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Mike Monroe: D-Will adjusting to A.J.’s offense

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BROOKLYN, N.Y. — When Deron Williams feuded with Jerry Sloan two seasons ago, the then-68-year-old Hall of Fame coach of the Utah Jazz resigned after 22-plus seasons as the team’s coach.

This ought to make Nets coach Avery Johnson a little nervous because Williams is a Net now, and he maintains that the offense Sloan ran in Utah is preferable to what Johnson has his team running in New York City’s most populous borough.

The styles of Johnson’s Nets and Sloan’s Jazz were in sharp focus here because the Nets, losers of six of their previous eight games, were about to play the Jazz at the Barclays Center on Tuesday night.

After Monday’s practice session in the NBA’s newest arena, Williams asserted that he had loved playing in Sloan’s system in Utah, which probably came as a surprise to Sloan.

“That system was a great system for my style of play,” Williams said. “I love Coach Sloan’s system. I loved the offense there.”

And Johnson’s system?

It has not made him a better player, Williams said, hardly a necessary assertion considering the decline in every aspect of his game.

“Is it as good (here) as there?” he said. “No. There’s more one-on-one and (isolations). I’m used to movement, and I’m still trying to adjust, and I’m still adjusting but it’s coming along.”

An All-NBA second-team selection in Utah in 2009-10, when he shot 47 percent from the floor and averaged 18.7 points and 10.5 assists, Williams entered Tuesday’s game against the Jazz averaging 17 points and 8.9 assists. He had made only 38.8 percent of his shots and 29.9 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.

When the Nets play the Eastern Conference-leading Knicks tonight for the third time this season, Williams won’t even be the best point guard on the Madison Square Garden floor.

Take your pick: Haven’t Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd had better starts to the season than Williams?

What is clear is that Williams would like to play a more free-wheeling style, and his comments caused a media stir because, well, it’s New York City.

Johnson preaches patience and calls Williams’ complaints and their subsequent run through the Big Apple spin machine part of the cycle of the season.

Even Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has had to deal with that, said the Little General, though it’s hard to recall a time any player ever publicly questioned Popovich’s approach to anything.

“Everybody goes through it,” Johnson said. “Popovich and (Tony) Parker went through it. I went through it with Popovich. So that’s the way it is, guys. It’s part of the cycle of the season.”

Williams stood by his comments and said they had caused no problems with his coach.

“He knows that you guys take stuff and run with it, and you write what you write,” he said. “There’s nothing to it. My stance hasn’t changed. I said I can adapt to any offense, and I’m working towards that.”

The Nets blew a double-digit lead and lost to the Jazz as Williams struggled, yet again. He scored only 14 points, missing seven of 12 shots.

Somewhere, Sloan is shaking his head in wonderment.

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Twitter: @Monroe_SA


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