GUARDED OPTIMISM:Nets point guard Deron Williams drives against Houston’s Chuck Hayes during Saturday’s loss nearly 10 years after another stellar new point guard, Jason Kidd (above), joined New Jersey. (N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg)
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The point guard spoke after his first practice with his new Nets teammates.
“It doesn’t take long to figure where a guy likes the ball,” he said. “Just get it in his hands. I studied them and just threw the ball in different spots to see: high, low, at the chest to get a feel.
“I know where [the shooting guard] likes the ball. I figured out where [the small forward] likes it, the [sixth man], too. They just have to be ready.”
The date was Oct. 2, 2001, the speaker was Jason Kidd, who had arrived at Nets training camp late because of the birth of his twin daughters. Kidd said he knew the tendencies of Kerry Kittles, Keith Van Horn and Lucious Harris in minutes.
It seems like the latest new Nets point guard, Deron Williams, is on the same page as Kidd once was. And Williams will get to show it tonight in his first home game as a Net against the Suns in Newark.
Despite a cranky right wrist from a pre- existing injury, Williams, in his first two games with the Nets, has recorded more assists than any player in NBA history in his first two games with a new team: 29. That includes a season-high 17 in Saturday’s 123-108 loss at Houston.
The previous record was 26, by another guy with Nets ties, Kenny Anderson. The pride of Archbishop Molloy High had 26 assists with the Charlotte Hornets after he was traded there by the Nets in January 1996.
Almost everyone is in agreement that Williams’ assist total could have been in the stratosphere had the Nets been more familiar with him or had they been better shooters.
There was one major difference in Williams’ and Kidd’s study times: Kidd’s first Nets practice was in a training camp; Williams has yet to have a real practice. He arrived after a jet-lagged journey and a press conference, then flew out for a two-game trip. He went through one shootaround.
And Williams still had 17 assists in one game, 29 in two. With the added aggravation of a sore wrist.
“Deron is out there playing hard. He’s just trying to figure out some things about his teammates,” coach Avery Johnson said. “Even some of the passes that he threw, he thought a guy was going to be in one spot and he wasn’t there. We’ll look at that.”
After Williams had 12 assists Friday against the Spurs, Johnson acknowledged it could have been 20 had the Nets shot better. Now fans can see what all the fuss is about when the banged up Nets — Jordan Farmar (ankle) and Anthony Morrow (knee) also have aches and pains — roll out Williams in his home debut.
“It should be a lot of fun,” Williams said. “There’ll probably be a lot of energy in the building.”
Energy and concern. Williams needs rest for his wrist. But rest is something that should be a rare commodity because he has to get used to his teammates. Imagine how things could go when he gets a chance to throw it high, low, at the chest?
“You would like to have one or two practices to learn stuff and not get thrown in the fire. It’s good. You can’t really simulate that in practice,” Williams said. “Because of my wrist I can’t do the things I want to and take the shots I want to. As far as getting used to the guys, talking about their offensive and defensive tendencies, it’s a different language here than [in] Utah. I’m still trying to learn the calls and coverages.”