Whenever a player’s tenure with a team ends via a buyout, odds are that it wasn’t the most amicable departure. To say that about the relationship between Deron Williams and the Brooklyn Nets, who sent him packing this summer with two seasons left on a max contract, would be accurate as Deron returns to Barclays Center tonight as a member of the Mavericks in his first time in Brooklyn since last season’s playoffs.
The first word most people would associate with Deron’s stint in New Jersey and Brooklyn, since being traded by the Jazz in a blockbuster deal in the 2010-11 season, is probably injury. So, it only makes sense that when his Mavericks visit the Nets, Deron won’t play, due to a hamstring injury he suffered in Dallas’ 103-99 loss to the Raptors last night in Toronto.
Deron’s time with the Nets, just over four seasons, was marred by his constant under-production, due partly to injury, and the team’s sole playoff series win two years ago over the Raptors. It ended with the disastrous Pierce-Garnett-Terry trade that mortgaged Brooklyn’s future and led to the team’s rapid disassembling that started the offseason before last. This July, when the Nets waived him and he immediately signed a two-year deal with his hometown Mavericks, Williams got his wish and Brooklyn got rid of its expensive problem.
The former All-Star, unsurprisingly, has dealt with a few injury issues so far this season but actually has been pretty good for Rick Carlisle’s team, averaging almost 15 points and six assists per game with vastly improved shooting numbers from the field. He seems to be much happier with the Mavericks, and recently has said as much in a strongly worded interview with Yahoo! in which he said his Nets tenure made him contemplate his commitment to the sport of basketball.
In the article, Williams criticized both the Nets’ fan base and media contingent for how much heat was put on him when he didn’t live up to the sky-high expectations bestowed upon him when he was traded to New Jersey and then re-upped with the Nets to a massive contract. He mostly blames other people for his struggles as well as his various injury problems but does take some responsibility by saying he just wasn’t cut out for New York and the increased scrutiny players there face when they don’t play as well as their paycheck would indicate they should.
But, even as he admits his time with the Nets didn’t work well for multiple reasons, nowhere is there any indication of guilt or self-blame on Deron’s part for how he played a major role in the sudden downfall of a once-promising team. Does he fault himself for not being a leader on a team that sorely needed one? Nope. Does he apologize for going after coach Lionel Hollins and having to be physically restrained from him? Nope. When Paul Pierce ripped Williams last April for how poorly Deron handled what was supposed to be his team, it was pretty clear the guy who used to be compared to Chris Paul had no interest in helping the Nets live up to their potential as a collective unit.
So it’s not surprising now that Deron, instead of owning up to his inadequacies during his time in Brooklyn, has instead chosen to lay the blame on “non-fans” and “media” for his problems, even though those two groups of people should have had no direct role in his on-the-floor play. Every day in the NBA, when team’s star players underperform, they usually take the onus for their bad play instead of heaping criticism on teammates or news reporters. Deron clearly didn’t do that.
Good for him that he’s happy in Dallas, where he’s close to his childhood home in a place with lesser media coverage than in the Big Apple. But, that doesn’t make it right for him to lob potshots at people back in Brooklyn in an attempt to blame his problems on others.
Perhaps it is fitting, then, that Deron will most likely be out with a hamstring injury tonight. If it hadn’t been a problem that made him leave the Mavericks’ game on Tuesday early, then I wouldn’t blame anyone for questioning the timing and circumstances of the injury. Now, his former teammates with the Nets — those that are left anyway — won’t be able to get their revenge against him on the court and the Barclays fans who bought tickets for tonight to boo Williams, justifiably, will have to yell toward the Dallas bench and not between the lines.
Deron’s time with the Nets started with injuries, was mostly marred by injuries and ended because of injuries, so this is a nice microcosm of his nightmarish jaunt to New York. Another hallmark was his avoidance of responsibility and criticism, so that’s covered as well. Even in absentia, Deron — who just might be the most prominent coach-killer in recent NBA memory, just ask Jerry Sloan — is up to the same old tricks that made the Nets grow tired of him. Poetic.
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