“It’ll be great to get my first All-Star appearance, especially in Dallas,” Williams said.

Williams, Thunder forward Kevin Durant and Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph are the three newcomers in the group of seven Western Conference reserves. The four multiple-time All-Stars: Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks), Chris Paul (Hornets), Pau Gasol (Lakers) and Brandon Roy (Blazers).

The reserves join starters Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony, Tim Duncan and Amar’e Stoudemire. The All-Star Game is being held Feb. 14 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, before a stadium audience that should break all previous attendence records for a basketball game.

The All-Star Game is also a homecoming for Williams, who grew up and starred in high school in the Dallas area. And he’s not the only one. Nowitzki gets to suit up before his hometown fans, while Durant played collegiately a few hours down the highway at the University of Texas.

“To have my first All-Star Game kind of in the middle of my two second homes, so to speak, Austin and Oklahoma City, would be very special,” Durant said. “Some fans from Oklahoma City could come down to watch, my teammates could come to the game, and to walk out onto that court and see 80 or 90,000 people in the stands would be amazing.”

The league’s third-leading scorer said he didn’t deserve All-Star consideration last year because Oklahoma City wasn’t winning. Those sentiments struck a chord with Thunder coach Scott Brooks.

“That’s powerful for a young player to say those types of things and really mean it,” Brooks said. “He meant it.”

Nowitzki, an All-Star for the ninth consecutive time, narrowly missed a starting berth when Duncan surged ahead in the final days. Though it’s old hat, Nowitzki doesn’t take his place in the league’s showcase and within the Mavericks organization for granted.

“It is an honor to represent this franchise in the All-Star Game,” he said. “We hope to put on a good show for our fans.”

The selections by the West coaches went pretty much as projected, but a couple of picks deserve a second glance. Gasol was selected for the third time as the backup center despite not being the everyday center for the Lakers (Andrew Bynum is). Gasol missed 17 games and has had a slight dropoff in scoring.

Clippers center Chris Kaman was effectively snubbed for the second time. He also was initially left off the ballot by the writers committee. too. Kaman (20.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game) is arguably having the best season of any traditional center in the West and the Clippers, despite being 20-25, are hanging on in the playoff hunt.

Randolph’s selection is also notable. The league’s fourth-leading rebounder is certainly deserving, and the Grizzlies are one of the West’s surprise stories, but some thought Z-Bo’s less-than-stellar reputation might cost him support within the coaching fraternity.

“It’s changing,” Randolph said of his image. “Because no matter what, you’ve got to get people to know that … is definitely changing here in Memphis.”

Other notable omissions include Chauncey Billups (Nuggets), Aaron Brooks (Rockets) and Rudy Gay (Grizzlies). Choosing among the guards had to be the toughest chore for West coaches. Among those backcourt standouts chosen, Paul is making his fourth All-Star team and Roy his third.

“He’s had a better year this year than he’s had any season,” Portland coach Nate McMillan said of Roy. “He’s averaging 23 [points per game]. With so many of our guys being injured and with guys around the league knowing he’s an All-Star, he has still been able to put up the numbers, both scoring as well as winning in the West. He’s had to shoulder a lot of load for the team.”

The same can be said for Williams. Whoever the West coach is will be blessed with a stacked collection of point guards in starter Nash, Paul and Williams. The latter was just waiting to join the party after being left out the last few seasons.

“We’ve got a lot of great point guards in the West every year,” Williams said. “It’s been disappointing, but at the same time, go down the list. We have Steve Nash, Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Baron Davis, Chauncey Billups. There are a lot of good point guards out there.”

—by Art Garcia, NBA.com, 1/28/2010. (Photo-Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)

Deron Williams has improved his scoring average in each of his four full seasons. (Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)

BOSTON — Deron Williams sat on a metal chair Tuesday thumbing at his phone in the basement of a downtown gym. His back had locked up on him. His left calf was badly bruised and his hamstring was tight.

