Charles Lee peels back the curtain on Mark Williams' minutes restriction

Mark Williams' return to the floor was a major boost that the Charlotte Hornets needed. Charles Lee's front line was decimated, beat up, ailing...fill in whatever adjective you feel like to articulate Charlotte's injury woes.

His presumed starting center, Williams, went down in training camp with a foot injury that happened to the big man coming fresh off of a 10 month back rehabilitation stint. Nearly a full year, 360 days, to be exact, passed between NBA appearances for Charlotte's first round pick in 2022.

His time back on the floor, while limited, has been productive. In ten minutes per game Williams is averaging 7.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 0.6 stocks per contest. The former Duke Blue Devil is obviously continuing to work himself into game shape, but momentary blips of the two-way double double machine from last November are easy to spot in those short spurts of action.

The Hornets coaching and training staff have a clear plan in place for Williams has he continues to rehab.

On the night of his return to the lineup, Charles Lee stated that Williams would be on a "significant minutes restriction." After Wednesday's practice, Lee doubled down on said minutes restriction and confirmed that his action would be limited for the foreseeable future.

Wondering if #Hornets center Mark Williams will see his workload increase soon?

It doesn’t seem like it. More here from Charles Lee ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/QHdELIu2yF
— Matt Alquiza (@malquiza8) December 12, 2024

"The plan is definitely to continue to keep him around where he's been. Maybe a slight uptick, knowing there's a plan, a process in place. He did a great job at withstanding the load that he had his first couple of games back. We'll see if we can take it a little step higher and see how he manages that, and we'll reassess and figure out what is the next level he can take it to."

Lee and his staff are rightly focused on Williams' long-term future instead of present success. They have no reason to burn out their developing big man while the team sits at 7-17 with their playoff chances dwindling. A fully healthy Mark Williams is the perfect fit in the heart of Charlotte's lineup alongside LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Miles Bridges - a lineup Hornets' fans have yet to see play together since the last piece of the core, Miller, was drafted last summer.

As Ball and Bridges inch closer to returning to the starting five, that pipe dream of a lineup begins to convey into a reality many wondered if we'd ever see. Could this be the week? Time will tell.

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