Utah Jazz without pointguard Deron Williams to start the season

The Utah Jazz got a bit of a “good news/bad news” situation on Monday regarding their star pointguard Deron Williams.  First, the good news: Williams didn’t suffer serious injury when he went down during a preseason game in Chicago and had to be lugged off of the court by teammates like a sack of potatoes.  A MRI revealed no damage to the bones and ligaments in his right ankle.

The bad news, however, is that he suffered a second degree ankle sprain that will keep him sidelined for two weeks.  That’ll include the Jazz’s first two regular season games, both at home against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday and the LA Clippers on Saturday.  After that, the Jazz may limit his minutes somewhat in early stages of the never ending NBA season as a precautionary measure.

Williams along with power forward Carlos Boozer have become an almost uncanny 21st century redux of the Jazz’s legendary two headed monster comprised by John Stockton and Karl Malone.  Many pundits originally questioned Utah’s selection of the 6’3” guard out of Illinois with the 3rd pick in the 2005 NBA draft—no one disputed his talent, but many questioned if he had the size, strength and toughness to be an elite level NBA playmaker.  Williams quickly silenced the critics and has become arguably the best young pointguard in the NBA.  Like his predecessor John Stockton, he’s wowed fans with his versatility, toughness and heart.

Williams didn’t get much rest in the offseason, as he was a vital part of the US Olympic Basketball team that won a gold medal in Beijing.  As the competition progressed, he began to get significantly more minutes than the team’s nominal starter at the point, Dallas’ Jason Kidd.  Williams became not only the first University of Illinois to win an Olympic basketball gold medal, but the first ever to make the team.

There is at least something for a silver lining for the Jazz, as they’re a team that seeks out and develops players who can operate within Jerry Sloan’s simple to execute/impossible to stop “pick and roll” based system.  Players don’t last in Utah if they can’t play within this system and handle the ball effectively.  In addition to backup pointguard Ronnie Price and veteran Brevin Knight (whom the Jazz signed as a free agent in the offseason) they’ve got other options within their offense—shooting guard Ronnie Brewer, swingman CJ Miles and even forward Andrei Kirilenko have run the offense at various points in the preseason.