When I asked about the bad luck of it, he looked me up and down from the corners of his eyes. “Happens,” he said without a shrug. “It happens.”

This was one of the hard days in the world’s funnest trade. There can be no fun in being injured. The pain turns the game into a hard job. You can note that the Utah Jazz are paying Williams $13.5 million to play in spite of the pain, but it’s also true that he would receive that salary whether he played the following night or not. Others in his position would choose differently than him.

“Of course I want to play,” he said. “It’s the Celtics; I like playing in that arena. It’s always a fun game to be part of. I’ll have to see how my back feels in the morning.”

On Wednesday morning, his back felt even worse. After his teammates walked through their morning pregame shootaround, Williams was worked over by a chiropractor for two hours. The chiropractor told him to stay on the move and keep his back limber. He spent the remaining afternoon on his feet as much as he could in hopes of playing that night against one of the best teams in the world. That night he dressed at his locker as if he was going to play all-out and then he walked stiffly across the court to test himself an hour and a half before game time, his left stride shorter than the right.

The Celtics assumed he would find the means to play.

“He’s top two in the league, maybe No. 1,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said of Williams’ standing among point guards. “His shot is what sets him apart — he’s a great shooter. He plays at different speeds. He’s the most powerful of the [point] guards — him and Chauncey [Billups] — but he does it at great speed, he doesn’t turn the ball over.”

As Rivers looked ahead to the game against Utah — tip-off was an hour away — he talked about how Williams might have excelled in any era.

“I kid with [Rajon] Rondo all the time, no way he could have played in our era — we would have beat the hell out of him,” said Rivers, who ran the point for 13 NBA seasons through 1995-96. “The hand check was so important back then. They’ve taken that away, and that’s what has brought back the small [point] guard. It’s probably a good thing.

“But I wasn’t a ‘huge’ point guard. Derek Harper, Alvin Robertson — everyone was big back then, and slow for that matter. Now it’s a quickness thing. But when you get a big point guard with quickness and speed, it makes him that much tougher. That’s why Chauncey is so tough to guard, and Deron.”

At 25 and beginning his fifth season, Williams has been enigmatic among the new era of NBA point guards. Their prominence has a lot to do with the new rules that prevent defenders from bumping and shoving and holding on the perimeter. Most teams now have — or are seeking — point guards with the explosive speed to exploit those open lanes into the paint, to drive the ball without fear inside and create defensive imbalances resulting in exciting offense around the basket. Williams has succeeded in utilizing those open spaces as well as anyone, but he doesn’t exactly feel gratitude for the opportunities.

“They want high-scoring games, stuff that sells,” Williams said. “That’s why I think the game is called the way it’s called now.”

At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, he has been blessed with old-fashioned NBA strength. Having grown up watching players of the ’90s beat on one another, Williams was looking forward to mixing it up with the adults. But the game was already changing when Utah made him the No. 3 pick in the 2005 draft.

“When I was in college,” he said, “and they were calling ticky-tack fouls, I was like, ‘Oh yeah? When I go to the NBA, I’m going to be able to be physical.’ Then I averaged about eight fouls in summer league.”

His sense for sarcastic exaggeration is one of many traits Williams shares with his Hall of Fame coach, Jerry Sloan. They both take an old-time baseball approach to their work, as if they show up to the ballpark every day without ever growing too full of themselves or too depressed. Williams’ expression rarely changes whether he’s winning or losing.

“He’s a terrific defender, he’s got a lot of things he can do well,” Sloan said of his young point guard, a member of the gold-medal Olympic team last year. “Not many people have the kind of athletic ability he has, and he’s a strong guy. You remember Oscar Robertson? He was a strong guy, too.”

You remember him better than anybody, I told Sloan.

“I just remember I got beat every night,” he said. “Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Hal Greer. I had to compete my butt off just to be in the game, that’s all you can do.”

