REDEMPTION: Former Top-10 Pick Cody Williams SILENCES Critics with EXPLOSIVE Summer League Showing |

REDEMPTION: Former Top-10 Pick Cody Williams SILENCES Critics with EXPLOSIVE Summer League Showing |

After what could have been the worst rookie season ever by a top 10 pick is Cody Williams turning the corner? It’s next on Locked on Jazzump. You are Locked on Jazz, your daily podcast on the Utah Jazz, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. How are you? I’m David Lock, radio voice of the Utah Jazz. Jazz NBA insider. This is Locked on Jazz, your Sorry, had to make a little fix there. This is Locked on Jazz, your daily podcast on the Utah Jazz, giving you insight, expertise, geeky numbers, and hopefully making it way better to be a Jazz fan each and every day. Thank you so much for making Locked on Jazz your first listen of the day. We are free and available on all podcasting apps as well as YouTube. And the everydayers, you’re the best. Thank you for making us who we are, what we are. Today’s show is brought to you in part by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code lockmbbarkmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Uh, next move for the Jazz is one of my most commonly asked questions. So, we’ll get that at the end. I’ve got a funky little thing that from being at summer league, I will tell you one player who I liked that you may never hear from again. And I think there’s going to be a really interesting long-term debate about part of that last NBA draft. We’ll touch on that. We’re starting with Cody Williams. Cody Williams as a rookie played 50 games in the NBA. He shot averaged five points, two rebounds, and assists. He shot 32% from the field and 26% from three. And it wasn’t as though it got better as time went on. In March when he played the most, he went 3325. I think he had about as many air balls as he had made shots. In January, after some December where he played just three games, he shot 28% and 24%. If you went to the estimated plus minus on dunks and threes last year, Cody Williams came out as a minus 6.3 and was the lowest of any player in the NBA. And frankly, there was a drop of fairly considerable drop when you looked at players on estimated plus minus. Nick Smith of Charlotte was a minus 5.2. Alex Len was a minus 5.1. Some guys you’ve never heard of were in there as well. James Wiseman and then Ariel Huckporti who I’ve never heard of who evidently played for the Knicks and is a center and Cody Williams. Cody was basically a full negative point in estimated plus minus worse than the next player. Okay, just to put it in perspective. Not trying to pile on, just let’s get understand what happened. Cody I thought I don’t know use how to use the right term but I thought got completely overwhelmed. The confidence was completely shattered and to some extent like without overstating it kind of broke. Um that season is one of the least good seasons ever in the dunks and threes data. The other day with Kyle Filipowski, we looked at the basketball index. You can guess, we don’t need to pile it on, but generally almost every skill after one year for Cody Williams was in the D to F category. A few different, a few that weren’t. Okay. Um, for his size, he guarded point guards an awful lot. Um his free throw efficiency was a D+. His overall he got decent shot quality. Um but like drive foul rate D+. Rim field goal percentage he was at 50%. Rim shot making efficiency was an F. like it’s truly one of if not perimeter isolation defense was a B minus. So that’s good. Truly, if you look at the metrics, one of the worst seasons that a top 10 picks ever had. And yet, I don’t think you shut the door on them. In fact, I got asked the other day in five years, which of the Jazz first round draft picks from LA or draft picks from last year, cuz that counts Kyle, do you think is the best player? And I still took Cody. In fact, I said in five years, I thought Cody had the best chance of any of them to be a rotation player in the NBA despite a rookie year that was wow like stunning. And if you go back to it, what did you draft in a not good draft, right? Let’s like that is always has to be understood like when you talk about Cody Williams as a 10th pick we have to go unless this is going to somehow change the 2024 draft class is truly as of right now one of the least good of all times. Um and we’ll see if that changes. I doubt it. the what did you draft when you draft Cody Williams 10th why let’s go back to that and then what were the concerns so one you drafted 67 at the time 170 but you drafted looking honestly at his dad and his brother and looking at his brother’s growth at Santa Clara remember Cody came to the NBA after his freshman year and Jaylen came to the NBA two years and two and a half years later and Jaylen as a freshman