wow, Deron Williams(D-Will) just turned 34....

[#1 pick]

Yup, that P&R heavy flex offense that Jerry Sloan teams ran was tailor made for D-Will. He never put up assists numbers like he did in Utah and became more of a scoring guard in New Jersey/Brooklyn.

Both players ran a lot of PnR

 

[The_Phonz]

sweet christmas

 

[42 Monks]

How many NBA players you think goin willingly retire at 30/31?

how many don't have money as a priority? dude hit his individual peak, saw his teammate from college ruin their career, tried a few title runs, got injured while playing with more muscle than his frame was meant to hold

dude looks pretty content. meanwhile big 3 is full of guys who can't let the game go.

wish more guys would bow out like deron than try and die on the court like bosh and brandon roy...

 

[ISO]

At that time David West as neck in neck with Boozer
Chandler was better than any Jazz not named Williams or Boozer.
Okur was a liability
AK47 wasn't the same player by the time Deron arrived

Tyson gave them one good year, he was injury prone. 45 games in '09, 23.5 minutes per game in the playoffs.

Okur was a stretch big man putting up 17/8 on 49/45/82 splits yet you calling him a liability? Kirilenko was still good and a high impact defensive player. They had other guys like young Millsap and Brewer putting up solid numbers, two gunners in Kyle Korver and C.J. Miles off the bench. Again, superior coaching with a HoF'er on the sidelines.

 

[#1 pick]

Tyson gave them one good year, he was injury prone. 45 games in '09, 23.5 minutes per game in the playoffs.

Okur was a stretch big man putting up 17/8 on 49/45/82 splits yet you calling him a liability? Kirilenko was still good and a high impact defensive player. They had other guys like young Millsap and Brewer putting up solid numbers, two gunners in Kyle Korver and C.J. Miles off the bench. Again, superior coaching with a HoF'er on the sidelines.

Defensively, yeah, Okur was a liability.
You are right about AK47.
Millsap was a 2nd rounder. He was a steal like Boozer
You said it best, better coaching

Hornets had a squad tho for that time period
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NOH/2008.html

 

[who_better_than_me]

Deron was more of the Iverson mole. He depended on his athletic ability more than CP3, who was just more skilled and more of the Chauncey Billups mole.

 

[BigMoneyGrip]

 

[MJ Truth]

Deron used to own the CP3 match-up too

That's really what it was. CP3 was always the better player in my mind, but when you combine the fact they came from the same draft class, were always compared, were relatively close in terms of skills, but add in that Williams seemed to usually get the better of the one-on-one matchup, it made the comparison seem closer than it should've been in my opinion.

 

[ISO]

Defensively, yeah, Okur was a liability.
You are right about AK47.
Millsap was a 2nd rounder. He was a steal like Boozer
You said it best, better coaching

Hornets had a squad tho for that time period
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NOH/2008.html

The bench is ass. Jannero Pargo was their leading scorer off the bench.

 

[reserved_one]

My all time favorite PG after Gary Payton.

He was a God at Illinois

He at one point was better than CP3.

People forget all about that....I felt D Will was at his peak in Utah. He was still great before the Nets moved to Brooklyn but Sloan's system really brought out his full potential.

It was sad as hell seeing him become playing in the finals with the Cavs a year ago

 

[Professor Emeritus]

It's crazy how quickly some guards go .

Mike Bibby was washed at 31. Baron Davis was fading at 29. Gilbert Arenas did nothing after 28.

While guys like Sam Cassell, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, and Ray Allen were still important players into the 2nd half of their 30s.

You could almost predict which guys would make their games last and which would crumble just by their playing styles and discipline too.




But Deron never was better than CP3 at any point. Ever.

 

[#1 pick]

The bench is ass. Jannero Pargo was their leading scorer off the bench.

Most NBA benches were ass back then

 

[Monsanto]

Still getting cheques from the Nets.

 

[TaxCollector13459]

Dude was a monster for several years in Utah, unguardable at times....now is completely washed at 34, and has been several years. Seems like dude should be older than he is

I mean, he washed right around the time most players who have had knee injuries at his age. He lasted what 12 years? About the average

 

[Weaver31]

Watching him play in the 2017 Finals proved that he is washed and . I read Warriors players light up in excitement when they saw him come on court.