Tagged: deron williams

And we’re back.

Sorry about the long hiatus folks, it’s been an awesome Canada weekend and I think we can all agree that time spent outside with an ice-cold brew is better than being stuck in front of the computer.

Since we last posted the NBA Draft has gone down, where every single player seems like a game-changer. Not only are we excited to see how the draft picks are working out for their respective teams but the NBA is alive with trades and rumours.

The biggest one thus far is Deron Williams deciding to re-sign with the Brooklyn Nets. Not only did they retain their marquee point guard but they also traded for Joe Johnson and managed to keep Gerald Wallace for another 4 years. Is this enough for the Brooklyn Nets to become championship contenders? Probably not. They haven’t re-signed an NBA referee yet.

The Hornets really came out big winners from the draft, they took Anthony “Wow the Brow” Davis at the first pick and Austin “Doc” Rivers at the 10th pick. All they need now is to re-sign Eric Gordon and damn that team is looking pretty set for the next ten years. The only problem with that is that Eric Gordon has agreed to a max deal with the Phoenix Suns(?). Yup. The Phoenix Suns. If they can’t make the play-offs with Steve Nash it’s hard for me to believe they can do it with Knee Gordon. It’d be a difference scenario if he were healthy.

Since Eric Gordon is a restricted free agent (RFA), the Hornets can choose to match the Suns offer and are reportedly going to do so. If this happens, Gordon will be forced to stay with the Hornets. This is a smart move on the Hornet’s part because they know he’s too valuable to walk. They will probably trade him some point next year and get some nice pieces in return. They can’t sign and trade him because in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, it stipulates that a RFA cannot be traded after they have been given a matching offer.

To further complicate things, Gordon has stated that he has no wish to play for the Hornets so it’ll be interesting to see how the Hornets choose to play out the situation. This entire scenario reminds me of Vince Carter in his late Raptor days and what’s been going on with Dwight and the Magic for the past two seasons. The only difference in this case is that Gordon’s contract hasn’t even started. Not going to lie, it’s pretty low-blow to the city of New Orleans. Gordon was the only relevant piece that came over during the Chris Paul trade and it is starting to seem like the Hornets aren’t going to retain anything at all for the all-world point guard they lost.

Over in Boston, the Celtics have retained the services of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. They have signed Jason Terry over from the Mavericks and are trying to keep Ray Allen and Jeff Green. To be honest, I don’t know what Danny Ainge is thinking. Garnett, Pierce, Allen, and Terry are all at least 36 years old and Paul Pierce is the young one at 34. I could easily see all five of them going down with injuries during the season and Boston really will be royally screwed for the next five years.

We’ll analyse the rest of the picks and obviously break down the big moves in the league so be on the lookout.

Fantasy Basketball for Dummies: Picks 9-12

Picks 1 through 3 can be found here, and 4-8 can be found here

#9- Deron Williams

40.7% FG, 84.3% FT, 2.1 3PG, 3.3 RPG, 8.8 APG, 4.0 TO,1.2 SPG, 0.4 BPG, 21.0 PPG

Deron Williams kills you in the stats he isn’t good at and he kills it in the stats he is good at. Since his days in Utah his field goal percentages have been absolutely terrible. Last season with New Jersey he averaged 34.9% shooting over twelve games. This year he averaged 40.7% over 55 games. An incomplete season and awful shooting on 17.5 attempts. He led the league in turnovers and to cap it all off he played a season low minutes since his rookie year.

Risky right? Continue reading