The NBA may have woken up a sleeping giant heading into the new season next week.
According to a recent NBA poll released Monday, taken among the league's general managers, the Brooklyn Nets' point guard and star player Deron Williams was not even ranked in the top four of the league's best at his position.
Instead, Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul was ranked No. 1. The injured Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls-last year's top pick in the survey-was ranked second, the Boston Celtics' point man Rajon Rondo listed at No.3, and the San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker rounding out the list at No.4.
Speaking on the snub, Williams told the New York Daily News afterwards that it wasn't really bothering him.
"It's easy to forget about people when they're on losing teams that aren't really relevant and aren't on TV," Williams said after practice Tuesday. "I didn't have a great year statistically, so that will hurt, too."
Normally, a 17.6 points per game scorer for his career, Williams scored 20 points per game last season, though his assists numbers were down to 8.7 per game as opposed to his career stats of 9.2 assists per game.
"I just want to win. I don't care where I'm ranked among point guards," Williams added. "I'm not here to do any point guard battles this year. There's no 1-on-1 tournaments for point guards. I just want to win."
It will be, however, one of the many things driving him this season. And in a year where the Nets are expected to make some big noise with the additions of Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace, that's not good news for other teams in the Atlantic Division or the league itself.
"Everything motivates me," Williams said.
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