<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Three years at Illinois, four years of high school back in Texas, dozens of all-star games and summer tournaments, hundreds of pick-up games - basically, almost two decades of nonstop basketball has prepared Deron Williams well for the challenge he now frequently tackles with the Jazz. Oh, wait. No it hasn't. "Never played the position before," Williams said of his increasingly common assignment as the Jazz's shooting guard. "I never wanted to be a two-guard. I've always seen myself as a pass-first point guard." So do the Jazz. Usually. But in nearly every game this season Utah coach Jerry Sloan has put Williams on the floor, but taken the ball out of his hands. More than one-third of the rookie's minutes so far have come with Milt Palacio alongside him in the backcourt. And Palacio usually handles the point-guard duties. That has added an additional burden - learning a new position - to the already-stiff challenge of adapting to the NBA's best-in-the-world level of play. "He's been able to adjust to that because he understands what's going on. He has a pretty good feel for the game," Sloan said. "He can shoot the basketball coming off screens and pin-downs, and he can play off the pick-and-roll and get shots. Plus, he can make them. A lot of guys can get shots, but can you make them?" </div> <div align="center">Source</div>
