Utah Jazz: Rookie Maynor has Williams' big shoes to fill

With Deron Williams missing at least tonight's game at the 76ers for undisclosed personal reasons and Ronnie Price out with a toe injury, rookie Eric Maynor is about to get his first big chance to make a splash in the NBA.

Though Maynor will replace Williams in the starting lineup — in a match-up against Philly's Louis Williams — the Virginia Commonwealth product will be hard-pressed to replace the Jazz star's production. Deron Williams has averaged 20.4 points and 9.9 assists in 39.4 minutes a game this year.

If there's any good news, it's that Maynor is coming off of his best regular-season game as a pro. The first-round draft pick had career-highs of 15 minutes, six points and four assists in the blowout loss at Boston.

Maynor, however, hadn't seen hardly any playing time prior to Wednesday. He didn't even get off the bench in two games, and he'd only played a combined total of 16 minutes with just one assist (with two turnovers) in his five other appearances.

Maynor did show glimpses of becoming a decent backup in the preseason — even leading some to believe he might work his way into the role as the first point guard off the bench.

In eight preseason contests, Maynor averaged 8.8 points, 4.1 assists and 2.1 turnovers in 22 minutes an outing. He scored 14 points in a win over Portland, and twice racked up seven assists.

Though he showed an ability to direct the offense, he struggled to shoot in the preseason (21-for-58, 36.2 percent).

Maynor will certainly get tested tonight, going up against a player who's basically his own age and size, but who has four years of NBA experience compared to his four years of college playing time. Louis Williams, the 2005 national high school player of the year out of Snellville, Ga., committed to the University of Georgia but decided to enter the same draft as Deron Williams and C.J. Miles.

The Sixers' second-round pick has steadily become a steady NBA point guard, and is having his best season — averaging 14.4 points, 5.1 assists and 4.3 rebounds — as Philadelphia's starter.

Here's the tale of the tape between Utah's Eric Maynor and Philly's Louis Williams:

Height: Maynor has edge, 6-3 to 6-1

Weight: Both are slight of frame at 175 pounds

Age: Williams is 23; Maynor is 22

Scoring: Williams 14.4 ppg - Maynor 2.3 ppg

Assists: Williams 5.1 apg - Maynor 0.8 apg

Rebounds: Williams 4.3 apg - Maynor 0.3 rpg

EFF (NBA's efficiency rating): Williams +17.38 - Maynor +1.67

Experience: Williams 260 NBA games - Maynor 6 NBA games

e-mail: jody@desnews.com