#Nets Deron Williams Not Meeting High Standards Set By Himself
Deron Williams has had a rough year to date and he will be the first to tell you that he hasn’t played to his potential or his talent level. The start to the season was a struggle for Williams and it may very well have had something to do with the lack of time off and his playing in the Olympics but he won’t use that as an excuse.
Williams was shooting horribly to start the year and was hovering around 40 percent from the field and 29 percent from 3-point range while turning the ball over at an alarming rate. Then came the coaching change and Williams has picked up his play in January to the tune of 18.9 points, 8.5 assists, 3.9 rebounds per game, 45.7% FG%, 43.6% 3P%, 93.8% FT%, +7.1 per 100 possessions.
This is a huge improvement from the first two months of the season and hopefully he continues to ascend his play and it can only help the Brooklyn Nets.
With that in mind what do a few NBA writers think?
Question: Give me a healthy player who has not met your high standards so far?
Scott Howard-Cooper: Deron Williams. He has been much better the last few weeks, but after two underachieving months. D-Will has not shot the ball well most of the season, an obvious problem. His assists were way down for a while as well. But the biggest problem is that he hasn’t looked like a star point guard who wants the responsibility of being a franchise player. Williams has too often played like someone who didn’t want the burden of expectations.
Fran Blinebury: Ersan Ilyasova has not lived up to his payday. Kawhi Leonard has not stepped up to the next level. But it’s still Deron Williams who has yet to fulfill the expectations the Nets want and need. Though he has kicked his game up in recent weeks under P.J. Carlesimo, his horrid shooting and an assist average that is his lowest since his rookie season were major factors in getting Avery Johnson fired. After complaining his way out of Utah, Williams has not shown the the maturity to be handed the keys to a playoff-contending offense and, for all intents and purposes, the Nets franchise. That’s evidenced by his being left off the Eastern Conference All-Star team when a spot on the roster practically had his named engraved on it in October.
Steve Aschburner: Rudy Gay has heard his name bandied about enough already via the trade rumors, so I’m going with Indiana’s Roy Hibbert. The big fella remains vital to the Pacers’ defense, but this is his fifth season and he was supposed to continue his onward-and-upward trajectory offensively and overall. His shooting is down (41.4 percent vs. 48.1 through last season) and 9.8 ppg and 8.2 rebounds just doesn’t cut it. Each summer, Hibbert gets a lot of attention for his intense workouts — one year tutored by Bill Walton, the next embracing an MMA regimen. It all needs to translate better to what really counts.
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