at Santa Clara was not big. So that growth had taken place in the time period he was at at Santa Clara and then by the time he got to Oklahoma City he was pretty big dude. So you’re drafting his length, you’re drafting some of his high school play. He was ranked the fifth best recruit in the class of 2023 in one of the worst recruiting classes of all time. Like stunning of the top 21 players in the draft class, this is probably due to COVID only. Of the top 21 players, only one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight became first round draft picks. and only eight of the first 28 became first round draft picks. So I think that’s due to co that this class may have been very badly judged. The other thing you drafted with Cody was a natural body movement fluidity burst that you just can’t get out of kids. And at 67 with a thought that he could be 190, 210, 220. That’s pretty awesome. When I watched him, what I liked that there was there was this burst. There was this explosion. What I didn’t like out of him, and I made an excuse for him for was how passive he was. I made the excuse that KJ Simpson, a senior, Lampin, I think, was the center. Tristan D Silva that Cody was the fourth option and a lot of times he ran up and down the floor and had no impact on the game because those guys didn’t really either want him or need him to have an impact. Watching him as a feckless rookie, that concern actually came back to the forefront to say, uhoh, maybe he doesn’t have the impact. But summer league has all of a sudden opened up some doors to going back to believe, oh, this is why we drafted him 10th. And despite that impactless opening season, that door probably should not be shut. That’s next on Locked on Jazz. Today’s show is uh brought to you in part by Monarch Money. It’s a complete CFO in your pocket. It’s kind of cool and I think it gives you an opportunity to see what a great job you you and your partner, you and your family are doing to be in the driver’s seat of your finances. It’s like having a personal CFO giving you full visibility of control of your finances. Monarch is more than a budgeting app. It’s complete financial command center. You can track your accounts, investments, spending one place. In addition to managing money, there is also building wealth. We’ve added a few things to our situation recently. I’m finding it interesting to really understand how much of them really cost us various things. So for me, monarch money has been valuable because oh, that’s actually sucking that much money out. Not not the on the other end, you can find out where you’ve handled it well. So take control of your finances with MonarchMoney. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for $20 off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com. Code locked on NBA for half off your first year at MonarchMoney. Cody Williams summer league 19 points, four rebounds, three assists a game. overall presence is probably the biggest story. So, what have we seen that after a rookie year that we just explained that I think fair had many people fairly decide, oh boy, I’m out. That makes you excited. Well, last night Cody goes nine of 16, three of six from three. I don’t love only two rebounds in 29 minutes, frankly, or two assists, but I do like the two steals. The other the numbers that I actually am most interested when I look at Cody Williams, frankly are the other numbers. There’s two numbers when I look at his summer league that are exciting to me about Cody Williams and they are the amount of shots he’s got off. Because if you actually look at data on summer league action, the number that actually translates the best is the number of shots you got off. Like it’s it says that you’ve you’ve come to the the second one actually I’ll give him credit for this is playing every game. Let’s kind of give credit that. The the other one I liked was the game against Golden State when he had eight eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals. that is not the feckless player that we watched last year who, as Ron Boon would often kind of say, sometimes felt like he was just out there. That’s like Ron’s way of saying it. The two the average of about three steals a game or two or three steals a game is pretty great. That’s the other one I would I like. So you end up with the amount of shots taken. I mean, he took 11 threes the other night in the game against Charlotte. To me, that’s pretty great. The visual things that I think are most exciting when it comes to Cody right now is the strength. He’s added 20 lbs. And that was a huge part of you didn’t the player who was so struggled so badly last year was never the player that when you drafted Cody Williams, you actually thought was going to be good. If that makes sense. So you never drafted Cody Williams