For the Hawks, It's a Marvin Williams Moment Seven years ago, a bad decision by then Hawks general manager Billy Knight consigned Marvin Williams to a career of unfair comparisons. Despite the fact that Williams had only played one unremarkable year of college ball, Knight passed on the highly touted Deron Williams and Chris Paul to make Williams, a sixth man and combo forward out of North Carolina, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 draft. Forever it will be that Williams was selected over two of the best point guards of his generation, and from that moment he was burdened with not only the pressures of being a top pick, but the demand that he justify his selection relative to the elite level talent chosen just after him. That clearly never happened, as Williams has played the majority of his career thus far as an underwhelming and inconsistent reserve in Atlanta. But the first six games of the 2011-2012 season have showcased a far different Williams; he's nowhere near the level of player that would validate his premature draft selection, but Williams, still just 25, has bolstered his production as an off-the-radar contributor to the Hawks" 4-2 start. On a per-game basis, Williams is averaging just 12.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists through Atlanta's first six contests - decent but unexceptional marks across the board. Yet he's been able to accomplish that much while playing the fewest minutes since his rookie season; as Larry Drew has worked to integrate newcomers like Tracy McGrady, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Willie Green into the rotation, Williams has seen his playing time dip to 25.5 minutes a night, making his pedestrian-at-first-glance production pop in the context of his limited opportunities. Break Williams" production down per minute, and the improvements really start to take shape. His scoring is up to 17.2 points per 36 minutes from 13.0 last season, largely because Williams has begun to turn one of his weaknesses - spotting up for jumpers on the perimeter - into a potential strength. Williams still takes his fair share of jumpers when the ball swings to him on the outside (he's made nearly half of his 3-pointers this season, a shooting mark that will surely regress), but he's also looked to put the ball on the floor against a defense scrambling to challenge his shot. Thus far, Williams has used these driving lanes to great benefit, as he's nearly tripled the rate at which he draws fouls in spot-up situations, per Synergy Sports Technology. Williams is getting to the free-throw line a career-high 6.6 times - and turning the ball over a career-low 0.5 times - per 36 minutes. We're months away from knowing if those numbers have any real staying power, but there's no question that Williams has been exceptionally efficient in limited minutes early this season. Yet the most pronounced change in Williams" game has come on the glass, where his career mark of 6.2 rebounds per 36 minutes - a statistical anchor from which he's barely strayed in his season-to-season performance - has been dwarfed by the 8.9 rebounds per 36 that Williams has collected in his first six games of the year. That's a profound difference, especially considering that the Hawks play at one of the league's slowest paces. If we refine the data even further and evaluate Williams" rebounding on a per-possession level that removes pace as a factor, he rises to the top as one of the elite rebounders at his position. Again: this may all be a very quaint exercise in Small Sample Size Theater. But Williams" work on the glass has been the result of genuine effort and an emphasis on box-out position, two rebounding components with the potential to help Williams sustain his success throughout the season. That doesn't mean he will, per se - effort can fluctuate just as easily as any other area of performance - but the logical foundation for continued production is certainly there. Even with his improved play, Williams won't soon be mistaken for a star; he's a role player through and through, but if he maintains some reasonable approximation of his current pace throughout the season, he'd at least become a very good one. Unlike some of his more shot-happy teammates, Williams doesn't overstep his role in the Hawks" offense or ignore his own limitations. He's smart and skilled in a way that allows him to succeed without having the ball in his hands, and recently has begun to maximize the few possessions that do end up being funneled through him. He's long been a solid perimeter defender - Williams hangs with his man and contests shots effectively - and does a splendid job of filling in gaps for the Hawks on both sides of the ball. Nothing Williams does is all that incredible, but he could be growing into exactly the kind of vanilla role player that every winning team needs. He'll quietly grab his six boards a night in the minutes allotted him. He'll hit shots from here and there, but none so consistently that it becomes "his shot." He'll work hard on defense, and use his length to challenge opponents. He'll walk the fine line of N.B.A. relevance, as die-hards become more aware of his contributions and the casual fan knows him, if at all, as "that guy who got picked instead of Chris Paul." There's no shame in a long career as a successful, solidified contributor, particularly one taking the steps forward that Williams has appeared to take this season. It's surely not what Knight - nor Williams, I'm sure - intended to come of the former No. 2 pick's career, but playing the part of a restrained and understated component in the Hawks" system seems to suit Williams rather nicely.