Utah’s backup point guard, Ronnie Price, had already been ruled out of the game against the Celtics because of an injured toe. What would Sloan do if Williams wasn’t able to play?

“We just have to play,” the coach answered. “You know, we can’t call [the game] off.”

The game began and there jogged Williams in Utah’s dark road blues, dribbling the ball up the floor. On the same court an hour and a half earlier, he had emerged from his painful walk to make three jump shots for every four he attempted as assistant coach Scott Layden passed the ball out to him and counted (Four! Five! Six!) each of the consecutive makes.

“I was probably going to play the whole time,” Williams would say with self-deprecation. “I just like talking. Any games I said I was going to sit out my career, I never did.”

Williams would be good for 33 minutes with 13 points, seven rebounds (only backup forward Paul Millsap had more for Utah) and four assists against the Celtics. It wasn’t as easy as he made it appear, and he surely didn’t feel as healthy as he looked. But that sturdiness was lost on his teammates. They settled half-heartedly for jump shots, they surrendered 53.2 percent of the Celtics’ attempts from the field, they yielded scores on Boston’s opening seven possessions of the game and they lost 105-86 to stumble to 3-5 for the season.

“They made it look like we’d never played a game that difficult,” Sloan said as he glanced down at the box score in his calloused farmer’s hands. “The rough route is to stay in there, set screens and then defend better. And then the rest of it will come to you. If you’re tough enough. If you’re not tough enough, then they’ll just keep burying you.”

Williams was even more blunt in the postgame locker room.

“Right now, we’re soft,” he said. “There’s no way around it. We’re not tough at all. They were quicker to loose balls, they got down on the floor, they did the things that you have to do to win.”

The irony is that the Celtics were quarterbacked by one of the new era point guards. Rondo is small and thin, a 178-pound guard of the type that Robertson or Sloan would have tried to push around back in the day. But Rondo doesn’t play soft. He pushes the ball inside, he fights through screens and hops back up, he defends his ground. It was no more incongruous to see a skinny guard like him showing toughness than it was to see a lauded star like Williams fighting to play through his injuries. The rules change endlessly and the players appear to shrink, but the attributes of winning are the same today as they were 40 years ago.

Those timeless attributes are the reason Sloan is relevant in his 22nd year as Utah coach, and they also explain why Sloan’s point guard for all but two of those seasons has been either John Stockton or Williams.

“What am I going to do, go crawl under the house?” Sloan said after watching center Mehmet Okur and power forward Carlos Boozer combine for five rebounds. “When you’re not as talented as somebody else, you’re going to have to work at it. You can’t expect to play in a tuxedo.”

Neither one of them felt good about it but the next day came and Jerry Sloan and Deron Williams went back to practice. The same as ever.

—by Ian Thomson, Sports Illustrated, 11/12/2009. (Photo-Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)

Deron Williams does a back flip for fans before teeing off in his Celebrity Golf Classic at Thanksgiving Point Saturday. The event raises funds for Williams' Point of Hope Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for needy children and their families. (Jason Olson, Deseret News)

At least he was before the shotgun start.

No word on how he felt after 18 holes and the 32-team scramble tournament had wrapped up at Thanksgiving Point, but Williams was as happy as Gilmore when discussing how generous sponsors, celebrities and others had been to this event.

Williams didn’t discuss financial figures, but the star point guard declared his annual charity fundraiser — this one benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and his own Point of Hope Foundation — to be the most successful one he’s held. Even before an auction, more money than ever had been raised for a good cause.

Williams, who’s previously donated raised funds to battle cancer and autism, picked JDRF as his charity this year, in part because his grandparents had diabetes and because former Jazz owner Larry H.

Miller passed away from complications of the adult-onset disease earlier this year.

That makes the cause all the more personal, giving him all the more reason to be excited about the “biggest turnout.”

“This is our best year yet,” he said. “I’m very excited this year.

