Deron Williams is “getting there.”
But clearly, the Nets point guard isn’t there yet when it comes to his health. Held out for all but one preseason game with a sprained right ankle and bone bruise, Williams is averaging just over 25 minutes through three regular-season contests, while tallying eight points and eight assists per game and shooting 36 percent from the field.
“I’m getting there, trying to get there,” he said, when asked if he needs to be more aggressive. “Hopefully close. It’s just a matter of getting my legs under me. I haven’t done anything in six months, I’ve been pretty much limited to just jogging. I’m trying to get there, get my confidence back in my legs and I’ll be ready.”
When asked whether there is still a minutes restriction on Williams, coach Jason Kidd said, “We’ll see how he feels. This is training camp for him.”
Williams would like to begin to get “there” Tuesday night at Barclays Center against his old team, the Jazz. He has yet to beat them since being traded three years ago.
“Hopefully we can get a win tonight,” he said. “That’s the goal.”
Mirza Teletovic said his Sunday night tweet in Croatian that translated to “I hate liars” wasn’t related to his playing time, or lack thereof.
“Nothing to do with basketball at all or the Nets,” he said. “It was meant for somebody in my language, and I don’t see anybody working with the nets [who knows] my language. It has nothing to do with Nets.”
Teletovic has appeared in just one of the Nets’ first three games, and that was in garbage time of Sunday’s loss to the Magic. He received a “DNP-coach’s decision” in the first two games. Teletovic, who spent most of his first NBA season on the bench after an impressive European career, scored three points on 1-of-6 shooting with a rebound and two assists in 6:58.
“Frustrating is we lose the game,” he said. “We have an unbelievable team. Just to lose the game the way we lost hurts. I think the whole season is going to be much better.”
When asked about Teletovic’s tweet, Kidd said, “I’m not on Twitter.”
“I think right now, if I’m correct, we only played four [actually three] games and a lot of people haven’t played,” he said.
Kidd “thinks” the Nets will be at full strength against the Jazz.
Center Brook Lopez and forward Andray Blatche took part in shootaround after suffering minor ankle injuries Sunday and missing practice on Monday.
“I think both will be fine, we’ll see how they feel this morning and we’ll make our decision later on,” Kidd said.