Deron Williams Article

by P_Dizzle on Aug 18, 2008 9:27 PM MDT Comment 5 comments

Check out this article by Dime Mag on Deron Williams.

Pretty Sweet to see Deron Williams get some publicity. I especially like the part in the article where he says:

Dime: There’s a chance you could be a free agent in 2009. You know someone like Mark Cuban will have a ton of money to throw at you; and there’s a chance Jason Kidd could be retired by then; and you grew up in Dallas. You know where I’m going with this, right?
DW: Really, I don’t think the possibility (of leaving) is very strong, especially for this first contract. This is where I wanna be. I think we have great team chemistry right now — I think we have a championship team with the guys we have. I don’t see myself going anywhere for the next five years.

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.

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Sweet

That’s great to hear a Jazz player say that. Very rarely have our high profile players come out and admitted to wanting to be here regardless of the money. DWill is a stud!!! Let’s hope we can get the last couple of pieces around him to make a deep run in the playoffs over the next few years…

by TWSSO on Aug 18, 2008 10:49 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Great link.

Deron is just such a good player, but he is so solid as a person too. He has his head on straight and is a real leader of the team in so many ways. This is a great article.

The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.

by clarkpojo on Aug 18, 2008 11:05 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

thanks!

i tried to look for the issue of Dime that this story was originally in, but i couldn’t find it out here

by moni on Aug 19, 2008 1:09 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

My Highlights of the article

one man greets Deron by pronouncing his name "Duh-ron." Another jokes that the last time he watched the Jazz play was in Celtic Pride. Deron absorbs the slights with a smile on his face and a barely-perceptible flare in his eyes. For someone whose ability to constantly create motivational material is on par with that of notoriously sensitive Gilbert Arenas, they are no doubt tucked away in his mind, hidden until the next night’s game. He’ll make them remember his name, take notice of his team.

Deron is great already. But I like it when he gets offended. Maybe his nickname should be the Hulk. “You don’t want to see me when I’m angry.”

remember seeing stuff on mock drafts where they had projected your best season. My best season was supposed to be like 12 (points) and six (assists).

If Deron has that kind of game now, everyone wonders what’s wrong with him.

My rookie year was a little frustrating; sometimes I was playing, sometimes I wasn’t. I was playing different positions; sometimes I played the two. I just had to earn trust from Coach and learn some things my rookie year. It was definitely a learning experience. My second year was a lot better — he just gave me the ball and let me go. I’m just having fun doing it right now.

Being a rookie with Sloan reminds me of a new army recruit. The drill sergeant breaks you down and then builds you back up the way he wants. Whether rookies like it or not, it’s Sloan’s team. If you conform, you’ll get PT. If not, see ya. That’s why I think Kosta may get more time than Fess. Kosta is willing to do it Sloan’s way. I don’t see that from Fess. And while Deron has out of this world talent, you can’t deny Sloan’s hand in making him into the player he is now.

I don’t want to be a finished product. I want to continue getting better, make All-Star Games, win a championship … just keep getting better every offseason.

That’s why he will bring a championship to Utah. It sounds cliche for him to say this, but I think he’s sincere.

I mean, I got some nice cars, some nice things, definitely. But you know, when you don’t have much money growing up and you come into the NBA, it’s just a different lifestyle. You can definitely get caught up in it the wrong way. That’s why I think it’s a blessing that I went to Salt Lake. It’s not the nightlife like in New York or L.A. or Miami. I get to focus on basketball, and I think that’s great for me and great for my career.

Is this kind of a backhanded compliment?

I got a big truck, a F350 black-on-black,

This surprised me a bit. You pretty much have to have one for Utah winters. But I thought he would have had an SUV of sorts.

This is where I wanna be. I think we have great team chemistry right now — I think we have a championship team with the guys we have. I don’t see myself going anywhere for the next five years.

This was of course before he signed his extension. But should things continue to way they are, it doesn’t sound like he would ever want to leave.

SLCDunk.com, The Utah Jazz on SBNation

by Basketball John on Aug 19, 2008 10:00 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs