LAS VEGAS — Cody Williams has made some loud plays this summer.
The bad kind of loud.
Bad misses on jumpers, turnovers on attempted crossovers, drives that stalled against non-NBA defenders.
But there’s also been production.
Williams’ stats after four games in Las Vegas? 19.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.2 steals.
On Wednesday, he poured in 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting to lead Utah past Washington — the Jazz’s first win of the Las Vegas Summer League.
Is it an issue that most of the production has come in the second half, a trend that continued on Wednesday? Maybe; maybe not.
Williams, though, sees it as a good sign. To him, it shows he can adjust midgame — and then adapt.
“First half, you’re feeling out, seeing how they’re guarding, and then you adjust to that,” he said. “So I feel I’ve made great adjustments in the second half, seeing what’s open and what’s not, and then just taking advantage of that. That’s why I have had more productive second halves.”
The latest example? A 15-point third quarter on Wednesday that helped the Jazz blow the game open.
He went 5-of-7 from the field in the frame, hit 3-of-4 from deep, and added a couple of assists (and probably should have had a few more). He got to the rim, knocked down open looks, and kept the ball moving — all things that were often missing during a rough rookie season.
“He’s been working super hard,” Jazz big Kyle Filipowski said. “You can just see with his body No. 1; but also just working out with him this whole summer, I’ve been able to tell how hard he’s worked.”
Filipowski, who didn’t play Wednesday after being shut down following a string of dominant performances, has been in Williams’ ear, encouraging him to stay aggressive and trust himself — something he admits isn’t always easy.
“I think that I’m a perfectionist, but at the same time, I know it’s not good for me to think that, because then I’m just gonna overthink and be like, ‘Oh no, what did I just do?’ But just trying to have that next play mentality, like everyone talks about — I think that is definitely more important,” Filipowski said. “That and playing hard. That’s better for your mindset playing in a game than trying to do everything perfect.”
Williams is taking a similar approach.
Has everything been perfect this summer? Hardly. But he’s been a more daring driver as the games have gone on, and the results have been encouraging. He’s getting to the rim and finishing through contact — something he struggled with last season. Maybe all that eating is paying off.
His off-ball movement has been fun, too. He’s used screens to gain an advantage and then used his length to get shots to the rim.
The Vegas Summer League has had little star presence as cautious teams (or agents) have held out their top prospects for most games. Williams, though, is taking a different approach. He sees this as a chance to experiment and to work out some of the kinks in his game.
“If it’s summer league and getting reps, I am going to seize the opportunity to get better,” he said.
He looks to be doing just that — loud plays and all.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.