Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy broke down how Cody Williams has stayed effective without a lot of three-point attempts following Monday’s 122-113 home loss vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers (26 points/6 rebounds/4 assists/2 steals/11-22 FG/0-2 3-PT/4-6 FT in 37 minutes as a starter).
*set career-high in FGA*
*shooting 56.9% from two this season on 5.1 2PA/22.5% 3-PT on 1.8 3PA*
(via Utah Jazz):
“Well, I think Cody’s length and ability to get deflections and play really solid defense is real. I also think his ability to shoot his little pull-up is real. This is a guy who has worked really hard on ways to become impactful offensively in a world where everybody just screams about three-point shooting. Cody is not bombing away from three, and it’s helped him. There’s sometimes a desire to kind of prove everybody wrong or fall into the trap of, ‘Oh, everybody’s talking about my three-point shooting. I’ve gotta spend extra time on it, and this has gotta become the only thing I think about.’
“Cody works on his three-point shooting, but this year, we’ve seen him become a far more forceful driver, a better runner in transition, a smarter and more impactful cutter. And his pull-up when he’s being guarded by people that keep backing up and his ability to create little separation left and right. It’s not a full stepback. It’s like kind of a sidestep. It looks good and he has confidence in it. I mean, he shot 50% from the floor tonight. So, the biggest thing I think that we can all take with Cody is he’s adaptable and he’s learning. He is being effective in these games without just bombing away threes, and I think the mindset more than anything is something that we can for sure take forward.”
