Deron Williams is expected to carry the load for the Brooklyn Nets in the upcoming season he has always been a great point guard, but will he have enough to take the Nets to the top of the Eastern Conference?
His numbers make him one of the best point guards in the league, but when looking at the bigger picture, Williams becomes just that, a great point guard that is a part of a team. He does not stand out as a single entity.
By a single entity I mean like a Steve Nash, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant, who can carry a team into contention despite not having big parts on their teams. Williams can get hot and the Nets can ride the wave for a while, but in the end it has not been enough to carry them into the playoffs.
Everybody expects the Nets in the postseason after the summer they just had. They built an offense around him, but in all reality, Brook Lopez seems to be the guy who will lead the team in scoring. Joe Johnson will help out with 3-point field goals, which is one of Williams' fortes. He made 125 threes in 2012, 10 more than Williams' total despite taking 20 less threes.
His physique prevents him from being an all-around great player. He is not a rebounder as Kris Humphries, who played the most minutes of any Net last year, is the expert in that department, finising in sixth place in overall rebounds in 2012.
Williams will be the one they depend on because he will be dishing the ball and penetrating through defenses to get players open. Aside from that, Williams is not a great defender.
In a world of moneyball in baseball, advanced stats have been developed to place a value on players' performances.
OWS stands for Offensive Win Shares, it estimates the number of wins a team gets based on a players' offense. Williams' OWS is 3.7, way below the league leader Chris Paul who had a 10.4. Williams' DWS, Defensive Win Share is a just 0.4, the highest was Josh Smith with a 4.9.
Average and below average numbers for Williams. Granted, he has been on a losing Nets team, he does not possess the power and leadership to completely take over games the way elite players do.
Williams is only 28-years-old and has a lot of basketball left ahead of him, but for now, he will have to depend on the players around him to get his team some wins and get them into the playoffs.