Deron Williams

Deron Michael Williams is a professional basketball player from the USA. The point guard began his playing career at The Colony High School. Although a wrestler in his earlier years, Williams played basketball for The Colony High School and had 17 points per game with 9.4 assists and 2 steals in his junior year. The Cougars ended the season with a 32-2 record as Williams led them to the Class 5A state semi-finals in 2001.

In his senior year, he had 17.6 points per game while averaging at 8.5 assists and 6.1 rebounds with 2.6 steals per game. The Cougars had a 29-2 record that season, against losing in the semi-finals of the Class 5A at the Texas State level.

Williams joined the University of Illinois and in his freshman year, he started 30 of his 32 games. His 4.53 assists put him at third in the Big Ten Conference. The following year, his shooting performance went up from 6.3 to 14.0 points per game, the highest in his team. His assists had gone up to 6.17 per game and he was named to the first team of the All-Big Ten selection by coaches and the media.

In his junior year, Williams was at the forefront as the University of Illinois reached the NCAA Championship game. The team was undefeated that season until the final game of the regular season where Ohio State beat them by a single point.

At the end of the season, Williams was named as a consensus Second Team All-American while also being named to the First Team All-Big Ten as well as the Big-Ten All-Tournament team and the All-Final Four Team. He also won the award for the Most Outstanding Player of Chicago-regional, in the NCAA Tournament.

In his Sophomore year, he was named to the First-Team of the All-Big Ten conference in 2004.

Williams decided to declare for the NBA Draft in 2005. He was picked at 3rd overall, by the Utah Jazz, behind Andrew Bogut and Marvin Williams. Williams began on the bench in his rookie season and went on to get a stint as the starting point guard for some time. His rookie season ended at 10.8 points with 4.5 assists per game. He had 80 appearances in his first season and was picked on the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

In his second season, Williams was the starting point guard for the Jazz in 2006-07. The team went on a 12-1 win-loss record, the best in its history and the league that year. Williams really shone with 5 double-doubles. He improved his figures impressively to 16.2 ppg and 9.3 apg. His assists average was only behind Steve Nash in the entire NBA. The Jazz won the Northwest Division title with a 51-31 record, led by Williams' ball-handling.

In the 2007 post-season, Williams helped the Jazz win their first round series against the Houston Rockets as well as the second round against the Golden State Warriors. The Jazz lost out to Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals of the Western Conference despite a stellar performance by Williams who averaged over 30 points and 9 assists per game in the first three games against the Spurs.

In 2007-08, Deron Williams began well and in December, scored his highest ever 41-points against the Mavericks in a losing game. His scoring per game moved p to 18.8 while he had 10.5 assists per game to become the third highest in the NBA in that department. Chris Paul and Steve Nash beat him in that stat and they also beat him to the point guard slot in the Western Conference team of the All-Star game, along with Allen Iverson.

Williams won the 2008 All-Star Skills Challenge even though he wasn't a part of the biggest event of the weekend.

Williams has been known to call a number of plays overriding his coach Jerry Sloan. This was something that even John Stockton wasn't known to do. Williams made his way to 212 assists in March 2008, the most in a month since Stockton in January, 1992. Williams and the Jazz lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round in the Western Conference in the 2008 NBA Playoffs.

Williams was picked for Team USA to play at the Beijing Olympics. The team came back unbeaten, and with the Gold Medal.

In the 2008-09 season, Williams began with an ankle sprain that kept him out of 13 games. Since returning to the team, Williams has had 19.2 points per game with 10.0 rebounds but was again unable to make it to the All-Star game. He came back with 5 consecutive games of over 30-points just before the All-Star break.

In December, 2005, Williams and Robert Whaley (a teammate with the Jazz) were involved in a brawl with a Denver Nuggets fan at a bar. A group of Nugget fans came up to them and told them that they didn't think too well of the Jazz and the fight ensued. The players gave false names to the Police upon their arrival at the place.