Right now we are entering what many are calling the age of point guards. Most the teams in the league currently have an all-star caliber point man and those who don’t have had a hard time winning. One of the best point guards in the modern age is a successor to a long line of all-star point guards which began with Ricky Green ran through a nearly 20 year stupendous career of John Stockton and brings us to Deron Williams. Growing up Williams went a different way than most other future NBA players; he was a wrestler who won two state wrestling championships. Williams became a high school star at The Colony high school near Dallas and was recruited by the University of Illinois.

The Utah Jazz made Williams the third overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft, one pick ahead of Chris Paul. Williams initially struggled with the Jazz coming off the bench to back up Keith McLeod. For a time Williams found himself third in the depth chart behind McLeod and Milt Palacio. Some of his struggles were due to Jazz coach Jerry Sloan playing Williams at the two guard spot. Everything changed for Williams and the Jazz after a game against the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets and his rival Chris Paul. Williams had the best game of his career and lead the struggling Jazz to an impressive victory. From that point onward the Jazz turned it around and finished the season 41-41.

By his second season Williams had established himself as an up and coming point guard to be reckoned with and he would prove it that year on the NBA’s biggest stage. The Jazz began the season on fire winning 12 of their first 13 games, the 12-1 mark being the best start in franchise history. The Jazz would win 51 games, the Northwest division title and make the playoffs for the first time in 3 seasons. The Jazz faced off with their arch rival the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, and the Rockets took a 2-0 series lead. The Jazz battled back and forced a decisive game 7. The Jazz won game 7 in Houston, making it the first time in franchise history the team had won a game 7 on the road. Next the Jazz faced the Golden State who had stunned the 60 win #1 seeded Mavericks in the first round. Game 2 of the series was one of the greatest playoff games ever played. Williams was huge in that game hitting a shot to send it to overtime than finding Derek Fisher for a three to put the Jazz up six in OT. The Jazz would lose to the Spurs in the conference finals.

In 2008 the Jazz would win another division title and Williams numbers would continue to improve. But despite his numbers and his teams winning percentage Williams was continually passed up for the all-star game. Williams did not let that effect him and the Jazz once again made the playoffs and once again beat the Rockets. The Jazz however would lose in the second round to the Lakers.

Williams got hurt in the pre-season of the 08-09 season and would miss 13 of the teams first 15 games. Two games before Williams’s return teammate Carlos Boozer got hurt and missed the next 40 something games. The Jazz did not play with their intended starting lineup until March of 2009, but despite the injury problems which would also effect Matt Harpring, Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver the Jazz manage to stay above 500 and when all got healthy put together a 13 game win streak. Than for reasons unknown the team fell apart winning just 6 of their last 18 games and limped into the playoffs to be abused by the Lakers.

Somehow the Jazz team managed to stay together to enter the 09-10 season but the start of the season seemed to be a continuation of the end of the 08-09 season. The Jazz where just two games over 500 when in a game at Dallas Williams lead the Jazz to an improbably victory. The win seemed to change the Jazz who won 17 of their next 22 games and rocketed to the top of the western standings. Williams would be named an all-star for the first time in his career and would help the Jazz reach the playoffs again. The Jazz stunned the Nuggets in the opening round of the playoffs. Denver had high hopes after reaching the conference finals the season before, and with Andrei Kirilenko out for the seasons than Mehmet Okur rupturing his Achilles in game the Nuggets looked like sure thing to win the series after game 1. But the Jazz won 4 of the next 5 to advance to the second round where they were swept by the Lakers.

Williams has career averages of 17 points, 9 assists and 1 steal, but has averaged 10 or more assists each of the last three seasons. His future looks bright in an era where to be a good point guard you need a lot of skills, but to be a great point guard you need to be something special.

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