Deron Williams confident entering season even though 'Everybody's pretty much written me off'

Deron Williams has finally regained confidence in his troublesome ankles, and he's ready to begin the 2014-15 Brooklyn Nets season without much worry.

After all, when expectations have dropped so far and the bar is so much lower than it's been in the past, what's there to worry about?

"Everybody's pretty much written me off," Williams said in an article published on Nets.com on Tuesday. "People say I'm never gonna be like I once was. I'm on the downhill. And so what pressure do I have?"

Williams may be overstating his own demise in the public eye, but expectations are certainly lower. A five-time All-Star, the point guard has struggled over the past two seasons with the Nets, bottoming out with averages of 14.3 points and 6.1 assists in 2013-14, his worst numbers since his 2005-06 rookie campaign.

Having missed an average of 11.7 games a season since 2008-09, the hope with Williams is mostly that he stays healthy and performs adequately. He's no longer discussed as an All-Star, let alone one of the best point guards in the league. Blame the ankles, on which he's had multiple surgeries and claims will never be 100 percent.

But things are looking up, and though the ankles may not be structurally flawless, they're far better than they've been in the past.

"I'm a lot more confident," Williams said. "I just didn't have a lot of confidence in my ankles. They wouldn't allow me to do the things I was capable of doing ... I can actually run, cut, jump, so it's different."

The Nets will open their season on Wednesday against the Boston Celtics, and a certain former Celtic familiar with Williams thinks the world will remember why he's earning $19.8 million this year.

"He has the looks of a man who is out to prove something," teammate Kevin Garnett said.