DW8 > CP3?

We're not ready to say one is better than the other, but we're ready to apologize to the Utah Jazz. Maybe you should too. On Draft Day 2005, the Utah Jazz traded up to the #3 spot in order to pick Deron Williams, sending the #6 overall pick, the #27 overall pick, and a future first rounder to Portland. The Jazz opted for Williams because of his "NBA body" at 6'3" and 210, and decided against picking Paul because he was only 6'0" and 175 pounds. The pick of Williams over Paul wasn't scorned like a certain Knicks draft pick, but only a few games into the season, the common thought was that the Jazz would live to regret their selection. Hell, the guy became hot shit so quickly, he even picked up a lame ass nickname of "CP3."

Paul won the Rookie of the Year award in a landslide last year, picking up 124 of the 125 first place votes. Though Williams finished sixth in the ROY voting, he had the only other first place vote. Paul led all rookies in points (16.1), assists (7.8), and steals (2.2), while Williams averaged 10.8 points, 4.5 assists, and 0.8 steals. Our best guess for what merited a first place vote for Williams? He was tied for the fewest ejections by all rookies with zero.

This year, however, we're seeing a whole new Deron. Through seven games, Williams is averaging 17 points, 8.7 assists, 1.6 steals, and has a 3.2 to 1 A/TO ratio. Paul has also played seven games, and is averaging 19.4 points, 9.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and has a 2.5 to 1 A/TO ratio.

While Deron also has the numbers, he's also pretty clutch. Last night against Milwaukee, the Jazz pulled off an impressive road victory thanks in large part to Williams. Michael Redd hit a three pointer with 7 seconds left to tie the game at 111, but Deron ran it right on back down the court. Matt Harpring, standing in the corner, saw a hole and cut down the baseline, and Deron Williams found him for the game-winning basket.

It may be early in the season, but Williams certainly seems to have turned the corner. So in order to commemorate what appears to be a breakout year for Williams, we'd first like to apologize to the Jazz for talking shit about their decision not to draft Chris Paul. In order to make up for saying things like "Kevin O'Connor is senile," we'd like to help the Jazz by giving Deron a nickname. Since the trend of nicknames for point guards from the 2005 NBA Draft is "first name initial + last name initial + jersey number," we are officially nominating "DW8" for Deron Williams.

This makes us lame too? Fine, let's see what everyone else has.

Other suggestions:

The Sheriff

In an interview with the Daily Illini -- an interview littered with questions that were every bit as boring as the answers -- Deron shed light on a possible nickname:

Q: If you played and-1, what would your nickname be?
A: They call me The Sheriff because I lock people up.

Also asked in the interview: "If you could trade bodies with a teammate who would it be?" and "What are the biggest negatives when a young player jumps to the NBA early?" We have reason to believe a four year old conducted this interview, so on principle alone, we think "The Sheriff" should probably be thrown out the window.

D-Will

OwnTheDraft.com's 2005 Mock Draft explains:

Nickname: D-Will (like J-Kidd, we couldn't think of anything better)

I'm pretty sure Marcus Williams has first dibs on the (Firstinitial)-Will nickname as he's Kidd's teammate, so that wouldn't stick either.

Whatever. Someone else come up with a better nickname or else let's just say Deron sucks.