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NBA 18/12/2012, 00.07

Williams: 'I'm not the same player since Utah traded me to the Nets'

Williams crede di non essere più tornato ai livelli dei Jazz

NBA
Deron Williams hasn't been the same player since the Utah Jazz traded him to the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 23, 2011.

And the three-time All-Star point guard believes injuries and getting acclimated to a different system are the reasons why.

"I was injured the first year (and needed season-ending right wrist surgery)," Williams said Monday, a day before the Nets host the Jazz at Barclays Center. "I've really had injuries while I've been with (the Nets) the whole time. And didn't have the talent around me that I did (with the Jazz).

"And that system (in Utah) was a great system for my style of play. I'm a system player, and I loved Coach (Jerry) Sloan's system. I loved the offense there. We could've been a really good team. We just weren't that good defensively as a group."

"I grew up in high school, my coach wasn't one of those guys that would let us just throw out the ball and let us play," Williams said. "We were a system team. We had a staple of plays that we relied on. We were good at execution. In college (at Illinois), we ran the motion offense. A lot of cutting, a lot passing, a lot of screening, a lot of extra passes. I'm used to just movement. So I'm still trying to adjust. It's been an adjustment for me. But it's coming along."

"I believe I can adapt to anything," he said. "We're still a young team. Things don't happen overnight. It's still just December. We're working on it."

The Jazz traded Williams to the Nets for promising power forward Derrick Favors, point guard Devin Harris, two first-round draft picks and $3 million because they feared he would leave once he became a free agent.

"I understand what they were doing," Williams said. "It was smart on their point, because there was a possibility that I wouldn't have come back."
E. Carchia

E. Carchia

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