Don’t pull out the “loyalty” card on Deron Williams.
Some Nets fans have tried it on twitter as a way to convince D-Will to stay in New Jersey — actually, make that Brooklyn — and not opt-out this summer. Williams will have none of it. He keeps saying his loyalty is to winning.
What Williams told Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports follows what he has said all along — he is going to look at all his options this summer. And that loyalty in the NBA tends to be a one-way street — fans beg teams to dump unproductive players but want good players to be loyal to the organization.
“People get traded all the time,” Williams told Yahoo! Sports. “They don’t get backlash as an organization. If [players] leave, we are not loyal, we are ungrateful. People say stuff to me on Twitter. They already think I’m gone. They are out there bashing me, saying to me I’m a traitor.
“I didn’t ask to be here. I got traded. I didn’t come here being a free agent. This is the first time that I’m a free agent in my career.”
If the Nets had completed their plan and gotten Dwight Howard, Williams confirmed that he pretty much would be staying. But Howard will play next season (or at least up to the trade deadline) in Orlando and his future could go a lot of directions. Williams isn’t tying his future to Howard’s.
This summer pretty much comes down to Brooklyn and hope with a young roster vs. Dallas, which has a winning culture, Dirk Nowitzki and can offer him a max deal (but less than what the Nets can offer). Williams was born and raised in the Dallas area.
Right now Williams is saying it’s about winning (everyone says its about winning until the money is on the table). But more than most, he might mean it.
Not sure what that will be for sure, but he sounds like a guy who will test the market for sure.
