I suppose I understand how Deron Williams could possibly not like playing for the Nets. He’s from Texas, kinda settled down in Utah for a while, and is now forced to live in New Jersey by way of a trade he claims he didn’t ask for.
It’s also possible he may not particularly enjoy Brooklyn either, isn’t looking forward to that move, and is actually more of a Scarface guy anyways as opposed to Jay-Z.
I really have no idea, nor do I have anything personally against the bustling East Coast metropolis myself, but I guess I could see how somebody may not like living in one place as much as they might like living in another. So maybe that’s about where D-Will comes out on the whole living in New Jersey thing at the moment, or maybe he just thinks the Nets organization is real awful with no hope of getting better. Who knows.
That said, he would have to really, really, really, hate playing for the Nets if he plans on opting out of that final year of his contract, right? You know, that 2012-13 player option year he’s signed on to make almost $18 million during? Because that’s kinda what he’s inferring here with this I’m not going to buy I’m renting thing he’s blogging about from Turkey.
If you missed what I’m referring too, the summary is as follows from FoxSports.com:
Deron Williams said he is undecided about his Nets future and is talking of renting not buying when he returns from Turkey after the lockout ends, the New York Post reported Sunday. Williams can opt out of the final year of his contract, worth $17,779,458 for 2012-13, when this NBA season — which is yet to even begin because of the labor stoppage — comes to an end.
That decision affects every phase of the Nets operation, of course. And Williams has said virtually everything the Nets want to hear about staying, until now. In his latest blog from Istanbul, where he has been playing with Turkish team Besiktas during the lockout, Williams did not sound like a guy who is completely committed to the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets.
“The lockout is still going. If the CBA [collective bargaining agreement] is finalized and I’ll need to come back to the NBA, I think it takes some time for them to get everything on paper, maybe three or four weeks. If we make a deal, I’ll try to come back as soon as possible,” Williams wrote.
But he added, “As far as living, I don’t have a place in New Jersey yet. I don’t want to buy anywhere, just planning to rent for now. I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do after the NBA season. We’ll see.”
Literally Deron Williams would either have to be nuts or actually not care at all about money if he opted out of his deal at the end of this season. There is no way he will make $17.8 million under the new CBA whenever that gets finalized, and he’s crazy to think that he could, or would. Now maybe he’s trying to put pressure on the organization to improve the roster around him by floating something like this out there, and still plans to pick up that option regardless, but the idea that he’s even saying he might not is almost insulting.
I don’t even like the Nets, I have no real opinion on Deron Williams other than I think he’s a top-5 PG in the NBA when healthy, but I just simply think there is no way he is walking away from that money. Especially if he ends up not getting the money he was supposed to get from the Nets this season too. If he does end up walking at the end of this season though, for reasons like family or really trying to go join a winner, and knowingly takes less than the $17-plus million he’s currently guaranteed, he’s a much better man than me.