thinking to yourself, the 170 pound 6’9 kid’s going to be good. If you watch Cody in the summer league, there are a bunch of plays in which he drives to the basket, takes some contact, takes the long reach, stretches it out, and is able to finish. That’s pretty exciting. That’s what he’s going to do. He’s not a multiple dribble guy right now. His handle still needs development, which I think looks better. He is driving to the basket, outstretching the right hand, using his length, getting bumped and finishing. Last year he got bumped and by the time he let the shot go, he was in Provo. So the things that look better are the amount of shots he’s getting, the overall aggressiveness, two at the eight rebound, three steel, four assists in two of those games. overall impact. Three, the overall strength. I think his handle looks a little better. His favorite move is a left to right crossover, right hand, one or two long steps to the rack. The things that aren’t super are some of the shooting numbers. 46% is pretty good. That’s overall. I believe he’s 29 for 63 in Vegas. We can do a Salt Lake number, too, but 29 of 63 from Vegas. The three-point number after last night’s three of six is still only 29%. Looks better, getting off better, getting off more completely, but it’s still, you know, he was two of his last 11 before going three of six last night. He You could add in the seven games he played in Salt Lake. I’m not sure it changes dramatically, by the way. So, there are certainly signs here that why you drafted Cody Williams 10th is still floating around in there. And that despite a rookie year that was I I would say like eyeopeningly unnerving, like let’s not hide it, right? like eyeopeningly unnerving that you still can look at Cody Williams and say, “Yeah, I think we got something. I think that pick, particularly in that draft, begins to make some sense.” Begins to Okay, I’m seeing the semblance of how this happens. Now, what I’m most curious to see is I mean, I I am so freaking simple at this. Does the ball go in, right? Like, I said this about Kee all last year. Like, at some point, the ball has to go in. That’s that’s the issue. Like, we can talk about all these other things, but can Cody shoot well enough that the ball goes in? The 45% he has shot from the field overall in the summer league is pretty good. He’s added a mid-range jumper. He can get into it pretty well. he feels comfortable doing it. The 29% three-point shooting, he’s not. So, when he plays NBA speed, that much better jumper, that everything that looks more clean, that catch and shoot game, is that still there? Does that the second thing I’m most interested in watching out of Cody and I like I thought last year’s struggles zapped him of all confidence, of all juice. I thought it I felt bad for him out there. Like I thought at some point in time we should have shut him down. Like it just was it was bad. Right. So what happens when the struggles come again? What happens when what is probably a two or threeyear weight training effort to get him to where he needs to be at 69 225 when that has not fully come this year and he’s still getting B and Lou Dort blasts him a few times and Dylan Brooks blasts him a few times and the shots not going in and the speed’s there because that’s going to still happen. is not the the player the Jazz drafted is two still two three years down the road or that the Jazz hope to draft. And so when that comes together, what before that comes together, what happens if Cody can stay viable with the ups and downs for the entire NBA season in his second year and stay in the rotation and not, as we talked about last night or yesterday, have Kyle Filipowsk’s minutes take away his minutes. I think that’s a massive success. I’m not sure I’m looking at co I mean you got it to be better than 32 and 20 32% from the field and 26% from three. There’s no question. But I’m going to go back to Rick’s son who was good friend of mine from a long time ago, general manager Super Sons. He talked about there’s a progression of rookies and it’s how many minutes you play. So Cody played a thousand minutes last year. Can Cody get to somewhere between 1,600 and 1,800 minutes in year two? And then if you can start to get to 2400 minutes by year three, you’re probably a 28 20 30 minute night player in the NBA with everybody playing 70 games. So, the standard I have for Cody is can he stay viable for 17 16 to,800 minutes this year using that strength, using that improved handle, using that improved confidence to be able to make that step, show some signs, and then I think you look back and you say, “Okay, we’re on the path of what made sense to draft him as the 10th pick.” The door should not be closed. But there’s still a ton of work to do. And as much as he looked way better, and I saw Tony