Charlotte made their gambit in throwing a max offer sheet at Gordon Hayward, but as they promised they would Utah matched it.
Charlotte turned to Plan B almost immediately: Marvin Williams.
The Hornets quickly got their man with a two-year, $14 million deal first reported by Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports.
Marvin Williams agrees to two-year, $14 million deal with Hornets, source tells Yahoo. Fully guaranteed, no option.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) July 12, 2014
Multiple outlets confirmed this, just waiting on word from the Hornets themselves.
My first thought is that price is a little steep, but it is a short deal in the ballpark of what he has made the past five NBA seasons.
Williams, the former No. 2 pick back in 2005, has incredible physical tools but only seems to put them to use occasionally. Utah shifted how Williams was used from a three to a stretch four — last season 44.5 percent of his shot attempts were threes and he hit 38 percent of them. Utah, however, is very deep along the front line and were not going to spend near that much to keep Williams.
Charlotte can use Williams as a stretch four also (replacing Josh McRoberts, now in Miami), with Al Jefferson in the paint and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at the three. He will split time with Cody Zeller (who brings a tougher, more physical style of play) while the Hornets wait for rookie Noah Vonleh to develop into their four of the future.