Atlanta Hawks: Marvin Williams was solid and it just doesn’t matter

The Atlanta Hawks recent success has been so remarkable because of how low they had fallen in recent years. But that implies a fall. The Hawks have been a relatively successful franchise missing the postseason just 26 times in 73 years of existence. Even their most recent playoff drought only lasted three seasons.

Along the way, they have had many hits and misses both in free agency and the NBA Draft. We went over some of the best and worst lottery picks not long ago.

The latter got some asking where one particular pick, Marvin Williams, was.

Former Atlanta Hawks forward Marvin Williams gets a bad rap for not being Chris Paul

Flashback to the 2005 NBA Draft and the Hawks have a glaring need for a point guard after going through the previous season with Tyronn Lue as the starter. On top of that, while not the headliners, the class featured two highly-touted and accomplished lead guards. It was revealed last year by one of those guards, Wake Forest’s Chris Paul, that he wanted to be a Hawk.

"“And so after I worked out for Atlanta, I got back to the hotel, my agent called me and was like, ‘uh, New Orleans wants you to come work out tomorrow.’ And I was like, nah, I ain’t goin’. My agent said, ‘they said if you don’t come, they’re going to pick you anyway.”"

Mock drafts also had the soon-to-be ‘Point God’ slotted to the Hawks with the second-overall pick.

Hawks general manager, Billy Knight, had other ideas taking the 6-foot-8 combo forward despite the team having selected forwards Josh Childress and Josh Smith a year earlier on top of their blatantly obvious need for a point guard.

They had also taken Boris Diaw in 2003 but he was traded for Joe Johnson ahead of the 2005 season.

But Williams was indeed a consensus front-end lottery pick billed as a player who could do some of everything on the floor offensively. There was even some faint excitement about his ability as a playmaker.

Thrust into a team loaded at his position but desperate to return to the postseason after a six-year absence, Williams averaged 8.5 points and 4.8 rebounds as a rookie. He showed promising growth over the next three seasons, averaging 14.0 points, 5.7 boards, and 1.7 assists.

He admittedly regressed and stagnated some over his final three seasons in Atlanta, putting up just 10.2 points but still hauled in 5.0 rebounds and had 1.2 assists.

Atlanta made the postseason in each of Williams’ final five seasons in a Hawks uniform. Williams was also a double-digit scorer in all but his rookie campaign; something the players on our ‘Worst Lottery Picks’ list certainly can’t boast.

The fact that he went on to play 15 years total while being most of what he was supposed to doesn’t soften the blow for Hawks fans who had to have felt led on.

For what it’s worth, Williams has the same number of championships as Paul and Deron Williams, who was also in the class. Though Paul did just help lead the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1993 roughly a year after Williams hung it up for good.

In the end, Williams is certainly not the bust he’s painted to be even if he never was an All-Star. There were also definitely players in his class that had higher peaks. But Williams was arguably one of the most consistent. He also trails only Paul and current Hawks backup guard Lou Williams in years of service from the entire class.

Even then-General Manager Danny Ferry’s decision to move on was financially motivated as the Hawks were intent on pursuing Atlanta-native Dwight Howard and, ironically, Paul in free agency.

None of this is to say that the pick was right. No one in their right mind should try to convince you of that. But Williams gets a bad wrap, largely, for things that were beyond his control.