This was the best picture I could find of Williams in a Besiktas uniform
With the news that Besiktas is retiring Deron Williams jersey, the speculation I began earlier about him staying in Turkey doesn’t appear as though it is going to come to fruition. The proposition cost me $5.00, as I bet my brother with 10/1 odds that Williams would remain in Turkey.
Williams averaged less per game than he did in the NBA. He posted 19.7 points per game and 6.4 assists per game, but for Turkish fans it was a rare treat to see a player with Deron Williams’ skill set. Plus, he did drop a 50 point game.
In total, Deron Williams played only 15 games abroad, and now the lockout has come to an end and he will return to the New Jersey Nets. It remains to be seen what lies ahead for the 27 year old point guard out of Illinois. He has career averages of 17.2 points per game and 9.2 assists per game and is clearly one of the best three point guards in the game, along with Chris Paul of New Orleans and Rajon Rondo of Boston. Throw Steve Nash in there, too, if you want to mention an ageless legend.
It will probably go down for Williams as one of the highlights of his career. His entire stay in Turkey, every picture I saw, he was wearing a shit eating grin, as though he was definitely having the time of his life. His tweets reflected that, as well, as he learned new Turkish phrases and tried them out on his Twitter followers.
OK, just found this; slightly better!
It’s good to see guys like Deron willing to branch out and give new things a try. The easy path would have been sitting at home with his feet up eating Doritos and playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare with Dwight Howard (My friend recently played with Howard on Play Station online). Or even playing World of Warcraft with Gilbert Arenas.
But Williams didn’t do that. He stepped out of his comfort zone and became a living legend in a country that had previously only extensively seen the likes of Marcin Gortat and Mehmet Okur. Polish fans will remember Williams, and I’m sure he’ll remember them, too.