After the completion of a wild New Jersey Nets season, Nets are Scorching will be looking back at the players that made it happen.
Final Stats: 65 GP, 65 GS, 38.0 MPG, 20.1 PPG, 10.3 APG, 4.0 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 45.8 FG%, 34.5 3P%, 85.3 FT%, 21.19 PER
After being subjected to nearly a season worth of Carmelo Anthony trade rumors, Nets fans were rewarded on February 23, when the Nets acquired one of the NBA’s top point guards, Deron Williams. Almost immediately the story turned to: “Will Williams re-sign with the Nets longterm, before his contract is up in 2012?” And while those concerns are still out there, in the short term we got to see some brilliant point guard play.
His time with the Nets was not all gravy however, as a nagging wrist injury kept Williams out of a lot of games, and hindered his shooting. Since the season has finished, Williams has had successful surgery to repair that wrist. We’ve also heard reports of Williams giving the Nets franchise his seal of approval, which are signs for optimism. Getting him to commit long term will only help in our future financial planning, and could go a long way in the recruitment of future talent.
The Pink Shirt: All great point guards are expected to make the players around them better, and Deron Williams certainly did that. (See: Early Benefactors of Deron Williams). But when we got DWill, we knew we were also getting a player not afraid to take the big shot. In 12 games with the Nets, he didn’t have a ton of chances for big moments, however, I had to go with the back breaking three-pointer DWill hit against the Celtics capping off a five-game winning streak, which, gave us one of the great moments in Nets fans’ history. I’ll let the video speak for itself:
The Paper Bag: After beating the Celtics and riding our five-game winning streak, the Nets were set to face the Bulls and their MVP favorite point guard Derrick Rose. With a chance to make a huge statement, Deron Williams well…didn’t. He put up a clunker: 1 for 12 shooting, five points, four turnovers and an overall -12 in a Nets 84-73 loss. He also seemed to have a hard time dealing with Rose’s on ball defense.
Final Thoughts: The acquisition of Deron Williams has been a breath of fresh air to our franchise. Re-signing Deron Williams is THE absolute priority for this franchise moving forward, and all subsequent moves hinge on it.
Grade: A-
