Back in 2008, I covered the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing, where Jason Kidd was the No. 1 point guard, Chris Paul was No. 2 and Deron Williams No. 3 — but it was a close contest between CP3 and DWill.
They were considered equals then, but Paul is already having the type of season that shows why he has grown into the better player — and why he is the more popular of the two (having Blake Griffin as a running mate helps).
Plenty on that, and more from around the NBA, including the lack of an extension for Gordon Hayward, the general state of the Utah Jazz, and the strong start by the Indiana Pacers, in this podcast with Gordon Monson and Spence Checketts of 1280 The Zone in Salt Lake City.
Enjoy.
Popular Basketball Internet Radio with Sheridan Hoops Radio on BlogTalkRadio
After watching CP3 choke vs. ORL, maybe the timing of this article just wasn’t good.
Deron played hurt last year true but he does have some issues that are being handled by his friend who knows him and his game. Kidd’s turning him into more of a pass first point guard (2nd in assists to CP3) so his points will stay around 10-14 points. Livingston’s the blueprint for the type of point guard Kidd likes heady and unselfish. He’s also a good defender.
It’s early but Deron’s shot selection has been better last night instead of pulling up from three which he loves he got a better shot closer to the rim along with more of a passing game since the coach wants more passing in the offense and less 1 on 1 play. He also put in effort on defense.
You should have waited until after the Utah game before belittling Deron Williams and suggesting he still has an ankle injury. DWill looked great and he’s in the best shape of his career now, with new diet and loss of weight.
DWill had been playing injured (wrist, ankles, etc) for most of his time with Nets, except after last year’s ASG (rest, loss of weight, steroids, PRP treatment did the job).
Deron is putting to rest the concern, with a big assist/36 minute total. He had 8 and 10 pts in limited minutes last night (because it was a blowout). I can see him getting 14 assists per 36 min this year. Livingston is such a good backup, there’s no need to overuse Deron.
Noone on Nets, except for Lopez, will be looking to score this year. They couldn’t care less, which is why it will be Indiana vs. Nets to go to finals.
Jerry Sloan quit because he knew Utah was going down and he no longer had control with the former owner’s son. The media just used DWill as an excuse. There were often disputes with Sloan – but everything went on.
DWill never asked management to fire Avery. That is documented. He liked Avery and got along with him fine. Deron was just praising Jerry Sloan’s offense right before Utah came to town (because he felt guilty), and the media twisted it to suggest he didn’t like Avery’s offensive system (which may happen to have been true). There were lots of issues with Avery that the Russians were aware of. Avery WAS limited with his Iso-offense, but he also was refusing to develop the young players (and sending them to the D-League team and get PT) such as MarShon, Mirza and Toko. It was also the fans who overwhelmingly were calling for Avery to be fired (when watching Nets lose games with his over-coaching). Proky was impatient and made the decision himself, 4 days before it was announced. The fact that no team has shown interest in Avery, should tell you there were legitimate problems.
The only Net who got his coach fired was Jason Kidd who got Byron Scott fired, and chose LFrank to be his replacement. That is why the Kidd-Frank-DWill Nets will not have any coaching problems.