Marvin Williams had only been with the Milwaukee Bucks for a few weeks before the 2019-20 season was suspended. How could his role or production adjust moving forward?
Marvin Williams was only getting his feet wet with the Milwaukee Bucks before the 2019-20 season was suspended.
Having arrived via a midseason buyout in early February right after the trade deadline, Williams essentially walked into the Bucks’ rotation and served as the backup forward to superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo amid all sorts of personal changes.
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Just as the 34-year-old veteran was starting to settle into his new surroundings and within the Bucks’ locker room, the season came to a halt and so did Williams’ dream to try and realize his championship aspirations.
Now as the NBA continues ramping up their efforts to restart the 2019-20 season, the light flickers at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the Bucks continuing a dream campaign. And by extension, the same applies to Williams.
With just 203 total minutes under Williams’ belt since arriving to Milwaukee a month before the season stopped, that’s simply too small of a sample size to see how he could perform in the role he has under head coach Mike Budenholzer.
And under those limited amount of minutes, a critical component in Williams’ play, that being his 3-point shooting, was left in Charlotte as he went 8-for-27 from beyond the arc (29.6 percent) since donning a Bucks uniform. Of course, with such a long layoff, that isn’t a future indictment on how Williams may be able to iron out his shooting stroke when play does end up kicking on again.
On the other side of the ball, however, Williams has at least been able to step right in and show his veteran experience with the Bucks’ defensive scheme, which has included taking on major assignments against opposing forwards.
While Williams does have his lowlights as it relates to his lateral quickness such as tripping over his feet or racking up 4.1 fouls per 36 minutes with the Bucks, his savvy, quick hands and team defending has helped give the Bucks to have a little more versatility and options within their roster construction on that end. And while totally understandable, Williams has averaged 1.6 steals per 36 minutes in Milwaukee.
It’s fair to cast some questions over just how comfortable Williams was after coming to Milwaukee before the season stoppage, and that will only continue if the NBA does end up restarting by the end of July as recent reports suggested.
The fact that what few offensive opportunities Williams has gotten during his short time in Milwaukee has certainly influenced his shooting concerns and being able to space the floor. Per NBA.com/stats, Williams has logged an 8.9 usage percentage over his 11 appearances with the Bucks.
Gaining some more familiarity among teammates and within the Bucks’ largely read-and-react offensive system would go a long way to further realizing Williams’ fit. But given the current and extenuating circumstances, that can’t be done until the Bucks are able to convene for a second training camp, before this season resumes as the NBA hopes it does.
The addition of Williams helped the Bucks to bolster their frontcourt and give them some options to turn to as they were preparing for their playoff push. If all goes according to plan, that push will resume in a couple of months time and hopefully, we’ll see some key improvements to solidify Williams’ place within the Bucks’ foundation.