This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
New Jersey coach Avery Johnson is a big Deron Williams fan.Asked about the prospect of playing Williams and the Jazz on Wednesday night at EnergySolutions Arena, Johnson had high praise for the Utah point guard."He's big and strong and physical," Johnson said. "He's a guy that's multi-dimensional. If you play him too soft, he burns you with the jumper. If you get up on him, he's got the quickness and strength to get by you. He can post you up. Like John Stockton, he's another good screen setter. He knows their offense. He's been in their system for awhile. He plays with a lot of confidence — you know, national team. He's been in some tough playoff series against some really good teams. So he knows what he's doing."After a pause, Johnson added, "He's a guy I'd pay to see and that's a strong statement from me."Johnson was happy to hear that his point guard, Devin Harris, would be available against the Jazz.Harris committed a flagrant foul in the Nets' win over the Clippers on Monday night in Los Angeles and Johnson feared he might be suspended. After the Nets' practice on Tuesday afternoon, Johnson said, "It's a load off me. So tonight, instead of sleeping five hours, I may sleep six."Johnson will continue to encourage his players to commit hard fouls, when the situation arises. But he doesn't want them to go over the line." ... We don't advocate that kind of foul — a flagrant foul," Johnson said. "We've been talking about hard fouls but not one like that. You know, a guy drives down the middle and we put a guy on the deck. We go after him really hard. We wrap him up. It's legal. It's hard. It's not flagrant. That's what we're talking about."— Steve Luhm