There are a lot of similarities between Utah Jazz rookie Cody Williams and his teammate Taylor Hendricks.
In 2023, Hendricks was the No. 9 overall pick, and in 2024, Williams was the No. 10 overall pick. Both players came to the Jazz after a lone collegiate season where they showed incredible athleticism, natural defensive instincts and a knack for doing the little things that would have a big impact on the game.
They also both came to the Jazz incredibly green, young, with slight builds and obviously a lot to learn. They played different positions in college and they are going to have different games in the NBA, but in order to maximize their potential, the Jazz decided in both cases that some time spent in the G League would serve the players and help in their development.
So, after playing in 16 games with the Jazz to start the season, Williams was sent to spend some time with the SLC Stars.
“I think one thing that the general public might not understand — and I have an amazing appreciation for it, because I coached in college for 25 years — is that these kids should be sophomores,” Stars head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “And they’re either playing in the best league in the world, or the hungriest league in the world, and what’s asked of these young guys is really hard and there needs to be some grace and growth.”
Many fans have voiced concern about Williams being sent to the G League, worried that it means Williams is a bust. But looking at Hendricks’ trajectory is a really good lens from which to view this process, because there were some serious concerns about Hendricks at the start of and throughout his rookie season.
Frankly, it was hard to tell if he’d be able to internalize the idea of running back on defense, much less become a well-rounded player. But, it turns out that the Jazz front office and coaching staff were right about what Hendricks needed — time. Hendricks seemed to have turned a corner and was showing potential for a breakout season before his season-ending injury.
And time is precisely what Williams needs.
“It’s not about stats,” Wojciechowski said. “It’s about building the consistent habits that lead, over time, to improvement … and just like with Taylor from the time he started with me at the beginning of last season with the Stars, to the time he started this season with the Jazz, there was a tremendous evolution. And the same can be true for these other young guys.”
“It’s not about stats. It’s about building the consistent habits that lead, over time, to improvement.”
— SLC Stars coach Steve Wojciechowski on Jazz rookie Cody Williams
Williams’ biggest areas of concern are his weight and his shooting. When it comes to his shot, Jazz coach Will Hardy said that he isn’t really paying attention to the box score, and agrees with Wojciechowski in saying that evaluation is not based on stats at this point.
“I think Cody is getting better,” Hardy said, having been to one of the recent G League games. “The game that I was at, I thought he played a good game. I just think he didn’t shoot the ball great. So I leave encouraged. The making and missing of shots is not everything for these guys where they are in their careers, and so we try to stay focused on that, while also recognizing that they’re human and that they want to make every shot, and if they don’t, they feel bad about themselves. So we have to help them keep that perspective.”
Comfortability, familiarity, chemistry, ease and getting good passes from teammates are all things that can assist in helping a young player shoot the ball better, and they are all things that many young players don’t have the luxury of working with.
As for the subject of weight and strength, there’s nothing more that Williams can do than what he’s already doing. The Jazz have been clear that building his body up to an NBA standard is going to be huge for him, but they have also given him realistic perspective.
“We also realize I’m only 20 and it’s gonna take time,” Williams told the Deseret News. “They’re not really rushing that. I know it’s a process and that’s not the biggest thing I have to worry about. I need to worry about all the other stuff, because getting stronger will come with age and time.”
And Williams is no stranger to the idea of needing to be stronger in order to have a successful NBA career. He has to look no further than his own brother, Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams, to see what that kind of development looks like.
“And even if you look at him when he was a rookie and he was 21, he didn’t look nearly what he looks like now,” Williams said of his older brother. “So it’s just about realizing it’s a process, and to stick with it, and keep doing everything that’s being asked of me. Eventually I’ll put on weight.”
And the weight could be one of the reasons that the stats might not look as good for Williams right now. Because he’s making a lot of the right decisions. He runs the plays correctly, he gets to the right spots on defense and is in great position. Sometimes, it works out and he makes great plays, but often he’s pushed off his spot or a more physical player is able to overpower him.
That happens with Williams in the G League, and the players in the NBA are bigger, stronger, meaner and more experienced.
So, all of this is to say that Williams is doing all the right things. He’s working on his conditioning and getting stronger. He’s getting a better feel for the Jazz’s system while also getting a ton of game reps and averaging nearly 30 minutes a night with the Stars.
It might take some time to see the fruits of his labor pay off. It took nearly a year to truly see some differences with Hendricks, so it’s understandable that the steps forward for Williams might not be obvious in the short term.
