Deron Williams’s Fourth-Quarter Struggles Are Very Real

Deron Williams,  Kyle Lowry
AP

Shaun Livingston, Deron Williams

Williams spent six seasons with the Utah Jazz under Jerry Sloan’s flex system, reliant on cuts and quick screens to get Utah’s guards moving towards the basket. In that system, 31 percent of Williams’s shots came from within three feet of the rim, a high number. But since moving to Brooklyn, Williams has shot just 18.4 percent of his shots from within three feet, and even fewer in these playoffs.

His average shot distance has jumped over 2.5 feet since his days in Utah. Players generally move away from the basket the older they get, but Williams’s jump was both immediate and a few years earlier than most. He stopped shooting near the rim, and his shots came further from the basket as a result. These two charts are basically mirror images, and it’s not coincidental.

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Toronto at 7:30 P.M. EST. Which Williams will show up?

Back: Deron Williams’s numbers by quarter vs. Raptors