Before there was Jeremy Lin, there was Deron Williams. The New York Knicks sported a gaping hole at the point guard position, making Williams the next big target on the Knicks’ radar—until emerging star Lin fell from the heavens.
But with some of Lin’s magic tapering off over the past few weeks, and Williams’ potential exit from New Jersey becoming more likely with each Nets loss, the AFRO asks the question: should the Knicks pursue Williams this offseason? Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley of the AFRO Sports Desk search for the truth.
Riley: Lin’s story has been remarkable and his presence has breathed life back into the Knicks franchise. But with Williams, we’re talking about arguably the game’s best floor general. If Williams makes it known this summer that he wants to be a Knick, I don’t see how New York’s management can ignore his request and continue to engulf themselves in Linsanity. Williams just dropped 38 points against New York in a 100-92 victory Feb. 20, restoring himself after an earlier lackluster showing against the Knicks set the Lin bandwagon in motion. Williams’ contract will be up once the summer hits, and New York should pull out all the stops to get him and save Super Lintendo for a reserve role.
Green: Williams will undoubtedly command a high-salaried contract and I don’t know if the Knicks can even afford him. Besides, Lin has been just fine as New York’s point guard and he offers them a potent player at a beer budget price. Williams is clearly the better player at this point, but Lin’s potential is through the roof considering what he’s done in such a short span. Acquiring Williams would probably cost the Knicks some of its new found depth in J.R. Smith, a healthy Baron Davis and a number of role players, so why not just keep the team intact and go with what you have?
Riley: You don’t roll with what you have in New York because at this point you still don’t know what you have. Despite a hot February, Lin is still a virtual unknown at this point. We haven’t seen him in a playoff game, we haven’t seen him adjust to teams keying on him and we haven’t seen how he bounces back from an off night or bad stretch. Money doesn’t matter in New York. The Knicks have the biggest market in the league and the fact that they doled out the dollars to land Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire means that they’re all in for a championship. Now’s not the time to act cheap. If the opportunity to acquire a proven all-star lead man presents itself, then the Knicks could go into next fall with one of the best teams—if not the best team—in the East.
Green: But what you keep failing to mention is that although the team probably could afford to bring Williams on the payroll, it would sacrifice much of its depth to do so. As we saw last season, teams win championships, not Big Threes. As the weeks have gone on, no team has acquired more depth of quality players than the Knickerbockers. Again, they’re happy with Lin and he’s the toast of the town for now. Yes, I admit, he’s still virtually unproven on the bigger stage of the postseason but New York will get their answers at the end of the year. If Lin performs well, or at least adequately, in the playoffs then we should kill the Williams rumors. New York was in the market for a point guard before Lin emerged as the real deal. They already have their floor general of the future. Anything else would just be a waste of money.