Jones announce that he should be in the starting lineup this year, and I just temper some of this summer league excitement, but I think he looks way better. And I think I I’ll say it again. If you asked me in the season c of 202930 who I think has the best chance to be a rotation player of the Jazz draft picks last year. I’m still taking Cody. That’s with how awesome Kyle Philipsky’s offense has been in summer league. I’m still going Cody. a draft debate from this year that I think will rage for years. Plus the Jazz next move on locked on Jazz. The NBA draft focus this year was almost entirely on the whole Ace Bailey situation. Having been at summer league, I think what happened between 7 and 13 is going to be the most interesting aspect of this draft and talked about for a while. So, seven was Jeremiah Fierce who had a dreadful summer league. He had he’s got three assists and 16 turnovers for New Orleans. I mean, these might be sandwiched in two New Orleans disasters. Igor Denman was the next pick and you guys all know him well. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens with Igor Deman. And there was a level of Igor Deman that was a thought that like he couldn’t shoot, but then his draft workouts are great. And last night he dropped four of eight from three, had 14 points. We’re getting late into summer league. Like if you start looking at the guys on the other name of other side of the board, they’re not quite what you I think are Eagor Deman’s going to go up against and he’s going to be in a situation in which there aren’t a lot of he doesn’t have a huge amount of support in Brooklyn this upcoming year. But I mean, I think if you go to his opening game against AJ Mitchell of Oklahoma City, that’s a pretty good test. He played 23 minutes. He had eight points. He had four ribbons. He did have no assists in that game, which was a little surprising for someone of his skill set. The Brook Orlando team he played last night was a little sparse, but I think that that’s going to be, you know, we’ll see. He his shooting numbers, as we talked about a lot, were horrific. And yet he shot the lights out in every draft workout of anyone. It was the number one talk of summer league was anyone and pre-draft of anyone who actually had Igor Deman work out for them. How incredible his shooting was and he went four of 10 from three against Washington against Bob Carrington and Trey Johnson which was pretty interesting. Trey Johnson had a nice night that as well. Okay, so Eigor. So that’s gonna be interesting. Then there’s Colin Mur Murray Boils who went to Toronto who’s just a really interesting player 67 kind of more of a power forward. Actually spent some time at the Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah. And the 10th pick was Malawatch. I I I saw Malawatch up close and personal. I mean this there’s a chance this is DB Machumbo. This dude is mammoth. Now, when I watched him in summer league, and again, I I have a tendency to under I don’t think summer league’s the end all of all these things. Like, I didn’t think he moved great. Like, I didn’t think he anticipated great. Um, last night he played I watched only briefly, but I think it was last night Phoenix played Minnesota, which was interesting because the two centers are both first round draft picks and I didn’t think either of them shined. There were a lot of fouls really was my take. Um, but he’s going to be interesting. Like he’s going to have an impact. He’s really, really big. Murray Bole is just a fascinating prospect as well. All of them were kind of okay in summer league. The um Murray Bole had a few too many games I thought was just quiet, but they might have been because Jacobe Walter and Shed were never giving him the ball. Then Cedric Coward, who has not played because of the shoulder injury, is the upandcomer. And then we got the French kid. and then Derek Queen at 13 who New Orleans gave up a first round draft pick. Those seven picks and they don’t necessarily involve the Jets, but just I I really think there’s going to be a from what I watched at summer league and a little bit I’ve watched and talking to some people, I think we’re going to see a massive variance in performance here from seven to 13 and it’s going to be a really interesting look back on this draft. Okay, so I’ll just leave you with that. The other one that caught some eyes in summer league was Hugo Gonzalez of Boston. Um, I know the Jazz looked at Hugo Gonzalez and I think they even had people fly to go look at Hugo Gonzalez. Hugo Gonzalez might turn out to be the player over time that we look back verse Will Clayton and try to figure out who was right and who was wrong. He did not shoot it great in the professional league in Europe. He’s pretty interesting player. His rebounding skills, I don’t know if he’s they