NBA@2: Where Do the Nets Go From Here?
It’s been two weeks since teams have been allowed to negotiate with free agents, but Brooklyn Nets general manager Billy King is starting to lose track of that time.
“It feels like it’s been like a year,” King said Friday as the Nets announced their new backcourt duo of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall. “What is it? Like July 13th? It’s been a long (time). A lot of airplanes, a lot of phone calls.”
In the process, King and the Nets have even stumbled upon a new way of doing business. After watching former Net Jordan Farmar ink a few deals with his iPad, Brooklyn has been collecting signatures in a fraction of the usual time it takes to finalize contracts.
Williams got the trend started at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday when he finalized his deal with the Nets by moving his finger across an iPad screen. Suddenly all of the deals, even the insurance forms, were being completed with the help of the world wide web.
“Even last night with Deron, I needed him to do insurance stuff, we did it on the iPad,” King said.
The Nets are living in a brand new world—one where they regularly associate themselves with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
But that comparison isn’t being met with resistance. Brooklynites packed the borough hall plaza to catch a glimpse of the new backcourt—one King believes is the best in the NBA—and borough president Marty Markowitz officially made himself the most-vocal Nets fan on Friday.
“Those Manhattan Knicks, you’ve had your day,” Markowitz said, adding that any Brooklynite who roots for New York’s other team is guilty of “treason.”
Of course, the Nets haven’t played a game in Brooklyn yet. The team’s roster isn’t complete, nor is its stadium, the Barclays Center. Basically, there are a lot of questions left to be answered, but King and coach Avery Johnson did their best to address some of those issues on Friday.
Is this the NBA’s best backcourt?
Billy King knows that Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant are now paired together with the Los Angeles Lakers, but he feels confident in the duo of Williams and Johnson, which have been dubbed “Brooklyn’s backcourt.”
“Because you’ve got a Joe Johnson that can score and defend his position,” King said. “You’ve got Deron that do the same. They’re a lot of good backcourts, but I don’t think there’s a backcourt that can do that. You have two guys that can get you 18, 20 every night and they can defend their positions.”
Again, King isn’t taking a shot at the Lakers.
“They’re good. I like them, but I think ours is better,” he said. “I’m not taking anything away from them. I just think ours is better. I think if you asked (Lakers general manager) Mitch (Kupchak), he’d probably say theirs is better. It’s like a Carolina-Duke thing.”
Williams didn’t proclaim himself “the game’s best,” but he did heap some serious praise onto Johnson.
“I’ve never played with a player of this caliber on the wing where he can get his own shot but also create for others,” Williams said of the six-time All-Star. “And vise versa, I want to take a lot of pressure off of him. You know it’s going to be fun to play with him, fun to play with Gerald (Wallace) again. Just like Billy said, it’s kind of a fresh start for us all.”
The way Avery Johnson sees it, the addition of Joe Johnson is going to create space for everyone, and that’s something Williams wasn’t afforded last year.
“The main thing is, when Joe gets isolated, he’s going to see a little bit more single coverage now,” Johnson said. “But when he gets double teamed, he has some different weapons that he’ll be able to pass it off.
“Deron had to, you know, sometime go one on five last year,” he continued. “One, because of our talent pool, and two, because of the injury situation. So if he is double and triple teamed this year, hopefully Joe will free up a little bit on the back side and they can play off of one another.”
Has Brook Lopez recovered from foot and ankle problems (and from the trade rumors)?
Lopez was the NBA’s most-durable player for his first three years in the league, playing 82 games in each dismal Nets campaign. Then the 2011-2012 season began with a broken metatarsal in his foot. An ankle sprain followed his return from foot surgery and Lopez was limited to just five games last season.
Yes, when he played, he played well. Lopez scored 38 points against the Dallas Mavericks and 28 points against the Boston Celtics. But he has to be at 100 percent for this team to forget about its pursuit of Dwight Howard.
“He’s good,” King said. “He gets in town today. He has his physical. I talked to him yesterday. The one thing Brook said when he was here for the unveiling of the logo was, he said he wanted to play in the building (the Barclays Center).
“Everything they’ve done, the rest, he’s on track, he’s playing, he’s running,” King said of the trainers and Lopez. “So at this point, they’re comfortable and so am I.”
King went on to say that he “apologized” to Lopez for “what had been going on.”
“I said it’s been going on for a long time, but now it’s behind you,” King explained.
Where will the Nets get rebounding from?
Lopez averaged just 5.9 rebounds per game the last time he was healthy, so the Nets are going to need help on the boards. New additions Reggie Evans and Mirza Teletovic should help (the former more than the latter), but King still thinks this can be a good rebounding team.
“That’s why I got Reggie for his rebounding,” King said. “I had Reggie in Philadelphia and if you look, per minute, Reggie is one of the best play the game. I think Brook will be a better rebounder, but also, if you look at our positions, Joe, for a two guard, is a very good rebounder. Deron for a point, can be better. Gerald, for a three man, is a very good rebounder. It doesn’t fall just on one position. I think when you have a team and it’s going to fall on one player, a la Boston this year with Kevin (Garnett), it’s tough, but I feel you need all five.”
Will the Nets re-sign Kris Humphries?
Humphries was mentioned in a possible sign-and-trade deal for Howard, but now that that’s over, he could be the missing piece to the Nets’ starting five. Humphries finished fifth in the NBA last season with 11.0 rpg, and his pick-and-roll defense is sorely needed because Lopez isn’t very quick.
“We’ve got the ability to pay him more than anybody else,” King said. “It’s going to be a negotiation, but the goal is to bring him back.”
Are the Nets done shopping?
The answer to this one should be pretty obvious.
“I think we need a back up point—a veteran one,” King said. “I think we need another big man, five man. We’re in conversations with that. And we still need a three, a backup three.”
King said the team will probably sign 17-year-veteran Jerry Stackhouse, but that isn’t finalized yet.
King also mentioned Darko Milicic, who has been amnestied by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Avery Johnson mentioned that D-League center Jeff Foote could be in the mix. Johnson made it clear that several members of the Summer League team will be at the Nets’ training camp.
And when it comes to free agents, King has some help.
“You have to go out there and actively recruit and try and get some guys to commit to your team,” Williams said, adding that it’s a task he’s currently dealing with.
What will the offense look like?
The Nets didn’t really have any scorers, outside of Williams, last season. But now that they do, Johnson has to decide what his offense will look like.
“I think we want to run,” Johnson said. “Deron likes to run. You know, Gerald Wallace definitely likes to get out and run. Joe likes to run also and those guys are all long and they cover a lot of ground.
“The great thing about us, also, is in the last two to three minutes when the game slows down, I think we’re going to be a much more efficient half-court team, which could hopefully carry over for us into the playoff situation,” Avery Johnson added.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Joe Johnson said. “I think we’ve got a great upside with this team. We’ve got a lot of great pieces.”
How good can this team be?
“I look forward to the first day of practice,” King said.
“In Philadelphia, I never really had a team like this,” he continued. “To be able to watch, you know, an All-Star two, an All-Star at the three, an All-Star one and I think Brook Lopez has a good chance to be an All-Star at the five, you know, that’s going to be pretty special to see them practice. I told Deron, now when we go play Miami, Joe Johnson gets to guard Dwyane Wade and Dwyane Wade’s got to guard Joe Johnson.
“Now you can look down at the other side and look at your group and say, ‘okay, now we’ve got an even fighting chance.’”
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