Is Deron Williams better than Chris Paul?
05/30/2007
Paulsen Home / Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
Think back to the 2005 NBA Draft.
When the Utah Jazz traded their #6 and #27 picks for Portland’s #3 pick and used it to draft Illinois’ Deron Williams, I thought they made a mistake by passing on Wake Forest’s Chris Paul. The reasoning was that Williams was a “better fit for the system,” which made me wonder why the franchise was making long-term decisions based on Jerry Sloan, who had missed the playoffs the previous two years and was coming off his worst season in 18 years. Really, who’s going to be around longer, the 63-year-old Sloan or a 21-year-old point guard?
After the 2005-06 season, when Paul led the Hornets’ resurgence and ran away with the Rookie of the Year award, the Williams pick really looked like a mistake. Just take a look at their numbers from that season:
| MPG | PPG | APG | RPG | SPG | TPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | |
| Paul | 36.0 | 16.1 | 7.8 | 5.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 0.430 | 0.282 | 0.847 |
| Williams | 28.8 | 10.8 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 0.421 | 0.416 | 0.704 |
Save for three-point accuracy, Paul dominated Williams in every important statistical category. Meanwhile, Williams languished on the bench for much of the first half of the season, but he did begin to make some strides later on, averaging 13.2 points and 5.5 assists after the All-Star break.
During the summer of 2006, Chris Paul played for Team USA in the World Championships while Deron Williams spent the summer working on his game. No one was expecting the leap that Williams (or the Jazz) would take during the 2006-07 season.
| MPG | PPG | APG | RPG | SPG | TPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | |
| Paul | 36.8 | 17.3 | 8.9 | 4.4 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 0.437 | 0.350 | 0.818 |
| Williams | 36.9 | 16.2 | 9.3 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 0.456 | 0.322 | 0.767 |
Paul was still statistically superior in six of the eight categories, but Williams closed the numbers gap considerably, and was even able to surpass Paul in assists, which was unthinkable before the season. Moreover, the Jazz finished first in the Northwest with a 51-31 record while the Hornets muddled through an injury-plagued season en route to a 39-43 record and a lottery appearance. Even so, after the regular season, most GMs would’ve still preferred Paul.
However, after the Jazz recent playoff run, Williams is making his case. For the first two rounds, his postseason stats didn’t depart much from his regular season numbers, but he did come up big in Game 7 of the Houston series, posting 20 points and 14 assists in a 103-99 win on the road. He averaged 20.5 points and 10.3 assists in the first four games of the Golden State series before a miserable 2-point/7-assist outing in Game 5, which the Jazz still won. Of course, it’s not uncommon for a young player to have a really bad game once in a while, so I’ll cut him some slack.
But it’s Williams’ play in the San Antonio series that is really raising eyebrows around the league. In the first four games, he has averaged 29.5 points and 9.3 assists, while shooting a blistering 53.7% from the field, single-handedly keeping the Jazz competitive. Moreover, he is proving to be Bruce Bowen’s most difficult cover in these playoffs, which is saying a lot since Bowen had to check Steve Nash in the Phoenix series.
With the Spurs’ leading 3-1 with two more games to play in San Antonio, we probably won’t see the Jazz in the NBA Finals. Still, for a team that won just 26 games two seasons ago, an appearance in the Conference Finals is quite an accomplishment. For that, they have Deron Williams to thank.
When it’s all said and done, Paul may very well have the better career, but it’s clear now that Utah acquired a great player in the 2005 draft.
Nice pick, fellas.
Send questions and comments to jpaulsen@bullz-eye.com.