When the Nets take the floor Friday at the team’s New Jersey practice facility, Deron Williams will mostly be watching from the sidelines.
Williams has been very limited in his participation since the start of training camp last week because of the sprained right ankle and accompanying bone bruise he suffered during an offseason workout in Utah early last month, and likely will remain so for the foreseeable future.
“There’s no update on Deron’s status right now,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said on a conference call with reporters Thursday after giving his team the day off. “He’s just doing some light shooting.”
Because of the way the Nets’ schedule breaks, it’s hard to say when Williams will participate in his first full practice. Because the Nets have games Saturday night at home against Detroit, Monday in Philadelphia and next Tuesday and Thursday against Boston and Miami, respectively, in Brooklyn, that leaves them with just two practices — Friday and Sunday — over the next week.
It seems extremely unlikely Williams will play in any of the next four preseason games. It appears the next realistic chance for Williams to ramp up his activities would be next weekend, when the Nets are scheduled to have four practices during a five-day break between games. Assuming Williams is able to begin practicing at some point during that period, that would give him two games — in Boston on Oct. 23 and in Miami on Oct. 25 — to get accustomed to his new teammates before the season begins on Oct. 30 in Cleveland.
***
In a piece of good injury news for the Nets, Kidd said Jason Terry would practice fully Friday for the first time this season after briefly participating in the full-contact portion of practice Monday.
“For him, it’s about building up,” Kidd said. “So he’ll practice, and we’ll take it day-by-day.”
Terry is expected to sit out Saturday’s preseason home opener against the Pistons, but it appears likely that, assuming he makes it through practice Friday and Sunday, he will make his preseason debut either Monday in Philadelphia or Tuesday in Brooklyn against the Celtics.