Deron Williams: Time with Nets 'made me question if I even wanted to play basketball'
Deron Williams' Nets career ended unceremoniously, almost like a quick goodbye, you might say, to someone who you don't really like but feel obliged to acknowledge at a party. After he and the Nets agreed to a buyout over the summer, he just sort of drifted away, never to be heard of in Brooklyn again ... until this week, of course.
Williams, now the starting point guard for the Dallas Mavericks and in the midst of his best season in years, is readying for his return to Barclays Center, where the Mavs will travel to play the Nets on Wednesday. So, he's gotten to talking about the time he spent with the organization that's been going downhill ever since acquiring him. Apparently, times in Brooklyn were harder than they appeared.
Here is some of what he told Michael Lee of Yahoo! Sports:
"It took a lot out of me, man, those three years. Some of the hardest in my life," Williams told Yahoo Sports of his time in Brooklyn. "Made me question if I even wanted to play basketball when I was done with that contract." [...]
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“You know, you can always think, what ifs? But you never know. I probably still would’ve been hurt. Still would’ve had to have ankle surgeries on both ankles. So you never know,” Williams told Yahoo. “Being hurt takes a toll on you. You’ve got expectations being put on you. ‘Missing’ posters being put up all around New York. It’s just a lot of pressure there. Not only from the outside, but pressure I put on myself. But I feel like there is not much pressure now.”
That is brutally honest from Williams, who has seen obviously happier times in Dallas playing for Rick Carlisle. There was lots of drama in Brooklyn a season ago, whether than entailed disagreements with coach Lionel Hollins or a generally turned-off attitude from Williams, who was supposed to be one of the team leaders after signing a max contract with Brooklyn over the summer of 2012.
Williams is averaging 15.1 points and 5.8 assists per game this season with Dallas. His Mavs are 15-12 and competing for a playoff spot. The Nets, meanwhile, sit at 7-20.
