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Cody Williams Hype and Appreciation Thread

For the people who know more about shooting: what does it mean if someone seems to be shooting pretty well but also drops some pretty bad airballs/wild misses? Is that like a focus thing usually?
 
Strutter said:
For the people who know more about shooting: what does it mean if someone seems to be shooting pretty well but also drops some pretty bad airballs/wild misses? Is that like a focus thing usually?
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In my limited experience, what you're describing is due to being a mechanical shooter. Fluid shooters just focus on the rim and put the ball up with an emphasis on releasing the ball well from their fingertips, even if they're off balance or their shot setup isn't thorough. Whereas, a mechanical shooter is thinking about his shot preparation--e.g., "Okay, I need to square up with my right foot in front of my left foot. I need to bend my knees and get under the ball, get my left elbow out and my right elbow in to be in front of my body..." They're so focused on the shot preparation that they end up being stiff, they release the ball badly and shoot an airball 4 feet short. The shot isn't fluid or just muscle memory yet. This makes sense if Cody is learning how to shoot from NBA distance or he isn't comfortable just shooting off the catch.

Another possibility would be if he's just trying to speed up his release and he mishandles the ball. I'm noticing that Cody's hands aren't particularly great. He sometimes drops passes on cuts that he probably should be able to handle. He probably isn't catching the ball cleanly on some of his spot ups. Catching the ball consistently is a big factor in shooting well.
 
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I am a bit confused by the number of "yeah but we all thought he looked great in summer league last year" comments. Does anyone have any stats or more specific memories? Can't find any

I remember him being a disaster in Salt Lake and then better but pretty bad in Vegas last year. I felt like the consensus was already low after summer league last year. anyways, I like what I saw this summer league from him and am coming in for optimism. Feels like house money if he even becomes a solid bench piece at this point
 
Jaanipoeg said:
I am a bit confused by the number of "yeah but we all thought he looked great in summer league last year" comments. Does anyone have any stats or more specific memories? Can't find any

I remember him being a disaster in Salt Lake and then better but pretty bad in Vegas last year. I felt like the consensus was already low after summer league last year. anyways, I like what I saw this summer league from him and am coming in for optimism. Feels like house money if he even becomes a solid bench piece at this point
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I think you're half right. Salt Lake was pretty disappointing, but I felt like there was genuine positivity after Vegas. He made some nice drives, he hit some threes, and dunked on someone.

Edit: Found a YT video of 2024 highlights

 
Let's hope summer league translates well into regular season. At least the confidence and aggressiveness. I'd certainly like to see him have a good start!
 
Jaanipoeg said:
I am a bit confused by the number of "yeah but we all thought he looked great in summer league last year" comments. Does anyone have any stats or more specific memories? Can't find any

I remember him being a disaster in Salt Lake and then better but pretty bad in Vegas last year. I felt like the consensus was already low after summer league last year. anyways, I like what I saw this summer league from him and am coming in for optimism. Feels like house money if he even becomes a solid bench piece at this point
Click to expand...
He's been a better this year, but he was good by rookie standards last year. Here's a site where you can look up summer league stats.

NBA Summer League Stats - RealGM https://share.google/hSG9o6KKwMRgSQ8dE

20/4/3 with 3 stocks on 46/34/72 shooting splits this year

vs

15/3/2 with 1 stock on 55/38/89 shooting splits last year

Qualitatively I thought he was better defensively last year.
 
Going back and watching these plays again, Cody is much smoother and much more confident than I've seen in the past. He shows awareness, he's on balance, he's making good decisions in the flow of the game. He's reading plays on defense and getting deflections and steals. He's shooting with rhythm. He's stronger and more composed on his drives. It's a ton of improvement compared to last season.


View: https://x.com/utahjazz/status/1946394494724947973
 
For the record my expectations for Cody is that this year will be what you would expect from most prospects in their rookie year. He'll probably be mostly bad, but hopefully shows way more flashes, and by the end of the year puts it together in a way that you can see a rotation level player in the making.

I think the strength he is gaining is putting him in a normal rookie strength scenario. He probably came out a year early.

I think these are reasonable and honestly high expectations for what we saw from him last year.
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
In my limited experience, what you're describing is due to being a mechanical shooter. Fluid shooters just focus on the rim and put the ball up with an emphasis on releasing the ball well from their fingertips, even if they're off balance or their shot setup isn't thorough. Whereas, a mechanical shooter is thinking about his shot preparation--e.g., "Okay, I need to square up with my right foot in front of my left foot. I need to bend my knees and get under the ball, get my left elbow out and my right elbow in to be in front of my body..." They're so focused on the shot preparation that they end up being stiff, they release the ball badly and shoot an airball 4 feet short. The shot isn't fluid or just muscle memory yet. This makes sense if Cody is learning how to shoot from NBA distance or he isn't comfortable just shooting off the catch.

Another possibility would be if he's just trying to speed up his release and he mishandles the ball. I'm noticing that Cody's hands aren't particularly great. He sometimes drops passes on cuts that he probably should be able to handle. He probably isn't catching the ball cleanly on some of his spot ups. Catching the ball consistently is a big factor in shooting well.
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Good response. Especially the part about not catching the ball properly and speeding up his release. I think that is the bigger contributor, though it could be that he is thinking too much as well. Maybe a little of both.
 
fishonjazz said:
Good response. Especially the part about not catching the ball properly and speeding up his release. I think that is the bigger contributor, though it could be that he is thinking too much as well. Maybe a little of both.
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For me, if I caught the ball well in my hands in rhythm, the shot would go in a whole lot more. That's why receiving a ****** pass can screw up the shot.
 
Strutter said:
I think you're half right. Salt Lake was pretty disappointing, but I felt like there was genuine positivity after Vegas. He made some nice drives, he hit some threes, and dunked on someone.

Edit: Found a YT video of 2024 highlights

Click to expand...

Could be recency bias or me seeing what I want to see but when I watch that video he looks like he is processing things slower, he looks like he has a harder time getting above the rim, his shot looks slower etc in comparison to the highlight videos of this year.
I think he legitimately improved in a number of areas (plus the increase in size). I hope im right. ( and it would make sense anyways since we expect players to improve as they age and gain experience in the league.)
 
SoberasHotRod said:
He's been a better this year, but he was good by rookie standards last year. Here's a site where you can look up summer league stats.

NBA Summer League Stats - RealGM https://share.google/hSG9o6KKwMRgSQ8dE

20/4/3 with 3 stocks on 46/34/72 shooting splits this year

vs

15/3/2 with 1 stock on 55/38/89 shooting splits last year

Qualitatively I thought he was better defensively last year.
Click to expand...
Quick glance at those stats and I think it also shows a bit of improvement for Collier from last summer league to this one (other than the horrible free thow % this year)
Thanks for providing that. Good stuff.
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
For me, if I caught the ball well in my hands in rhythm, the shot would go in a whole lot more. That's why receiving a ****** pass can screw up the shot.
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If im being honest shooting well was always easy for me. I never had to think about it and never struggled with shooting. That was my main skill (and ball handling). I didn't shoot airballs. Just didn't ever happen.
 
fishonjazz said:
If im being honest shooting well was always easy for me. I never had to think about it and never struggled with shooting. That was my main skill (and ball handling). I didn't shoot airballs. Just didn't ever happen.
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Im guessing you also never shot from the 3pt line in a NBA game where you were exerting a ton of energy either.
 
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