For about 6 years Deron Williams looked like a sure hall of famer.

[Kblaze8855]

And then just Devin Harrised his way into obscurity. Injury is usually the listed reason but he never played less than 64 games. He didnt have some single catastrophic injury...just nagging things that gradually took a toll I guess. He doesnt seem bothered....

Williams is a free agent. He's not retired, but he's not necessarily looking either. Caught somewhere between anxiety and indifference, the 33-year-old three-time All-Star is experiencing his first fall in over a decade without an NBA team to report to.

He combats his new reality by staying busy. Prior to opening night, he had just returned to Dallas from a golf trip in Monterey, California. He has gone back and forth between his homes in Texas and the place in Park City, Utah, close to where his NBA career began.

"I love the outdoors. I love to golf. It has great golf in the summer," Williams said of maintaining a home in Utah. "My family loves to ski. I've never skied, but now that I'm not playing, I would want to try skiing."

He also monitors and manages his multiple business ventures, from his upscale MMA gym in Dallas, Fortis MMA, to his stake in Rockwell Watches, to his real estate properties. The singer Adele recently rented the gargantuan Tribeca rooftop condo he owns and lived in during his tenure with the Brooklyn Nets, according to Elle Decor's Kelsey Kloss. Every week or so, Deron records an MMA/sports podcast called Ballers and Brawlers with two friends he made during his Utah days.

So I guess hes ok....but shit. That guy was supposed to be just now winding down his career. 10 years ago the ISH braintrust was saying hed have a better career than Paul partly because he was bigger and tougher while Paul was going through injuries. Would be nice to see even Nets Deron in the league that we have right now. Wasnt long ago but the changes are clear.

Utah Deron would be nearly unstoppable now.


Nobody would complain about this:








Which was still a little frowned upon 10 years ago unless you were against the clock. You can come down and do that with 20 seconds on the clock 3 plays in a row now and nobody bats an eye even if you miss 2-3 of them.

He had a year in Utah playing all 82 games....playing more minutes a game than anyone played last year...and took 213 threes(despite shooting 40% on them). Same as Mudiay took in 57 games(42 starts) playing 27 minutes last year....and Mudiay kinda....cant shoot.


Im not sure Deron wasnt a bigger loss than Brandon Roy...just wasnt so tragically sudden to get noticed.

I was about to say he was born 5 years too early and could be a 220 million dollar player in his prime now but I see he made 150 for his career already...so **** Deron Williams.

He got what he needed out of the game I suppose.

[RoseCity07]

He was never better than Chris Paul at any point in his career. However, there were a couple years he was really great.

It's just that Utah never actually went anywhere with him. I think it was more that Boozer limited their potential. It is kind of weird how his career flamed out.

[ImKobe]

He was going toe-to-toe with Chris Paul and always seemed to beat/outplay him head-to-head and led a team to the WCF with Carlos Boozer as his 2nd option as a sophomore. After that he kept running into Kobe's Lakers for 3 straight years so of course they lost those because Lakers had the better roster and coach.

He didn't have an achilles or ACL injury but his ankles gave up on him. He had surgery on his ankle and then kept re-injuring it, 2013 is when it completely caught up to him, he didn't look the same in the Playoffs against Chicago and looked finished in 2014.

[Kblaze8855]

It's just that Utah never actually went anywhere with him. I think it was more that Boozer limited their potential.

Im not a Boozer guy really but I think he caught too much flack for those teams failures. And stuff like this:

He was going toe-to-toe with Chris Paul and always seemed to beat/outplay him head-to-head and led a team to the WCF with Carlos Boozer as his 2nd option as a sophomore.

When Boozer put up 24/12 to Derons 19/9 those playoffs and Deron got destroyed by Baron Davis in the second round but Boozer killed the Warriors small ball inside to get them to the WCF. He was nice when they got the WCF vs the Spurs but Boozer got them there. Deron had 2 points on 1-11 shooting with 7 assists and 5 turnovers the game they eliminated the Warriors. The Jazz frontcourt won that series but even then people were arguing he was better than Paul because he made the WCF when he played like shit getting there.

One of the first times I was in utter disbelief at how stupid people seemed to be over results. Its like....it couldnt compute that he could play worse than Paul but make it to the conference finals. As if they didnt watch him do nothing....and be carried by Boozer.

Boozer wasnt great....but he was waaaaaaaaaaay better vs the Warriors that year than Dirk was. He was too physical for them. Boozer and Fisher put the Warriors down and people straight up acted like Deron should have been ranked over Paul because of it. Real facepalming situation.

Dont get me wrong....id rather have Deron Williams than Carlos Boozer....im just saying....Carlos went to work those playoffs. He went in to close out the Rockets too and all anyone wanted to talk about was Deron.

