Deron Williams

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Deron Williams
Position Point guard
Nickname Slick
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg)
Team Utah Jazz
Nationality Flag of United States United States
Born June 26, 1984 (age 22)
Parkersburg, West Virginia
College Illinois
Draft 3rd overall, 2005
Utah Jazz
Pro career 2005–present
Awards 2005-06 NBA All-Rookie First Team

Deron Michael Williams (born June 26, 1984 in Parkersburg, West Virginia) is an American professional basketball player currently with the Utah Jazz of the NBA. He is also a former collegiate player for the University of Illinois. Williams attended The Colony High School in The Colony, Texas and averaged 17 points, 9.4 assists, and 2 steals per game as a junior. As a senior, he averaged 17.6 points, 8.4 assists, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game and led the Cougars to a 29-2 mark in 2002.

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[edit] College

Williams played college basketball at the University of Illinois beginning with the 2002-03 NCAA season. In his freshman year, he started 30 of 32 games, ranked third in the Big Ten Conference in assists with 4.53 per game. As a sophomore, Deron improved his scoring average from 6.3 to 14.0 points per game (led team) and improved his assists per game to 6.17 per game. Deron was a First-Team All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and media.

In 2005, as a junior starting point guard, Williams led the Fighting Illini to the NCAA championship game, where they lost to the University of North Carolina. Williams declared for the NBA Draft after the 2005 season, forgoing his final year of collegiate eligibility.

Williams received many awards after the 2004-05 season. These honors include being named a consensus Second Team All American, as well as being named First Team All-Big Ten, Big Ten All-Tournament Team, and All-Final Four team. Williams was also a finalist for the Wooden Award and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Chicago Regional in the NCAA Tournament. Williams was named First-Team All-Big Ten as a sophomore in 2004 and as a junior in 2005, the year in which Williams, called by coach Bruce Weber "the MVP of the team", led the Illini to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship game before losing a close game to North Carolina.

[edit] Pro

Following the season, Williams declared for the 2005 NBA Draft, in which the Utah Jazz selected Williams with the third overall selection. Williams went 3rd overall following #1 selection Andrew Bogut and #2 pick Marvin Williams. Williams started the season coming off the bench, but eventually moved into the role of starting point guard for Utah. Williams finished his rookie season averaging 10.8 points and 4.5 assists per game, in 80 games played. Williams was rewarded by being named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, as well as being the only other rookie besides Chris Paul to receive a first-place vote in the 2005-06 NBA Rookie of the Year voting (Williams received 1 first-place vote). [1]. In his second season, his numbers have improved in almost all categories, increasing to 17.1 points and 9.0 assists (currently second in the league) per game.

Deron began the 2006-07 season as the starting point guard for the Jazz, and the team jumped out to a 12-1 record, which was the best in team history and in the league. In the first 12 games of the season, Deron has been excellent, delivering five double-doubles, including back-to-back performances of 26/14 and 27/15 (points/assists). Both of these assists totals bested his previous career high. In the second of those two games, he also had a career high in steals, with five. On January 17, 2007, in a game against the Detroit Pistons, he recorded a career high 31 points, while in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies on January 24, he recorded 21 assists, contributing to Carlos Boozer's career high 39 points. His clutch play in the closing minutes of games has many Jazz fans referring to him as Deron "Slick" Williams.

[edit] Career highs

[edit] External links

2005 NBA Draft
First Round
Andrew Bogut | Marvin Williams | Deron Williams | Chris Paul | Raymond Felton | Martell Webster | Charlie Villanueva | Channing Frye | Ike Diogu | Andrew Bynum | Fran Vázquez | Yaroslav Korolev | Sean May | Rashad McCants | Antoine Wright | Joey Graham | Danny Granger | Gerald Green | Hakim Warrick | Julius Hodge | Nate Robinson | Jarrett Jack | Francisco García | Luther Head | Johan Petro | Jason Maxiell | Linas Kleiza | Ian Mahinmi | Wayne Simien | David Lee
Second Round

Salim Stoudamire | Daniel Ewing | Brandon Bass | C.J. Miles | Ricky Sánchez | Ersan İlyasova | Ronny Turiaf | Travis Diener | Von Wafer | Monta Ellis | Roko Ukić | Chris Taft | Mile Ilić | Martynas Andriuškevičius | Louis Williams | Erazem Lorbek | Bracey Wright | Mickaël Gelabale | Andray Blatche | Ryan Gomes | Robert Whaley | Axel Hervelle | Orien Greene | Dijon Thompson | Lawrence Roberts | Amir Johnson | Marcin Gortat | Uroš Slokar | Cenk Akyol | Alex Acker
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