The future of the pure NBA point guard looks to be in good hands.
Deron Williams has quickly proven he is the perfect successor to the great point guard leagacy of Utah’s past, and looks set on making his first All-Star team in February.
Like his favorite baller, Jason Kidd, Deron knows how to set the table for the other stars, Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko, but he knows how to step up and get his own bucket when the team needs it.
After playing high school ball in Texas, Illinois Coach Bruce Weber brought him north to direct the renaissance of the Fightin’ Illini program. Williams was an immediate success for Illinois, not just on the offensive end, but the defensive end as well.
“He’s a deceptive athlete,” Weber said. “Sometimes you look at his body and you don’t see things. He’s just smooth. ”
He was twice named all conference, and in his junior year he led Illinois to the championship game, including an amazing comeback in the quarterfinals. Although they lost the championship, it was clear he was ready for the next level.
Leaving after his junior year, he was selected 3rd in the 2006 NBA Draft. Despite the pressure of being the successor to one of the NBA’s best ever point guards, Deron thrived in his first season for the Jazz. Coming off the bench as the season started, he quickly won the starting position and was an easy pick for the All-Rookie team.
Last season, he continued to mature into one of the elite point guards in the league. He hit for career highs in points (41) and assists (21), and finished the season second in assists behind Steve Nash. Always a double-double threat, his instinctive play drove the Jazz to a 51-31 record, good enough for the Northwest Division title in the Western Conference. In the playoffs, Williams’ 20-point, 14-assist game finished off Houston, giving the Jazz their first playoff series victory since 2000.
In the Western Conference finals against the Spurs, his game truly shined. In the first three games, playing against one of the top defenses in the NBA, he averaged an amazing 30 points and nine assists.
He couldn’t be stopped and the Spurs were forced to take the young player’s veteran game seriously. “That’s what’s missing today in the NBA is solid point guards. You have the scoring guards, you have guards that can’t do some things. With him, it’s special because he spent that time in college and learned more and more about the game of basketball.” recalls Bruce Bowen.
And although the Jazz lost the series, his standout play earned him a trip to Las Vegas in the summer to play for Team USA in the FIBA Americas tournament.
Williams more than held his own against the international competition and against the NBA’s best players in practice.
“USA Basketball was a great experience for me as I played with the best players in the world. I was honored to stand with my teammates as we won the gold.”
Now in his third season, he’s becoming a lethal threat not just with the pass (4th in the league in assists), but by scoring over 19 points a game. He put the rest of the league on notice against Dallas on December 8th, when he set a career high with 41 points.
Always a threat for a nightly double-double, Deron Williams is bringing the fire back to the number one spot for the Jazz.
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