While a member of the Utah Jazz, Deron Williams was consistently considered one of–if not, the–best point guard in the NBA (him and Chris Paul have seemingly been neck-and-neck for much of their professional careers). Meanwhile, with the Brooklyn (previously New Jersey) Nets, he has been anything but.
Don’t get me wrong, Deron was a deserving All-Star selection for the 2011-12 campaign in which he averaged 21 points per game with 8.7 assists. However, since then, his production has slowly tailed off, which could be due to increased teammate support that has taken the scoring burden off him as well as his noted history of lower body injuries.
Still, the Nets envisioned their trade for Williams as one of those franchise-defining moves to bring this team a championship sooner rather than later. As of now, especially with Brooklyn’s back-to-back disappointing playoff defeats, that goal looks to have been pushed back a bit.
However, Deron’s play in the upcoming season will be incredibly impactful on how the Nets end up doing. According to all reports, he’s at or very close to 100 percent physically after a rough year for his ankles which is about as good news as Brooklyn could possibly get (outside of Kevin Durant announcing his intentions to sign there in the 2016 offseason).
But there’s a difference with being healthy through passing non-basketball related tests during the offseason and actually playing in regular season games against other NBA teams. If he can prove that the myriad of treatments he has undergone have actually been successful, then this team is a scary one for the rest of the East, even maybe the Bulls and Cavaliers.
A great team is not made from just one great player, though, and Deron–should he return to the form expected of him–would need a lot of help if the Nets are going to be a playoff team. I already covered how Brook Lopez’ return should spur some improvement but strides from Mirza Teletovic, Mason Plumlee, and others need to be made as well.
Deron turned 30 this summer, which means that he’s either at the tail end of the prime of his career or is already beyond it. He can decide which one of those options suits him the best by how he bounces back from a couple of less-than-stellar seasons in the upcoming one.
A lot of that rides on how his team fares in the regular season and then the postseason, but much more of it depends on how he can lead a team that–other than him–doesn’t really have an identifiable leader. He has yet to hit his stride as the leader of the Nets, and the 2014-15 season would be the perfect time for him to do exactly that.
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