Deron Williams: 'If I'm 0-for-f---ing-9, I'm not shooting 20 more shots'
Brooklyn guard Deron Williams responded to Kobe Bryant's critical comments.
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2 min read
Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams has responded to Kobe Bryant after the Los Angeles Lakers star criticized him for shooting 0-for-9 in a playoff game against the Miami Heat. At Nets practice on Sunday, he had some colorful words about it, via The Brooklyn Game's Devin Kharpertian:
"I'm a point guard," Williams said about adopting Bryant's mentality. "If I'm 0-for-f**king-9, I'm not shooting 20 more shots. Not going to happen. I'm a point guard. I'm going to find somebody else. Kobe Bryant, that's what he's supposed to do. He's got that mentality. That works for him, I got my mentality, it works for me."
Williams wasn't directly attacking Bryant for the comments, but wanted it clear that he's a point guard, and his role isn't to take shots from his teammates. He added that he doesn't use last year as motivation.
"I don't really care (what people say)," Williams said, half-joking. "I don't read the papers for a reason. I read the Daily News, I stop right when I get to the sports section."
If you never saw the quote that started this whole thing, here it is, via Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard:
Gotham Chopra, the director of “Kobe Bryant’s Muse”, an upcoming documentary on Bryant, told a story about being with Kobe and watching the Nets and the Heat play. Recounts Chopra, “Deron Williams went like 0-for-9. I was like, ‘Can you believe Deron Williams went 0-9?’ Kobe was like, ‘I would go 0-30 before I would go 0-9. 0-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game, because Deron Williams can get more shots in the game. The only reason is because you've just now lost confidence in yourself.’
We should note a couple of things:
1. Bryant said this privately while watching a game. He didn't tell it to a reporter -- a film director (and the son of Deepak Chopra!) did. It's not as if Bryant told the world he thought Williams had taken the wrong approach. Let's not act like he was trying to start a war of words.
2. As Williams said, these two players don't play the same role. Williams only averaged 11 field goal attempts per game last season; Bryant has averaged about 20 field goal attempts per game in his career. It's never good to lose confidence, but Williams is first and foremost responsible for getting his teammates involved. Those teammates might not appreciate it if their point guard is jacking jumpers after missing his first nine shots in a postseason game.
