This post, along with the other posts I will do in the Season-In-Review series, will take a deeper look at how all the Nets did last season on the court and possibly off of it. We continue with the (current and hopefully permanent) face of the Nets, Deron Williams. I covered DeShawn Stevenson first.
Well, a (mostly) full (condensed) season with Deron Williams on the Nets the whole year was interesting, right? It’s tough to give a fair analysis of D-Will’s season right now because of the injury struggles, impeding free agency discussions, lack of teammate help, and even potential trades that undoubtedly affected his play on the court this past season. Deron came oh so close to being able to play with Dwight Howard in New Jersey but that deal with the Nets and Magic fell apart as fast as it was put together. However, even with all these distractions, Nets fans were able to see D-Will at his very best at some scattered points this season (the huge win against the Knicks at MSG where D-Will had 10 points in a minute and of course the 57-point effort in Charlotte), but were unable to see sustained superstar-like play.
Granted, Deron’s short tenure with the Nets is a definite aberration as he is far better a basketball player than he has showed recently with awful supporting casts and teams decimated by injury. D-Will’s stats also weren’t helped out by his career-low shooting efforts in 67 games with the Nets which, according to him, are mainly due to the so-called terrible shooting background at the Prudential Center, a natural hockey arena. Even though he may have missed a lot of games due to injury, not tried 100% when on the floor, or just flat out didn’t perform well, it is clear to Nets fans that Deron Williams, when healthy and on a good team, can be the top PG in the NBA and can easily lead a team far into the playoffs.
Ok, we got all the on-court stuff out of the way, let’s head off the court now. The proverbial dark cloud hanging over the Nets the entire season was the fact that D-Will’s contract was to expire at the end of the season and he would enter free agency, free for any team to land his talents. All 66 games of the condensed schedule held deep undertones of dread and despair that the new Brooklyn Nets would be left without a signature star player in their new arena and that it would be a disaster. True, this notion is extremely conceivable and might very well happen but considering that the Nets were THIS CLOSE to having both Dwight Howard and Deron Williams for their debut season in Brooklyn, I think it’s a little too much smoke-and-mirrors.
There is, according to many sources close to D-Will, a 50-50 chance of him either re-signing with the Nets for future seasons or of him leaving to go to another team, like the Mavericks. Therefore, D-Will very well might be a Net next season, making all of these rumors and allegations moot. Maybe Deron feigned poor play this season to fuel ideas of him wanting to leave the Nets and then to turn around and re-sign? Maybe the Nets will trade for Dwight Howard in the upcoming weeks, leading Deron to re-sign and giving Brooklyn a shot at the Eastern Conference title next year? Maybe Deron leaves our team bare and signs with his hometown Dallas Mavericks?
The real answer to all of this nonsense is that no one really knows what D-Will is gonna do this offseason other than him, his wife, and maybe his agent. Everything else is just speculation and should be treated as such. So let’s look at this season as it really was, an underperforming one by one of the NBA’s great players. Sure, some distractions, bad arena conditions, and terrible teammates (I’m looking at you Johan and Sundy) might have affected D-Will’s numbers, but we can’t know for sure. All we can do is hope, hope against all hopes that he’s in a Nets jersey in Brooklyn next season.
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