Williams guides Jazz's future

[RonnieBrewer (Reverse Layup)]

Williams guides Jazz's future
Stockton leaves big shoes to fill, but point guard has taken charge
By FRAN BLINEBURY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
April 28, 2007, 1:18AM

SALT LAKE CITY ─ Before Deron Williams can turn his car into the parking
lot for home games, he has got to travel down John Stockton Drive.

When Williams goes out onto the floor to warm up at EnergySolutions Arena,
he's running, shooting, stretching, doing everything beneath a large banner
that flutters from the rafters bearing Stockton's name.

Williams walked off the court at the practice facility the other day and
noticed a familiar figure standing at the far end of the gym, wearing khaki
shorts, a black T-shirt, chatting and joking with some of the assistant
coaches.

Stockton is everywhere with the Utah Jazz. Everywhere, except in the future
of the franchise, which is now in the hands of the 22-year-old Williams.


Playing in large shadow

Everything accomplished by the former Dream Teamer, eventual Hall of Famer ─
the ignition spark that fired up the Jazz engine and made it run so smoothly
through the glory years ─ casts a shadow that is taller than the Wasatch
Mountain range and hugely unfair.

How could they be more different? One white, one black. One who appeared
short and stocky among the tall trees of the NBA, another with the muscular
build of a fullback. One who always stayed within himself and did everything
with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker, the other the kind of hybrid talent
that occasionally explodes in your face.

They are so very different and yet they are the same, if for no other reason
than Williams has inherited Stockton's role as point guard for the Jazz, and
with it a looming shadow.

"I try not to talk about it at all," Williams said. "But I can't get away
from it. I've answered the question a thousand times, and it's not gonna
change. John Stockton is not going anywhere. He'll be remembered here
forever. He's one of the greatest point guards ever to play the game. I've
got it down to a tee."

What the 6-3 Williams, who grew up in The Colony near Dallas, also has down
is the same sense of responsibility that Stockton had all those years to make
sure everything is running right with the Jazz on the court.

"My job," he said. "I can handle it."

Williams came to the Jazz as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2005 draft, having
helped Illinois reach the Final Four, selected just ahead of two other point
guards, Chris Paul, who went went to New Orleans, and Raymond Felton, drafted
by Charlotte. Paul won NBA Rookie of the Year honors last season, while
Williams was learning coach Jerry Sloan's system and his expectations.

"We had to pick somebody," Sloan said with a shrug. "The fact that we didn't
pick Chris Paul didn't mean that we didn't think he was a great player. Deron
had an interview with us, and he came in and worked out for us. Chris Paul
did not work out for us. That's not to criticize ... they're apples and
oranges really.

"You know, 15 years from now when they're leaving the league, somebody will
either say we made a mistake or we made the right decision."


Time will tell

In the meantime, the Jazz will sit back and hope to watch Williams bloom as
part of the core of a lineup with Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur that can
return them to a place as a postseason fixture in the league.

"That's the idea," Williams said. "We like what we've got coming together
here. It's a good mix of guys, and we think we can make some progress to
getting the team back in the mix of the playoffs every year."

"Having Deron is a key to making all that happen," Boozer said. "You've got
to have a point guard who knows who he is and knows who his teammates are and
keeps everything straight."

While he is certainly more athletic than his predecessor ─ when did you ever
see Stockton dunk? ─ it's the cerebral part of the game that draws the most
comparisons.

"He has the ability to be one of those guys who goes out there and looks for
his own shot all the time and piles up all the points," Sloan said. "But what
gives him the potential to be a great point guard is that he knows when to
take those shots and when to get them for other guys."

Derek Fisher has been around a few blocks in the NBA and is with the Jazz
now, in part to ride shotgun with Williams, in part to share some wisdom.


Striking rare balance

"What makes Deron a great player is that he rarely tries to force any
particular aspect or part of the game," Fisher said "He's very under control,
very solid at all times. We owe him a lot for being able to do that. He could
probably score 20 points every night if he wanted to. But he doesn't spend a
lot of time worrying about that. He wants to win.

"It's rare that a young guy can play point and help a team improve so fast
the way he has. But Deron is a rare guy because he doesn't focus on his own
game."

There are times when you practically have to pry the words out of his mouth
and other times when the knowing smile and light in his eyes say everything
you need to know about him. During his rookie season, Sloan pulled Williams
out of the starting lineup and let him ride the bench for several weeks to
watch and learn. It was an experience that chafed at Williams, but it also
drove him.

"Sit and watch," he said. "Then go do it when you get the chance again."

"I probably made a mistake doing that last year," Sloan conceded. "But give
him credit. Deron never let it hold him back."


Just be himself

After bottoming out with just 26 wins two years ago, the Jazz won 41 with
Williams as a rookie and 51 games this season.

"Remember, these guys haven't played that long together," Sloan said. "He's
out there running an offense and trying to execute for the first time in the
playoffs."

All in the shadow of Stockton.

"That stuff is ridiculous," Sloan said. "He's not John Stockton. He's not the
same kind of player as John Stockton. He's got his own way to play.

"Guys can't come in and try to do all the stuff that John did. First of all,
they don't have his hands. He had hands like suitcases. All those things are
unfair, and Deron's smart enough not to buy into that.

"A lot of people get in trouble trying to be somebody they're not. He's got
to be who Deron Williams is. That's all we ask.

"In his case, that's a pretty good basketball player."

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               http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4757267.html 

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