his tendencies to protect the paint force opposing guards to pull up for less-efficient contested mid-range shots more often than not. That being said, he should never be isolated on the perimeter, so defensive schemes should involve built-in rotations to switch him back on a player closer to his speed.
Weaknesses:
Williams has significantly below average lateral quickness, and struggles mightily when switched onto guards. He has difficulty lowering his center of gravity and, as such, nearly stands straight up, even when isolated. He does not have the foot speed to keep pace with dribble combinations nor the mammoth wingspan required to make up for it. Opponents very frequently ended up with a wide open jumpshot when Williams switched onto them.
In the ACC Championship Game, Virginia Tech forced switches on PnR and pick-and-fade situations as much as possible to force Williams to match up with one of their guards, which was one of the main reasons that they consistently got open looks from the perimeter. On the above play, the guard throws a pass back up to the big before flashing to the corner. Being a natural rim protector, Williams stays in the paint, hoping one of his teammates will notice the mismatch and switch. When that doesn’t happen, he is simply too slow to close out in time to get even a slight contest on the three-pointer.
On another example from the same game where VT forces the switch, Williams gives the perimeter player a ton of space to avoid being beaten on a drive to the basket, and as a result of this allows an uncontested three-pointer. Williams did not play much in Duke’s regular season game against the Hokies and it’s easy to see why.
Williams also struggles to contest shots from bigs who can shoot from the outside. Much like his perimeter defense on guards, Williams gives opposing centers a ton of space to make up for his quick twitch deficiencies, allowing opponents an easy opportunity to simply pull up from deep.
Finally, Williams looks to be uncomfortable in some rim-running situations. He isn’t particularly fast, and sometimes looks a bit plodding when running coast-to-coast. Likewise, he loses most of his vertical lift on finishes. In this sequence, he can barely get his hands above the rim for the dunk. In the NBA, where most bigs are quick and can swiftly recover to defend the break, Williams won’t have a very large advantage in these situations.
On the interior, Williams can be prone to over-helping and “chasing” highlight-reel blocks, which leaves the defense vulnerable to second-chance opportunities. Most of being an elite interior defender involves adjusting shots rather than blocking them, and Williams will need to iron out the nuances in his game to learn when to simply contest shots in order to prevent easy offensive boards.
NBA Outlook:
Mark Williams possesses all the necessary skills to succeed as a traditional “old-school” center - he can defend the paint, rebound at an elite level, set hard screens, and score as a lob threat and in the low post. However, in the modern NBA, where bigs are required to possess a more diverse skill set, some of his abilities are not up to task. He does not have the top tier speed required of a rim runner, cannot shoot from outside, and was rarely asked to face-up his opponents. On defense, his shot blocking acumen is top notch, but he has little to no switchability and not a lot of experience in drop coverage. All that said, he will likely never be among the upper echelon of centers in the league, and will instead have to succeed as a “grinder” type - making his living by grabbing offensive boards, contesting the layups of driving guards, and setting solid screens for shooters. Players like Kevon Looney, the namesake of this site, have shown that there is still a place in the league for players of this archetype, especially within perimeter-oriented offenses, so I can see a team like Golden State or Phoenix grabbing Williams in the late-first or early-second rounds to fill out their roster.