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Of our three new guys, I'm by far most excited about Marvin Williams.
I think he'll fit with the team quite well. I have no worries about his playing style. I have no worries about his personality. I have no worries about his shot selection. He's going to add so much more to our team than Josh Howard did last year.
And so I find myself in an odd position asking everyone to temper their expectations with him.
You see, I have learned that it's foolish to expect a newly acquired player to be anything except the guy he has been the past 4-5 years. The only common exceptions are young players in their first 3-4 seasons. They regularly make huge leaps in effectiveness. But for all other guys ... expect him to do what he has been doing for a while now.
There are exceptions, of course. But they are exceptions. They are atypical.
And so with Marvin Williams I am expecting him to be exactly the same guy he's been for his entire 7-year career to date. That's it. If he's better ... then great. Yay for us. But I'm not holding my breath for anything.
And this is who he's been:
A decent player with no elite skills. An average player. His particular strengths (rebounding and low turnovers) are decidedly unexciting. Other than that ... he shoots an okay percentage, he's shot a decent 3P% a couple times in his career (but never two years in a row), he assists a little, steals a bit, blocks almost nothing, etc.
He has a reputation for being a good defender against SF's. The game video I've watched suggest this reputation is exaggerated ... I saw him play decidedly unengaged defense. We'll see if I just happened to watch bad days for him or if it really is typical of his play.
There are several scenarios that may happen this year, regarding the Jazz wings.
Of all those scenarios, Marvin Williams being anything but average is the least likely.
Which should be okay. I mean we're going from Josh Howard here. Every player on the team can't be a superstar. And I'm honestly excited to see an average guy playing a wing spot after some of last year's more pathetic moments.
But don't be surprised if Hayward and Burks are better. Don't be surprised if Marvin is a 20+ minute per game rotation guy contributing in small ways instead of big ones.
He's by all accounts a good guy. He's hardly a terrible player. A good guy to have on the team. A guy who will probably have a long, but mostly unremarkable career.
That's what I'm expecting. Anything more will just be gravy.