Despite a fractured exit, the former All-Star reveals why Salt Lake City remains his favorite destination, citing a perfect roster fit and the purity of small-market basketball.
Deron Williams had one preferred destination when the 2005 NBA Draft arrived, and it wasn't the type of market most 21-year-old stars dream about. He wanted Utah.
The Jazz were coming off a 26-win season and hadn't reached the playoffs since John Stockton's retirement two years prior ... but Williams saw something beyond the record.
Utah already had Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur and Matt Harpring. After the Jazz traded up from No. 6 to No. 3, Williams believed he'd landed in as good of a basketball situation as a top-three pick could reasonably expect.
"I actually, that was probably the place I wanted to land," Williams said during a recent appearance on the Out The Mud podcast. "I felt like basketball-wise it was the best situation."
Twenty-one years, four NBA franchises and one complicated Jazz departure later ... Williams still hasn't found a place he enjoyed more.
"People always ask me what my favorite place to play, my favorite teams to play," Williams said. "It was definitely Utah."
That's quite the endorsement from someone whose six-season run with the franchise didn't exactly feature a .... storybook ending.
But Williams spent considerably more time during the conversation discussing what worked in Utah.
Boozer became the ideal pick-and-roll partner for a young point guard developing into one of the NBA's best. Okur provided shooting from the center position years before floor-spacing big men became commonplace. Kirilenko could defend, rebound, pass and protect the rim.
Williams even believes two members of that core would've been particularly well-suited for today's NBA.
He joked that Okur could make "a couple hundred" million dollars in the modern league and argued Kirilenko could've been one of its best players if he developed a more consistent jump shot.
The results weren't bad in their own era, either.
Williams helped Utah reach the playoffs in four consecutive seasons from 2007 through 2010, including a Western Conference Finals appearance during his second year.
He also earned two All-Star selections and two All-NBA Second Team honors before the Jazz traded him to the then-New Jersey Nets in February 2011.
His relationship with Jerry Sloan had become complicated by then — and Williams' departure ensured his Utah tenure would always carry some baggage.
More than 15 years later, that doesn't seem to be the part Williams values most.
He described his early years in Utah as "pure basketball," before becoming increasingly aware of the politics and other complications surrounding the NBA as his career progressed.
Maybe that's why the answer to his favorite stop remains so simple.
Utah was where Williams wanted to begin his NBA career.
After playing everywhere else, it's still the place he remembers most fondly.
