It was around that age when he took a liking to the Pittsburgh Steelers as his favorite NFL team — not for their colors or logo or any of the other reasons little kids pick football teams, but because he liked their head coach, Mike Tomlin. That stood out to his father, who starred at cornerback at Michigan State and tested the NFL waters in the mids.
But were they faster than him? His speed is what has Power Five coaches across the country salivating. When he first started playing football, that speed created an unfair advantage. In his first game of flag football as a 6-year-old, Demond scored six touchdowns. Are you a sports fan? Stay in the know. Subscribe to azcentral. Weekends in the fall were orchestrated around the game.
Saturdays were for college. The flashier the team, the more Williams Jr. Sundays, of course, meant NFL. And each was an opportunity to learn something new from Dad. He keeps telling me what corners like to do, what they don't like to do, stuff like that. Williams said the league mandates on what type of shoes the coaches can wear, but is in favor of comfort over suits and ties. I don't have to worry about guys sweating on my suit. The way they make your suits nowadays, man, they're so tight.
I feel like I got saran wrap around my legs. I don't even like wearing some of the suits I have. I'll take this over wearing suits any day.
As he put it, "I came to coach," but Williams said he'd be fine with the coaches having to go back to wearing suits again. Before the season, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich talked about wanting to wear sweat suits for games. There looking at the end of the bench to see if somebody is wearing drip jewelry or whatever these kids say nowadays.
Whatever that is. They're not looking at coaches and they shouldn't. It's a player's game. No coaches are going to set any fashion trends. Williams concluded by saying the best dressed coaches "back in day" were Pat Riley, Larry Brown and the late, great Chuck Daly. Have opinion about current state of the Suns? That's just how it is. Me and C are competitors. Some people have it sometimes and some people you know every single time you see them, it's going to be that.
Me and Chris, definitely, we get down like that. Booker has grown into a more complete player in his six NBA seasons in terms of playmaking, but he's a natural scorer. With Paul by his side, Booker not only had someone to free him up to be that dude who can post back-to-back point games in the finals, but also set him up for easier looks. Being able to rest when you're on the floor is big in this league when you're a star,'' Kidd said.
At age 32, Billups found himself paired up with a young, dynamic scorer in then year-old Carmelo Anthony when he was traded from Detroit to Denver early in the season.
He was looking to score at all times and I just felt he needed to be led on the floor and at that time, I was on the backside of my prime.
I couldn't carry the show. I needed him, he needed me. A little more than a decade later, Billups, working as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers, watched Paul and Booker take it a step further in leading the Suns to a conference championship by beating the Clippers.
So it was just a perfect marriage. You're talking about two guys that just really want to win and have fun doing it.
Paul is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, Booker a rising superstar, but they still need a coach who understood both and could figure out ways to utilize and maximize their strengths. Williams also took a page from Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich's philosophy to help him do an even better job of coaching Booker and Paul. As great as Paul and Booker were last season, Williams also credited backup point guard Cameron Payne for his role as Payne played alongside those two.
Now with the addition of Landry Shamet, the Suns have four interchangeable guards who can score in multiple ways and facilitate for each other and everyone else.
We've all got different intangibles together and we feed off each other. Payne has a scorer's mentality and keeps defenders off balance with his jerky, hesitation moves. Shamet has showed in preseason the ability to knock down shots and create off the bounce, but make no mistake, Booker and Paul are options for Phoenix.
They're the ones who form that three-man huddle with Williams to discuss all things Suns with Paul doing a lot of talking and Booker doing most of the listening. So I'm usually standing off to the side a little bit. Just taking in some knowledge.
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