[ImKobe]

Im not a Boozer guy really but I think he caught too much flack for those teams failures. And stuff like this:





When Boozer put up 24/12 to Derons 19/9 those playoffs and Deron got destroyed by Baron Davis in the second round but Boozer killed the Warriors small ball inside to get them to the WCF. He was nice when they got the WCF vs the Spurs but Boozer got them there. Deron had 2 points on 1-11 shooting with 7 assists and 5 turnovers the game they eliminated the Warriors. The Jazz frontcourt won that series but even then people were arguing he was better than Paul because he made the WCF when he played like shit getting there.

One of the first times I was in utter disbelief at how stupid people seemed to be over results. Its like....it couldnt compute that he could play worse than Paul but make it to the conference finals. As if they didnt watch him do nothing....and be carried by Boozer.

Boozer wasnt great....but he was waaaaaaaaaaay better vs the Warriors that year than Dirk was. He was too physical for them. Boozer and Fisher put the Warriors down and people straight up acted like Deron should have been ranked over Paul because of it. Real facepalming situation.

Dont get me wrong....id rather have Deron Williams than Carlos Boozer....im just saying....Carlos went to work those playoffs. He went in to close out the Rockets too and all anyone wanted to talk about was Deron.

Yeah but the Jazz were up 3 - 1 with Deron playing well in the first 4 games but I'd more so look at the first round win against Houston, where they were down 2 - 3 and had to win a Game 7 on the road. No doubt Boozer put up more points but Deron was constantly seeing double teams and made great plays to set his teammates up with open shots, he didn't hold onto the ball as much as CP3.

Game 7 vs Houston

Deron 20 pts 14 assists 4 TO 7/13 +13
Boozer 35 pts 14 rebounds 4 TO 13/23 -3
Derek Fisher 7 pts 3 ast 3/5 -23

You can go look at the 4th quarter and see Deron drawing and passing out of double teams to find Boozer inside or Okur for the big 3-pointer.

[Kblaze8855]

He played fine. He just wasnt outplaying Boozer those playoffs. He was Boozers second option but Boozers game wasnt pretty enough to get attention. The guy with the crossover is always going to get more love from fans than the guy playing bully ball and making ugly shotput midrange jumpers.

[Kblaze8855]

http://insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61342



^

Read that topic if youre bored and want a laugh. Its about how Deron was gonna win 07 MVP and was the best point since Stockton.

[theballerFKA Ace]

He was going toe-to-toe with Chris Paul and always seemed to beat/outplay him head-to-head and led a team to the WCF with Carlos Boozer as his 2nd option as a sophomore.

He flat out destroyed CP3 in their head to head matchups the first 5 years. I honestly thought he was going to be the better player between him and Paul. Deron could do pretty much everything CP3 could but was taller, bigger and stronger. I was wrong. It was right around the time DWill started fighting with Sloan that I finally had to admit to myself CP3 was the better player.

[Kblaze8855]

He flat out destroyed CP3 in their head to head matchups the first 5 years. I honestly thought he was going to be the better player between him and Paul. Deron could do pretty much everything CP3 could but was taller, bigger and stronger. I was wrong. It was right around the time DWill started fighting with Sloan that I finally had to admit to myself CP3 was the better player.

He did spark some decent discussions on what it means to be better than someone. I maintain that it doesnt matter who you can outplay individually if the other guy plays better vs the league youre in.....but personally? Id feel bad about it. If someone outplays you all the time it feels like they are better...even if they outplay you vs other people.

[iamgine]

Would it be fair to put him as Mike Conley/Kemba Walker level player?

[Kblaze8855]

Naaah.

Step up from there. Lilliard level but obviously different.

[red1]

deron williams was a complete beast good to see he's doing well. never understood the exact reason for his decline either we were obviously wrong but I was another one of those guys he was better than cp3.

[superduper]

I don't know man.. something about Deron's game... he was more flash and less substance to me. Always seemed overrated.

[wang4three]

As an Illini fan, I'll always love Deron.. despite not meeting expectations for the Nets.

I loved his high dribble, he always toyed with people and there was a moment where as soon as someone reached on him, he knew he could blow by them. The guy had it all, heck, he went to score 50 pts in the Turkish league during the lockout season.

I truly think New Jersey/Brooklyn was just never for him. One of his primary homes in Utah is very telling for his personality. Just a low-key guy that probably loved basketball, but never intended to make it his sole focus in life. Happy he's doing well and is providing for his.

[Smoke117]

Deron Williams was always overrated. That there people who thought he was on the level of or better than Paul was laughable. He put up similar box score numbers, but the impact was miles apart as advanced stats show. He was a system player while CP3 was the system. You put him on those 08, 09 Hornet teams and they would have been winning 30 games. Deron Williams career high in bpm is 3.5 while Pauls lowest was just this season at 3.0. Before this season his lowest was the year he got injured in 2010 at 4.9. In his best season he had an absurd 11.2. Deron Williams has 23.8 vorp for his career while Paul has 78.3. He surpasses Williams career in vorp just from his first four seasons. Anyone who actually thought Williams was better than Paul knows absolutely nothing about basketball, period.

Also, Brandon Roy was a much better player than Deron Williams. He was a much bigger loss. Williams needed Sloane's system.