“Every year it’s gotten better, more people come.”

Utah Jazz player Deron Williams talks with participants in his Celebrity Golf Classic at Thanksgiving Point Saturday. The event raises funds for Williams' Point of Hope Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for needy children and their families. (Jason Olson, Deseret News)

Participating golfers were able to bid for the golfing services of celebrities. Williams wasn’t sure who had bought him off, but that group was getting a pro basketball player who shot a respectable 7- over-par 81 on the challenging course on Friday.

“Swing’s looking good,” he said with a smile.

It should be, if you ask Ronnie Price.

When asked which Jazz player had the best golf game — aside from Kyle Korver, who participated in last week’s State Am — Price quickly joked about Williams’ improvement.

“I heard Deron’s a lot better,” Price said, “but I guess you have no choice but to get better when you have a simulator in your house, right?” It doesn’t surprise Price that Williams has a high-tech golf game that allows him to play many of the world’s toughest courses and tweak his stroke from his own home.

“I give him crap about that,” Price said, “but that just shows what type of a competitor he is. When he wants to get good at something, I guess you just go buy a simulator and go get good.”

As for Price, he occasionally practices his golf technique at home, too. He just uses a little less technology. He grabs his putter and aims the ball for a red plastic cup on the floor.

“That’s as close as I get to a simulator,” he joked, “and my wife looks at me funny when I do that.”

—by Jody Genessy, Deseret News, 7/11/2009. (Photos-Jason Olson)

“That’s something I know about,” Williams said. “With what happened with Larry, that’s definitely a big reason that we want to go in that direction this year.”

Williams hosted the event Saturday at Thanksgiving Point to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation as well as his Point of Hope Foundation. Despite the economy, Williams raised a record $50,000 to be donated in Miller’s name.

Williams also made $5,000 donations to the Carmen Pingree School for Children with Autism as well as the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.

“Every year it’s gotten better,” Williams said. “Every year more people come. We’re constantly looking for ways to try to expand it and make it even better.”

Ronnie Price, meanwhile, joked about the improvement Williams had made to his golf game with an indoor simulator at home.

“That just shows what type of competitor he is,” Price said. “When we wants to get good at something … I guess you just go buy a simulator.”

—by Ross Siler, Salt Lake Tribune, 7/11/2009. (Photo-Chris Detrick)

DETROIT (AP) Bill Self, who led Kansas to the national championship last year and had the Jayhawks back in the title hunt this season, is The Associated Press’ college basketball coach of the year.

Self, who was presented the award later Friday, lost all five starters from the team that beat Memphis in the championship game, leaving him to work with two veterans and eight newcomers.

The Jayhawks finished 27-8 and reached the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament, winning the Big 12 title for the fifth straight season.

Self has a 169-40 record in six seasons at Kansas and is 376-145 in 16 seasons as a head coach. He received 28 votes from the 71-member national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25, easily beating Jamie Dixon of Pittsburgh, who had 10.
—ASSOCIATED PRESS, copyright 2009 Associated Press

Bill Self also won the 2009 Henry Iba Award, 2009 CBS Chevrolet Award, and the 2009 ESPN.com Coach of the Year Award.

Drafted by the Reno Bighorns of the NBDL in November, Russell returned home to the States where he currently is starting as their Point/Combo Guard.

Graduating from Texas A&M University in 2007, AK joined Panionios for the ‘07-’08 season. After his former assistant coach left to be with Kavala he was quick to follow for the  ‘08-09 year. There were a number of questions surrounding Kavala at the beginning of the season and their status as a team in the Greek A1 League. Once it was ironed out, AK got to work as one of the most consistent players in Greece. Kavala is a very young team, and AK provides valuable leadership and experience. He can be counted on to score when needed, but has no problem stuffing the stat sheet when the ball is not in his hands. He’s a solid defender, excellent rebounder and has a high basketball IQ. Antanas Kavaliauskas has become a very mature professional and has a bright future.

