Brooklyn Boro

Face of Nets franchise one of King’s men

Former Brooklyn point guard Williams chasing title with Cavaliers

June 1, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Former Nets star Deron Williams is all smiles as he prepares to compete in his first NBA Finals as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. AP Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez
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It was just over five years ago when Deron Williams officially became the face of the Brooklyn Nets’ franchise in advance of their inaugural campaign at Downtown’s Barclays Center.

Seemingly every bus, billboard and subway stop in our fair borough was adorned with a photo of the All-Star point guard as Brooklyn was about to get its first major pro sports franchise since the Dodgers fled for Los Angeles following the 1957 season.

Williams, who indicated on July 4 weekend in 2012 that he was returning to the Nets franchise, thanks in large part to a $98 million deal, was the toast of the town and on his way to becoming Brooklyn’s first true sports icon since the days of Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and Roy Campanella.

Or so we thought.

Five years later, Williams finds himself in the NBA Finals for the first time, albeit as a member of LeBron James’ defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

“It’s been a long journey, a lot of ups and downs, but it’s been well worth it,” Williams admitted during his press conference in advance of Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors, scheduled to tip-off at 9 p.m. EDT in Oakland, California.

“I feel blessed to be in this position to compete for a championship,” he added. “You don’t know if it will ever happen again.”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way for D-Will or those original Brooklyn Nets, but that’s simply the way it is.

Though Williams helped the Nets reach the playoffs in each of their first three seasons here, despite seemingly constant bouts with injury and/or his confidence, on July 11, 2015 he was on his way to Dallas via a $27.5 million buyout of the final two years of his original five-year pact.

What went wrong?

If you look at it on paper, not much.

Williams played 277 games for the Nets following his original acquisition from Utah in February of 2011.

He averaged 16.6 points and 7.5 assists in 34.2 minutes per game. He was also named an All-Star during the 2011-2012 campaign, the season before the team landed in Brooklyn.

The former University of Illinois standout also saw action in 25 playoff games over four series with Brooklyn over those three years here, averaging 15.6 points and 6.5 assists in 36.5 minutes per game.

Those numbers look solid on paper, but they aren’t the type of otherworldly statistics that most players brought in to change a franchise’s fortunes are expected to put forth.

In the games the Nets needed him most, Williams proved to be a virtual non-factor, oftentimes playing a secondary role or disappearing all together during key moments down the stretch in the postseason.

In a critical Game 7 of an opening round playoff series here at Barclays against the injury-decimated Chicago Bulls during that historic inaugural campaign in Brooklyn, Williams played his heart out.

He logged a team-high 41 minutes that night, scoring 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting while handing out seven assists and grabbing six rebounds.

But it simply wasn’t enough as Brooklyn suffered a heartbreaking 99-93 loss, failing to advance to the conference semifinals and prompting general manager Billy King to make the infamous offseason deal for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett that is still costing the Nets their first-round draft choices.

Williams’ lack of playoff potency and leadership reached its peak in the 2014-15 playoffs, when the Nets were bounced by the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the first round.

Williams scored two points in Game 2, three points in Game 3 and five points in Game 5. Lost inside those three disasters was a where-did-that-come-from 35-point effort in Game 4.

Again, none of it was ultimately enough to help the Nets advance.

Nor did Williams ever grab a playoff series by the throat and pave the way for Brooklyn’s much-anticipated ascent in the Eastern hierarchy after billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov put together the most expensive roster in NBA history to complement his talents.

So Williams was sent packing and had spent the better part of the past couple of seasons in Dallas before King James and his Men came calling on Feb. 27.

In his role as a reserve with the Cavaliers, Williams averaged 7.5 points per game over 24 regular-season contests, and has thus far contributed 5.6 points per contest over Cleveland’s first 13 playoff games.

There is nothing that says franchise player about those numbers, but for Williams, the opportunity to win an NBA title supersedes any personal accolades he may have accrued during the first 11 years of his professional career.

“You’re playing with the best player in the world,” Williams said of James, who is competing in his seventh straight NBA Finals.

“For me, this team is already established,” he added. “They won it last year. It was an adjustment to learn how to play without having the ball in my hands all the time. After a while, I settled into things and learned what they needed for me. It’s become a lot easier.”

Prokhorov’s original Blueprint for Greatness never quite worked out for Williams and the Nets here, nor did he ever seem able to embrace his role as the face of the Brooklyn franchise.

All that being said, he is four wins away from achieving the dream every professional athlete holds dearest.

“It would mean the world (to win a title),” Williams noted. “This is what you play basketball for. This is what you dream about as a kid. Every year I watch the Finals and the close-out games, and how happy guys are when they win it.

“It’s just special. I’m looking forward to that moment.”

As are Nets fans, if that moment ever comes.

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