Since the Utah Jazz traded Deron Williams to the Nets in 2011, his scoring has declined and his shooting percentages have plummeted. So why hasn’t he improved since arriving from Utah? D-Will knows who/what’s to blame.
Report after the jump…
According to Mike Mazzeo at ESPNNewYork.com:
And the three-time All-Star point guard believes injuries and a different system are the reasons why.
“I was injured the first year (and needed season-ending right wrist surgery),” Williams said Monday, a day before the Nets host the Jazz at Barclays Center. “I’ve really had injuries while I’ve been with (the Nets) the whole time. And didn’t have the talent around me that I did (with the Jazz).
As the Nets prepared to host the Jazz on Tuesday, Williams listed another factor: the playbook.
“And that system (in Utah) was a great system for my style of play. I’m a system player, and I loved Coach (Jerry) Sloan’s system. I loved the offense there. We could’ve been a really good team. We just weren’t that good defensively as a group.”
“I grew up in high school, my coach wasn’t one of those guys that would let us just throw out the ball and let us play,” Williams said. “We were a system team. We had staple plays that we relied on. We were good at execution. In college (at Illinois), we ran the motion offense. A lot of cutting, a lot passing, a lot of screening, a lot of extra passes. I’m used to just movement. So I’m still trying to adjust. It’s been an adjustment for me. But it’s coming along.”
Williams thinks that he can eventually make it work playing Johnson’s system.
“I believe I can adapt to anything,” he said. “We’re still a young team. Things don’t happen overnight. It’s still just December. We’re working on it.”
(STORY CONTINUES at ESPNNewYork.com)
Other source: NYTimes