Games in 2009

• 2/18 – Kavala and AK had a solid victory over ESTIA Egaleo, 63-50.  In 28 minutes, Antanas scored 12 points on 6-9 from the field.  He added 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals and 1 assist.
• 2/14 – Antanas and Kavala lost to Olympiakos, 90-68.  AK played 20 minutes, scoring 11 points on 3-5 from 2FG, 1-1 from 3FG and 2-2 from the line.  He had 9 rebounds and 2 steal.
• 2/7 – Kavala lost 68-52 to Panellinios on the 7th.  AK had a solid game, scoring 7 points and grabbing 3 boards in 18 minutes.  He added 1 steal and 1 block, and was 3-4 from the field and 1-2 from the line.
• 2/1 – Kavala lost to Trikalla, 86-62 on Feb 1st.  AK played very well, scoring 17 points and grabbing 6 boards.  He was 7-9 from the field and 3-5 from the line.  He added 4 assists and 1 block in his 33 minutes.
• 1/18 – Kavala got a much needed win over AEL Larissa, 80-72.  AK had maybe his best game to date, leading all scorers with 20 points and grabbing 8 rebounds.   He was 9-13 from the field and made both of his free throws in 28 minutes before fouling out.
• 1/11 – Kavala played better but lost to VAP Kolossos, 101-84.  AK played 19 minutes, scoring 7 points and grabbing 2 rebounds.  He was 3-4 from the filed and made 1-2 free throws.

From the window of his 22nd-floor downtown office, Bob McClaren can see the scoreboard at Minute Maid Park. It’s not quite the same view he once had from his office at Union Station as the Astros’ president of baseball operations.

