Cody Williams comes to the Minnesota Timberwolves after two underwhelming seasons with the Utah Jazz. Thus far, Williams has averaged just 7 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists with 41.9/23.7/71.1 shooting splits.
Still, he was a lottery pick in 2024, and he could rejuvenate his career with the Wolves. One advantage that Williams will have is learning from Jaden McDaniels.
As rangy and wiry wings, Williams and McDaniels have clear similarities. And while McDaniels' first two seasons weren't nearly as bad as Williams were, it took him some time to develop on offense. Notably, McDaniels averaged just 8.1 points for the first two seasons of his career, before notching 12.1 points in his third year.
McDaniels can help Williams grow on offense and learn how to maximize his tools on defense. I'm not saying Williams will ever reach the same heights that McDaniels has. Still, the actualized version of Williams looks pretty similar to McDaniels.
Jaden McDaniels can help Cody Williams on both sides of the floor
Williams must improve his 3-point shooting from the abysmal 23.7 percent he's shot so far; perhaps McDaniels can help with this.
More relevantly, though, despite McDaniels becoming a quality 3-point shooter, the main aspect of his offensive impact remains his ability to get downhill, attacking mismatches and closeouts.
Williams' comfort level with the ball in his hands has to improve. Thankfully, though, he took significant strides as a finisher, ranking in the 80th percentile for rim frequency and shooting a solid 67.6 percent at the rim per Databallr. Learning some of McDaniels' tricks of attacking closeouts and using his size to his advantage could help Williams further level up as a finisher. Adding some of McDaniels' mid-range scoring bag could also help Williams.
In addition to his finishing reaching another level, Williams showed growth as an overall scorer in his second season, including averaging 16 points over the last 20 games of the season. This should offer some hope that Williams can become a positive offensive player.
Defense is still Williams' calling card, though, and, much like McDaniels, he's a jumbo-sized point-of-attack defender. Notably, Williams ranked in the 81st percentile for matchup difficulty and the 76th percentile for perimeter isolation defense per Basketball Index.
Ideally, Williams can become a more versatile defender who can guard forwards and be highly disruptive off the ball. We've seen McDaniels flash these skills while mainly remaining a POA defender.
If McDaniels can help Williams reach another gear on defense, his path to regular minutes could be undeniable even if the offense doesn't fully come around.
Learning from McDaniels doesn't guarantee that Williams will get his career back on track with Minnesota. Frankly, it'll be hard for him to crack the rotation from the get-go. Ultimately, the onus will primarily be on Williams to improve and the coaching staff to put him in a position to succeed.
Regardless, having a mentor with a similar frame and skill set who was a late bloomer on offense could be helpful for Williams. Sometimes a change of scenery is all that's needed for a young player to unlock their potential. The Timberwolves can provide just that for Williams, and McDaniels can be a big part of this resurgence.
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