Rapid ascension — Williams vows he'll hone all aspects of his

[odyy ( )]

Rapid ascension — Williams vows he'll hone all aspects of his game


By Jody Genessy
Deseret Morning News

      Because his season ended so late — but not quite late enough, if you
ask him — and he's booked a prestigious USA Basketball commitment and a few
weeks of vacation, not to mention a visit or two to mom's house, Deron
Williams is probably a bit too busy to attend the John Stockton Summer Camp
again this year.
      It appears Williams might be OK anyway.
      Seems the 22-year-old got more than his money's worth learning the
master's tricks at the first two training sessions on Dagobah with Yoda, er,
in Spokane, Wash., with the soon-to-be Hall-of-Famer.       "He's going to be
something special for a long time," Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer said of
his stellar sidekick.
      Heck, he already is. That became evident from the way Williams played
this past year and especially during the Utah Jazz's recent playoff run — an
effort that earned him Deseret Morning News Athlete of the Month honors for
May, among countless verbal accolades.
      That's not to say Williams won't be working on his skills this
offseason as he has with Stockton prior to his first two NBA seasons. Quite
the opposite. While cleaning out his locker last week at EnergySolutions
Arena at the conclusion of his stellar second season, Williams said he was
going to hone all aspects of his game over the summer.
      "I work on everything. Ballhandling, shooting, every part of my game I
want to get better and improve in," he said a day after the Jazz were
eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals. "I
just try to do that, try to get stronger, faster, quicker."
      Williams can't wait to do a lot of that fine-tuning with coaches (like
Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Phoenix's Mike D'Antoni) and players (like Jason
Kidd and Chauncey Billups) involved with the USA Basketball invitation-only
tryout in July.
      "I look forward to it. It's going to be a challenge," Williams said.
"It's going to be fun playing with the guys I'm playing with, learning from
the great coaches I'm going to be around. I'm just going to try to take all
of that in and give it my all."
      And Williams' all, his NBA coach believes, is quite a bit.
      "The sky's the limit with him," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. "He's got
a tremendous amount of upside."
      Williams showed flashes of his pretty-dang-good-in-the-middle-side
during this past regular season when Sloan credited him for giving the
Northwest Division champs "tremendous lift." The flashes got even brighter
under the glaring national spotlight as the playoffs progressed and a star
was born.
      You may have noticed the national media — many of whom compared him to
the legendary short-shorts wearer and claimed he now ranks among the top
point guards in the league — going ga-ga over his play. Fans obviously went
berserk. And his teammates loved his rapid progression, too.
      "Yeah, we noticed. Shee! He played great," Boozer said. "He picked up
his level of play dramatically. Don't get me wrong. He was great in the
regular season, but he was spectacular in the postseason."
      After helping Utah go 51-31 and make the playoffs for the first time in
four years, Williams started May off strong. He led the Jazz to back-to-back
wins against the Rockets as they advanced past the first round in that
memorable seven-game series. His 20-point, 14-rebound effort was critical to
Utah's Game 7 103-99 win in Houston.
      Against Baron Davis, Williams at times went Emeril and kicked his game
up another notch, including a 31-point showing and two 13-plus-assists nights
as the Jazz beat Golden State 4-1 in the Western Conference semifinals.
      But, ironically, the series in which he really made a name for himself
nationally was also the one that turned out to be the season finale for the
Jazz. Against the Spurs, Williams averaged 25.8 points on 52.7 percent
shooting along with 7.8 assists and 2.4 steals. And he did that partly while
battling the flu, a couple of tweaked body parts and Eva Longoria's worse
half (read: Tony Parker).
      "Barring injuries, he probably would've (done) even more," said Boozer,
who will join Williams at the USA Basketball workouts. "That's how good he's
become, and that's how good he got really fast."
      Since many like to stack him up against Stockton — though differences
are aplenty — consider this stat-to-stat comparison of the two guard's
second seasons. In 1985-86, Stockton averaged 7.7 points and 7.4 assists in
82 games, including 38 starts. In 2006-07, Williams averaged 16.2 points and
9.3 assists in 80 starts.
      But Williams, who's now only 14,702 assists behind Stockton's all-time
record, balks at comparisons. He'd rather be the best Deron Williams than the
next John Stockton, even if some of their quotes sound similar.
      "I'm a competitor," Williams said. "It's always been my nature to be
the best I can be, and that's what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to help
my team win."
      Teammate Derek Fisher is more impressed by Williams' blossoming
leadership abilities than his glossy statistics. The three-time NBA champion
has been thrilled to be a part of Williams' growth.
      "I think his maturation and his development is really off the charts in
terms of what he was able to do for our team consistently throughout the
season," Fisher said. "A lot of times with young guys, you see a lot of
inconsistency, and he's almost showing he's immune to inconsistency."
      Like so many other Jazz faithful hope, Fisher believes the best is yet
to come for the calm-but-competitive Williams, who turns 23 on June 26.
      "I think he could probably have a more phenomenal season next year to
be honest with you," Fisher said. "I think you can see what you saw in the
playoffs 75 out of 82 games during the regular season. He's that good."
      While Fisher thought that their backcourt had "synergy," he believes
Williams is still learning how to help others get the most out of themselves.
He calls him "passionate" about the game. That could explain why the
up-and-coming star was upset that some teammates had gone on early vacations.
      "He's still trying to figure out how he can be the leader he needs to
be for the team and at the same time be able to support guys and push guys in
the right way," Fisher said. "He's still learning a lot."
      Williams offered no retraction for verbalizing his dissatisfaction with
teammates after losing to the Spurs. But he didn't publicly ask to break the
team up, either.
      "Another year playing with each other is definitely going to help.
Another year of experience and going through another season," he said. "If
the guys get better in the offseason, which I'm sure everybody will, that's
the main thing is improvement and coming together.
      "Some guys fall off at the end of the season because it's a long
season; other guys prepare for that. I think everybody needs to be prepared
for that if we want to make a long run, and I'm sure guys will be next year."
      Still, Williams thought the season was good — just not quite good
enough.
      "We're definitely happy with how far along we've come this year," he
said. "We had a great season, a great playoff run and it's just kind of a
little bit short. We've got a lot to look forward to next year, and I think
we'll bounce right back."
      And, he hopes, they'll bounce back a little further.
      "Now," Williams said, "I think our focus should be winning a
championship."


Deron Williams file

      ‧ Years pro: 2
      ‧ College: Illinois
      ‧ Height: 6-foot-3
      ‧ Weight: 205
      ‧ May highlights: Scored 31-plus three times (twice vs. Spurs, once
against Warriors); had five double-digit assists games, including 14 dishes
twice; had five steals in only win against San Antonio; and hit 18 of 41
3-pointers (43.9 percent).


2007 Athletes of the Month

      ‧ January: Keena Young, BYU basketball
      ‧ February: Jaycee Carroll, Utah State basketball
      ‧ March: Carlos Boozer, Utah Jazz
      ‧ April: Ashley Postell, Utah gymnastics
      ‧ May: Deron Williams, Utah Jazz


From:http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660226550,00.html

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身為一個教練你對這一點(成就)永遠不會感到滿足，這也是這個職業的悲哀，當你感到
滿足之後你就會不思進取，你不會想要更為進步，這也是為什麼我總是對球員的要求如
此嚴格，我希望他們不斷的做出嘗試，那能夠讓他們成為一個更為傑出的球員。(aly譯)

                                             ~ Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan ~

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