The rise & shine: Life of hard work pays off for Jazz's competitive Deron Williams

DALLAS — He often has played second fiddle.

But Deron Williams can't stand anything shy of first place.

Matt Mitnick — best friend since the two were in day care together, close confidante and frequently nearby right-hand man — knows.

Oh, does he know.

"Everything we ever do is a competition," said Mitnick, whose business card says "Personal Assistant" on one side and "Special Projects Coordinator" for Williams' Point of Hope foundation on the other. "Everything from playing pingpong to playing basketball, football, baseball. Cards, dominos, whatever.

"He gets real mad if I beat him in anything," Mitnick adds, "so I try to help his ego and let him win as much as I can."

Mitnick laughs, knowing Williams — Jazz point guard, Olympic gold medal winner and today a first-time NBA All-Star Game participant — would chuckle at the assertion even more heartily.

Because whatever you do, Deron Williams — who'll play for the Western Conference in front of more than 90,000 at the new Cowboys Stadium in nearby Arlington — wants to do it better.

It's been that way since the two were growing up in suburban Dallas, and it will be that way, Mitnick suspects, long after Williams is done chasing a still-unfilled aspiration agenda.

For that, the Boo Boo to Williams' Yogi Bear credits D-Will's mother, Denise Smith — single mom, source of inspiration and middle school basketball coach for a point guard and his good buddy.

"I'm one of his biggest fans, biggest critics. I think his mom's probably the only person that's a bigger critic of his — his mom and himself," Mitnick said of Denise, who played both basketball and volleyball at West Liberty State College in Deron Williams' native state of West Virginia.

"He learned how to play basketball from his mom," added Mitnick, whose own mother is best friends with Williams'. "She taught him fundamentals at a young age, taught him there was more than scoring. And I think he still plays that way today. He'd much rather have 20 assists than 30 points any night of the week."

Getting Williams to think pass first, though, was no small chore.