It’s a battle of point guards in tonight’s Bulls game.  Deron Williams and the Nets will have another shot at Derrick Rose and Chicago.

The Bulls got the best of the Nets a month ago, and they’ll probably win by more this time around, despite the fact that tonight it’s in New Jersey.

Luol Deng will be in the line-up tonight, his second game since returning from an injury.

He is absolutely pivotal in what the Bulls do well.  Rose is the superstar, but Deng makes his life a hell of a lot easier.

I’d be looking for Rose to string together a series of really strong games at this point in the season.  He might bring up his scoring and assists average dramatically in the next ten games.

I had a few thoughts on the Nets guard, out of U of I, Deron Williams.

I think he’s one of the best point guards in the league, and as many have probably said before, this is an era of great point guards.

I’m a big fan of Deron Williams, and as good as he is, I believe he could be better.

When I watch him play, especially in the last two years, it seems like he is looking to score more than he used to.  That could be an adjustment to having fewer offensive weapons at his disposal… but I’m seeing something a bit different.

When we’re seeing more superstar point guards out there who are more Allen Iverson and less Steve Nash, it’s easy to see why a superstar caliber point guard would try to make scoring points himself a higher priority in his game…

Deron Williams is a very good scorer, but I’m still not convinced that’s his game.  He could really benefit from aiming for 14 assists before 20 pts, and obviously, so would any team that has him.

Williams is not Derrick Rose or Chris Paul.  Rose sees the scoring opportunity and then uses explosive speed and body control to capitalize on it.  That’s what he does best.  Williams, on the other hand, seems a bit too willing to just try to work it himself and force the issue.

Williams, being more of a physical force than Rose, would find some success in that method, but ultimately, it puts Deron’s fantastic court vision on the back-burner, where it should never be.

He still could be averaging 20 a game, because thinking pass-first 90% of the time, would create more opportunities naturally for Williams to score.  And then, in 10 years, we’d marvel at what a consistent, competitive monster of a player Deron Williams had become, and discussing how quickly he’ll be inducted to the Hall of Fame.