Luka’s Corner

Now that the Utah Jazz are down 3-1 to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals and on the brink of elimination, I just wanted to talk about the superb play of Deron Williams during these Playoffs and the regular season. He not only led Utah to its first Conference Final since 1998, he did that in his first ever postseason. In the Playoffs, there is an incredible amount of pressure on players (especially young ones) to perform at the highest level possible, increasingly so when you reach as far as Utah did this year. But Williams, in only his second year in the league, just took that pressure and shoved it aside. It takes an incredible amount of maturity to do that, and Williams was definitely able to do that in all three of his series played this postseason.

His stats just speak for themselves (19.8 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 9.0 APG throughout the Playoffs), but his most impressive feat was stepping his game up to another level in the West Finals (when it matters most). Against the Spurs, he averaged an unbelievable 29.5 PPG and 9.3 APG. This is unbelievable on its own, but add the fact that he did it against San Antonio (who has the best perimeter defense in the league) and was guarded most of the time by Bruce Bowen, a harassing All-Defense First-Teamer. With his unique mix of speed, power, play-making, and scoring, Williams simply dismantled the Spurs outside, by shooting and making three after three, and inside, by driving past the defense and, specifically, Tim Duncan. This rare mix makes him very similar to another point guard, Baron Davis of the Warriors (who I talked about in The Beast from the Bay Area), because they both can blow by the defense and lay it in or post up the defense and finish strong down low.

Another skill that makes Williams unique is his ability to play the pick-and-roll game with Carlos Boozer (an acrobatic finisher) and play the pick-and-pop game with Mehmet Okur (a deadly shooter). Not many point guards are able to do this (only Steve Nash of the Suns), and it is a skill that all play-makers should master. It is because of Williams’ play-making and scoring that enable Utah to maintain a consistent offense in a half-court game and in a fast-break game. The majority of Jazz points come from either the screen game with Williams or an iso with Williams, in which he is able to drive and dish or finish at the rim.

D-Will’s ability to run the pick-and-roll have led many people to compare him and another Jazz icon, John Stockton. Stockton in his prime had the ability to figure out when to pass and when to score, a skill Williams has also mastered, but the two are also very different. Williams is a more prolific scorer (he’s able to score 40 points in a game) than Stockton, while Stock is a more prolific passer. Williams is also able to post up smaller defenders (like Chauncey Billups) if the need be or step outside and beat a bigger man off the dribble. These are two skills that Stockton was not able to combine in his game because he did not have the physical strength to do so. Williams, on the other hand, weighs an impressive (for a PG) 205 lbs. and has arms the size of tree trunks. This enables him to use one of his patented spin moves down low or give the defender a little nudge and fade away. While there are differences between the two, you cannot help but notice how similar their play-making abilites are, both able to dish out 10 assists on any given night. Williams, like Stock before him (with Malone), is able to get Boozer and Okur involved in the Utah offense (this has made Okur an All-Star). Andrei Kirilenko also thrives off of Deron because he gets constant feeds from Williams on fast breaks and backdoor cuts to the basket.

In my opinion, Deron Williams is the John Stockton of the 21st century. Not only because he plays on Utah, but because of his incredible play-making ability and pass-first mentality. He is simply Stockton equipped with a bigger body and quicker feet.

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