McClaren, 49, still works in the neighborhood, but his career crossover from baseball executive to sports agent has taken him to the other side of the ballpark’s railroad tracks.
“You’re going to the dark side,” longtime friend and sports agent Barry Axelrod told McClaren. “If you come over to the dark side, you may never be able to go back.”
For a decade, McClaren monitored the bottom line for the Astros. Now when he goes to the negotiating table, he’s eyeing the best deal for a client.
Along the way, McClaren is showing a softer side in a cutthroat industry known for exuberant demands.
“Our job is to represent our client,” said McClaren, who along with partner Tommy Thomas founded McClaren Sports in May 2005. “That doesn’t always mean squeezing the last dollar out of every deal. It’s about loyalty with the club. Nobody wins if the other side is unhappy.”
Business is good these days. One client, Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams, the No. 3 pick in the 2005 NBA draft, helped end the Rockets’ season for a second straight year. Another client is Kansas coach Bill Self, who won his first national men’s basketball title last month. McClaren just signed a trio of college basketball players — Joseph Jones and Dominique Kirk of Texas A&M and Brian Randle of Illinois — as next month’s NBA draft approaches.
In all, McClaren has selectively assembled a clientele of eight athletes, exclusively in baseball and basketball, and one coach. The
roster also includes Chicago Cubs minor leaguer Kyle Reynolds, son of former Astro Craig Reynolds; Russell Dixon, a seventh-round pick by the Astros last year; and Antanas Kavaliauskas (Texas A&M) and Warren Carter (Illinois), both playing basketball overseas.
“I think it’s something we’ll grow slowly,” said McClaren, who can receive as much as 4 percent commission for deals he negotiates. “Rather than being one of 130 (clients), you’re one of a smaller shop of five, 10, 15 or 20. Fortunately, we have enough other businesses we are involved with to help pay the bills.”
McClaren, who has an accounting degree from Texas-Arlington and a law degree from Texas Tech, spent his years with the Astros managing the team’s budget, serving as legal counsel and playing a lead role in the construction of Minute Maid Park. He left the team in 2001 to pursue other business interests, including 44 Farms, a registered angus business, and tech company mindWireless.
Jazz guard first on board
A career as a sports agent wasn’t even a consideration for McClaren until a conversation with Thomas, his college roommate and formerly a successful Texas high school basketball coach. In three years, McClaren has put together a team that includes JoAnne Loveday (senior accountant), Elizabeth Mayfield (director of communication), B.J. McElroy (chief financial officer) and Steve Wright (director of marketing).
“This was not even a thought in anybody’s head even a month before we started,” said Thomas, who serves as vice president of McClaren Sports. “Of course, Bob only has an undergraduate degree in accounting and a law degree. He’s got all that working for him. And he had done a thousand contracts with the Astros.”
Thomas, whom McClaren refers to as “a big key to our business,” tapped into his high school background to help recruit two former players — Williams and Bracey Wright.
“Deron was right on board with it,” Thomas said. “We were competing against established agents. We had to kind of prove we were capable of doing the job.”
The first contract McClaren negotiated as an agent was for Williams, who has earned $11.2 million over his first three NBA seasons. A background in team management helped in dealing with general managers almost immediately.
“I think they appreciate somebody that’s been on the inside of an organization and understands how management feels about player conduct and a player’s willingness to participate in community activities,” McClaren said.
To be certified through the NBA players’ association, McClaren is required to attend a two-day seminar each year. There’s a similar process for Major League Baseball. For now, McClaren has no plans to pursue NFL clients.
The crossover by McClaren isn’t unprecedented. Former major league pitcher Dave Stewart served as assistant GM of the Toronto Blue Jays before starting his own sports agency. Jeff Moorad, one of baseball’s most powerful agents, went the other direction and became part owner and an executive with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004.
Still works with Astros
McClaren said Axelrod, who represented Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, is an agent to “certainly model your career after.”
“Most of the agents that I have met in baseball and basketball would very much prefer to be on the side of the team and would love a position with the team instead of being an agent,” McClaren said. “In my case, it was going from a team to the player representation side of the business. From what I gathered, that was very unusual. I never left the Astros because I was dissatisfied. We had done a lot of things during the 10 years I was there.”
McClaren hasn’t distanced himself completely from the Astros. He was a consultant during the team’s general manager and manager searches last year and served as legal counsel during the Mitchell Report inquiry into steroid use in baseball.
He also found himself at the negotiating table when the Astros drafted Dixon in the seventh round out of Auburn last summer. McClaren got his client a $123,000 signing bonus.
“So often on these draft choices, you haggle and haggle in the season, and they lose a year,” Astros owner Drayton McLane said. “Bob has the skills, ability, intelligence and desire to certainly be a successful agent.”
The adjustment to agent hasn’t been without a few growing pains. McClaren said he “lost a prominent player”he declined to identify before last year’s NBA draft, and Bracey Wright didn’t re-sign last year.
“We want good-character guys, players that have a big vision for their life both on and off the court,” McClaren said. “We passed on some guys that didn’t fit the criteria.
“We would like to grow with those kinds of players. We don’t have to take everybody that’s available, so we do have that luxury. But if guys really want to do something with their life, professionally and personally, we think we have a lot to offer.”
Even if that means portraying the sports agent business in a different light.
“We’re going to represent with integrity and honesty,” McClaren said. “We want our clients to be a good reflection of who we are.”
—By JOSEPH DUARTE, copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Utah Jazz players Kyle Korver, left, Deron Williams and C.J. Miles, not shown, serve Thanksgiving meals to the homeless on Tuesday at EnergySolutions Arena. The Deron Williams Point of Hope Foundation donated 1,500 meals. Over 3,000 were served.

—Michael Brandy photo, Deseret News 11/26/2008

He was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia on June 26, 1984. Williams loved basketball from a young age, and lists Jason Kidd and former Illini Frank Williams as his favorite athletes.

