Cody Williams' legit case for Rookie of the Year lies in one unexpected stat

Cody Williams may have come in with highest expectations among the Utah Jazz's rookies, but he hasn't exactly lit the world on fire. At the same time, it's not like the Jazz have asked him to.

More importantly, it's also not like he hasn't shown his potential. Williams' form looks good, and he has shown signs that he can be a connector. It's a little early to declare him a star in the making, but it's also early to declare him as anything period.

Following Taylor Hendricks' devastating injury, Williams may get a closer look. If he does, he actually has a case for Rookie of the Year.

Williams has an early case for Rookie of the Year

Williams didn't have the best NBA debut, and the Jazz are not seeing the best results to start. However,Yahoo Sports' Tom Haberstroh explained why Williams' latest performance with the Jazz could actually make a case for him to win such an award.

"On Tuesday night, Utah rookie Cody Williams logged 29 minutes and 58 seconds in the team's fourth game, making him the first rook to touch the 30-minute plateau. Though a handful of teams haven’t played their fourth games yet, having one lone 30-minute appearance from the rookie class at this point would also be unprecedented," Haberstroh wrote.

So, in other words from Haberstroh, the reason why Williams might win it is because he's getting more minutes than most of the players in his class. Since his fellow rookies aren't doing much to stand out thus far, Williams getting that much of a minutes load early on could be the solid foundation of a Rookie of the Year campaign.

The Jazz have had plenty of standout players throughout their franchise history, but believe it or not, they've only had one player win the award in their history—Darrell Griffith, who won it in 1981.

Griffith went on to have his number retired in Utah, but he's not exactly who fans think of first when they think of Jazz legends. It's relevant here because, by extension, he's not who fans would think of when asked who's the only Jazz rookie to win such an award.

They likely would think of Karl Malone, John Stockton, Donovan Mitchell, or Deron Williams to name a few. If Williams builds on his rookie season, he not only would be their first to win in over 40 years, but much like Griffith, him winning would make for some interesting Jazz trivia much like Griffith it.

More importantly, the way things have started for Utah, they aren't going to win a whole lot. Williams getting such an award would be a rare win for a team that likely won't have many this season. He doesn't even have to win Rookie of the Year to do that.

It would be a big enough win for him to win Rookie of the Month.