Brooklyn Nets Weekly: Deron Williams Healing, Preseason Hype Overload?
Deron Williams is participating in full contact practices again. He remains day to day. (NBA.com photo)
We are now inside of a week until NBA games actually count and Deron Williams still hasn’t played at all this preseason for the Brooklyn Nets.
The good news, however, is it looks like he’ll be able to go pretty soon, as Williams took part in some full contact practices this past week and reportedly looked good during a shoot around before Wednesday night’s preseason game in Boston against the Celtics.
There is sure to be some rust and chemistry issues, but teammates, beat writers and coaches alike have all given Williams some solid reviews.
"“He looked great,” commented Brooklyn head coach Jason Kidd, referring to Deron Williams’ play in full contact, five on five drills. “The process is to do a little bit more each day, and today he got in some contact stuff and he looked good.”"
As the season opener draws near, Brooklyn appears content resting many of it’s core players. The entire starting five got the night off in Boston Wednesday and Andrei Kirilenko sat as well, thanks to back spasms.
LOOKING BACK
Has the hype train gotten completely out of control for the Brooklyn Nets? We know about the star power. Their starting five has been to a combined 35 All-Star games and is set to make a salary of $82 million this season. Many pundits have them pegged as the biggest threat to dethrone the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference and in maybe the ultimate kiss of death, the Nets were sprawled all over one version of the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated NBA preview issue sporting the caption “Who wants a piece of them?” Anyone else think that’s eerily similar to last year’s Sports Illustrated cover? You know, the one featuring Dwight Howard and Steve Nash in Laker purple and gold with the caption “Now this is going to be fun”?
It’s easy to see the potential with this team. The Brooklyn Nets are as deep a team as any in recent memory and there is a nice complement of championship caliber veteran leaders and talented younger players. They’re loaded. But until the games actually start, all this talk is just that, talk. Chemistry is a huge question mark. If the Nets don’t gel immediately, their postseason seeding will suffer. We aren’t talking about a few new faces. The Brooklyn Nets have gone from a rotation featuring Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Keith Bogans, Marshon Brooks and C.J. Watson to one that includes Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Andrei Kirilenko, Jason Terry and Shawn Livingston. Upgrades, for sure, but their is no guarantee they’ll be able to play together. On paper it looks great, but again, so did last year’s Lakers. Age is a factor as well. Kevin Garnett is nearing the end, as is Paul Pierce. If they break down, you are looking at essentially a slightly improved version of last year’s Nets, which isn’t going to cut it against Miami.
That being said, the buzz around this team is incredible. The Brooklyn Nets sold out a preseason(!) game against the Miami Heat, with ticket prices averaging $280, reportedly the highest ever for an NBA exhibition game. The Izod Center is a distant memory now. This really is going to be fun.
LOOKING FORWARD
Friday, Oct. 25, the Brooklyn Nets are set to wrap up their preseason against Lebron James’ Heat in Miami. Just a few days after that, the regular season will begin against Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday, Oct. 30. The Nets will follow that up with a home opener again against Miami, the third time the Heat will have seen Brooklyn already. It remains to be seen if Deron Williams will be back for any of these games and that’ll certainly be something to monitor, along with the health of Andrei Kirilenko. One thing to watch for? A close battle for backup power forward minutes between Reggie Evans and Mirza Teletovic. Evans might be the NBA’s best rebounder and Kevin Garnett’s favorite player, but Mirza Teletovic’s ability to stretch the floor from deep and provide offensive versatility might be better suited for what Brooklyn is trying to do.
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