Deron Williams has consistently been an all-star throughout his career. So after managing to put up averages of just 16.7 ppg, and 7.6 assists so far this season, Williams missed his first all-star game in years. As questions about his weight and injuries continue to float around someone finally decided to come to the defense of Williams. His coach.
Per ESPN, PJ Carlesimo made it clear that he is confused as to where all this criticism is coming from.
“Everybody else has problems with Deron, I don’t have any problems with Deron Williams,” Carlesimo said. “I love Deron Williams and he’s a great player. I’m a little bit befuddled at everything that’s being made. He’s a pretty good player. I don’t have the problem with him that everybody else has or seems to have. I don’t know what everyone else is looking at.”
“He runs our team. He scores points. He gets assists. He draws double teams. He makes the other players better. He’s a way above-average defensive point guard,” Carlesimo said. “I’ve had a lot of teams that didn’t have a point guard nearly as good as Deron Williams. Again you can look at numbers and make numbers say whatever they want. I don’t know what the stats are. We’ve had more wins than this franchise has had in a bunch of years at the All-Star break. We’re playing in a new building and with new teammates. I don’t know how many games we won last year for the whole year.
“I think from the outside world, people will say things are OK in Brooklyn, and Deron has a lot to do with that. Deron’s basically been the single most important factor in transforming the franchise, so honestly I don’t understand it.”
I honestly can’t be mad at a coach defending his player, as the D-Will criticism has been extremely high this season. Especially after Avery Johnson was fired.
But with the way Williams has played, there has been a noticeable drop off this year. But if the Nets continue to win games, the critiques will subside.
But for Williams to reclaim his spot among the best point guards in the league, he needs to increase his productivity.