Williams ruled early, averaging 17.6 points, 8.4 assists, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game as a senior at The Colony High School just outside Dallas, Texas. He was the 2001 and 2002 First-Team All-State selection by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. In 2001, he also led The Colony Cougars to an astounding 32-2 record, bringing them to the Texas Class 5A state semifinals.

He left high school ranked No. 27 in the nation by All-Star Report.

Williams showed excellence from his first days at Illinois. In his freshman year, he started 32 of 32 games, averaging 6.3 points, grabbing 3.0 rebounds, and dishing 6.2 assists. He was ranked third in the league in assists, having at least two assists every night. He also had five or more assists 16 times.

As a sophomore, Williams missed three games due to a double jaw fracture. This happened on Dec. 11 when he ran into a screen while playing against Maryland-Eastern Shore. Despite his injury, Williams averaged 14 points and 6.7 assists. Williams also ranked sixth in three-point percentage (39.4 percent) and averaged 2.23 three-pointers per game.

Williams left Illinois early, in his junior year, to enter the 2005 Draft. He was selected third overall by the Utah Jazz.

His first year seemed decent enough. Williams instantly grew on the crowd with his non-selfish play and eager-to-learn awareness. He was strong, smooth, and savvy for his age and height. He more than impressed crowds with his three-point ability at all situations.

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Williams finished the 2005-06 season averaging 10.8 points per game and 4.5 assists per game.

Williams’ second year with the Jazz was incredible. He improved his defensive game, rising to 3.3 rebounds per game. He took (and made) fewer three-pointers, but burst up to 16.2 points per game. Williams shot .767 from the field, which was higher than the .707 he shot in his first season.

This is exactly what Williams wanted to accomplish. This season was all about warming up his already set-in-stone fundamentals.

Williams’ third year as a Jazz player was his best. He averaged a staggering 10.5 assists per game, proving that his ability to pass the ball is undeniable.

This was the year he truly became the second half of Utah Jazz’s heart and soul. Williams and teammate Carlos Boozer learned to work together and become what the other is not. They made the Jazz a well-rounded team, and actually made a legit playoff run in the 2007-08 season.

Part of this success must be credited to long-time head coach Jerry Sloan. Sloan is the first and only Jazz coach with a winning record. The 66-year-old won his 1000th game as the Jazz’ head coach Nov. 7, 2007 in a 104-97 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in his 20th season at the helm for Utah.

Williams has come a long way, but his incredibly eager attitude to impress and please has stayed with him from his early days in The Colony.

In the inset, SLAM Magazine talks of the look in Williams’ eyes:

“Whether it’s on the court or elsewhere, Deron Williams has a twinkle of confidence, and he’s had it for some time. It’s a swagger, a humbleness, and a confidence wrapped into a single gaze. This look hasn’t wavered for years, and it almost scares me how constant it’s been. Deron’s drive and focus will not leave until his plan is complete. The fact that his confidence is so pure makes doubting him impossible.”

Williams had the honor of playing for the 2008 Olympic Games hosted by Beijing along with Carlos Boozer. Both had select plays which really benefited the 2008 United States Men’s National Basketball Team. Both players were treated like heroes back on their home turf, congratulated on a job well done.

One thing agreed upon among all players on that 12-man roster: It’s about the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.

Whether he’s scoring or simply running the offense, Williams’ presence on a basketball court is felt everywhere and immediately.

He can hit you equally hard with his left or right hand. His cross-over is deadly, and he will leave you dumb-founded when he drives to the lane like a man six inches taller than he is, and, yes, actually dunks on you.

Go ahead, underestimate him. He will go out every night and prove you wrong the moment he steps on the hardwood. His motto is: “What doesn’t kill me will make me stronger.”

Deron Michael Williams is more than a good basketball player. Deron Michael Williams is a great basketball player.

Fun Fact: Deron Williams married his College sweetheart, Amy, and together they have two children.

—by Amanda Robertson, The Bleacher Report, 11/12/08