weren’t really playing him as a point guard for Boston. His rebounding skills were impressive to me watching him the little bit I did when I was in Vegas. Um, and watched a little bit of that game yesterday. I We’ll just keep an eye on him. Like I again, I’m not making outlandish there. There’s a lack of like massive takeaway here on some of this because I don’t want to overplay a young kid’s player, but I thought Hugo Gonzalez against Gigi Jackson, Jaylen Wells, and Memphis the other day looked like he was every bit the part. And I think that’s going to be that’s going to be an interesting comp for us looking back, particularly because I think the Jazz were very interested in Hugo Gonzalez. And so the Jazz, they’ll have to you’ll we’ll look back and have to decide who had a better career, Will Clayton or Hugo Gonzalez. Clayton’s definitely much more ready today than Hugo Gonzalez who won 28. Um, so I think that’ll be the most interesting. What’s next for the Jazz? Maybe not a lot. Maybe not a lot. Okay, so the 10, there’s 11 rotation players right now. Nine will play, but you have the two guards, Clayton and Collier. The two shooting guards, Keonte and Bryce Sensah, the two wings, we’ll call them Ace and Cody. The two power forward, three power forwards in Lowry, Taylor and Kyle, and the two centers in Walker and Nerkach. That’s your 11. Kyle Anderson is on the roster and I think everyone expects the Jazz to keep Kyle Anderson. He has a relationship with Will Hardy from San Antonio. He’s a veteran. He knows how to play. If things are falling apart, he can come in the game and hold it together. Solid solid fundamental pro. Si proved what a great teammate he is. He can handle the ball. He can do a lot of things if you need him next year. KJ Martin is still on the roster. It he’s been in Vegas around the team. I really like him. Um, I think he brings a lot of the things that you actually want as that player. He plays incredibly hard. He is an NBA player. He might need to develop a little bit. Um, it might and he’s um his contract is 8 million non-g guaranteed. So, I wouldn’t be surprised. There’s two things here. The Jazz are short of the salary floor right now. So, the Jazz need to sign someone and get to the salary floor. I think they’re about three or four million dollars off the salary floor. That they have to get there. They have to get there by the start of the season. Um, so that’s the first thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s like some way you do KJ Martin deal um that gets him paid a little bit, maybe gets him a little more guarantee. And then we just have one more roster spots all there’s two ways that have already been signed. There’s an open two-way and open roster spot. And my guess is that John Ton is one of them and Elijah Harkas is the other. Um that’s that’s my guess. Um so, um and that’s yeah, that’s it. That’s kind of the answer. So I don’t I keep getting asked what like what’s next? I I don’t think there’s a lot of what’s next for the Jazz. All right, that is locked on Jazz today. Tomorrow is an Ask LoJ edition on a Friday. So, let’s jump aboard, have some fun with it. Thanks so much for tuning in. You can follow me on the socials at DLock09. Subscribe to the program. Please do. If you’re on YouTube, hit the bell button so you get notified whenever we drop an episode. We now send you the first ever national NBA channel, Locked on NBA on video. And Locked on NBA game night and the regular show is still going every single day during the offseason. So, check it out on audio. Lockto NBA.

Cody Williams, the Utah Jazz’s 10th overall pick, shows promising signs of improvement in Summer League after a challenging rookie season. David Locke, radio voice of the Utah Jazz and Jazz NBA Insider, analyzes Williams’ progress, highlighting his increased strength, aggressiveness, and overall impact on the court. Despite shooting struggles, Locke remains optimistic about Williams’ potential to become a rotation player in the NBA.

The episode also explores the intriguing draft debate surrounding picks 7-13 from the recent NBA draft, . Locke discusses the Jazz’s current roster situation, featuring Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, and Keyonte George, and speculates on potential moves to reach the salary floor. The podcast provides valuable insights for Jazz fans eager to understand the team’s direction and player development.

0:00 Intro
0:34 Cody Williams turning the corner after rough rookie season
6:48 Why the Jazz drafted Cody Williams 10th overall
11:55 Cody’s impressive Summer League performance and improvements
19:10 Expectations for Cody’s second NBA season
21:15 Interesting draft debate: picks 7-13 from 2023
27:27 Jazz roster outlook and potential next moves

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