In a little over a two year period, Deron Williams has gone from a consensus top two point guard, to sometimes not even being mention in the top 15 guards in the league.
“I’m sure if people jump off the bandwagon, [that’s] great, but I know what I’m capable of doing when I’m healthy,” said Williams, who is averaging 10.9 points in 10 games this season. “Unfortunately, I haven’t been healthy the last couple of years, which is frustrating, so hopefully knock on wood, I can stay healthy and see what I can do.”
Williams has battled ankle injuries for the better part of two seasons now and is a bit dissapointed. According to the New York Post, Williams is out to prove that he’s still elite when the Nets host Chris Paul and the Clippers Thursday night.
“It’s great. We’ve had a lot of battles over the years,” Williams said. “He’s a good friend of mine and a great competitor as well, and I enjoy going up against him.”
“You can’t really pick only one thing because Chris is an exceptional point guard,” said Joe Johnson. “He can score, but he’s a pass-first point guard. I think he’s the kind of guard that takes whatever the defense gives him. Whatever his team needs at that point, he can come through and give it to them. So we really are going to have to pay a lot of attention to him.”
Say what you want about Williams, but the Nets looked like a much better and efficient team with Williams in the lineup as he Logged 37 minutes, scored 25 points and added seven assists, reviving an offense that had failed to crack 90 points in the previous three games.