WFAN's Boomer and Carton had Avery Johnson in their studio Friday morning for more than 20 minutes, talking for the most part about the NBA Finals, but the Nets coach also talked about his team and in particular, Deron Williams' situation...with a little bit of Brook Lopez with some Draft thrown in.
Bottom line: Williams has given the Nets "every indication" he wants to part of the Nets program beyond this season. He also spoke while there's always "a little bit of concern" until he signs an extension, the Nets have "great communication" with him. Johnson also describes how he reacted when Billy King told him he had gotten the Jazz point guard.
On the Draft, Johnson said expect the the Nets to get "an older player" and on Brook Lopez, he says simply, "Brook needs to play in the playoffs."
- Nets’ Avery Johnson Talks NBA Finals With Boomer & Carton - Boomer Esiason & Craig Carton - WFAN
On Deron Williams:
"Deron has given us every indication that he wants to be a part of the Nets family and a part of his program not only next year but as we move forward. When we have an opportunity to extend Deron an extension, we're going to do that and we're very hopeful that he's going to sign it. so the main thing is it's not even a major topic of discussion for us.
"There's always a little bit of concern until you have a signed contract. but again we have great communication with Deron. Billy talks to him all the time. He and I talk all the time. He's gone over to our Barclays site and toured it.
"We take Deron for his word. From everything I've heard about him before he arrived at our team and what I've seen and talked to him in person, he's a man of integrity, he's a man of his word. So again now is just a matter of getting other pieces to go around him. We have every bit of confidence in Billy King that he is going to do it. This move he made for Deron...nobody knew about."
On his initial reaction to the trade:
"You know what. I started running around the gymnasium."
On Brook Lopez:
"Next year is Brook's fourth season. Brook is going to take another step. Brook needs to play in the playoffs."
On the Draft and free agency:
"We have the 27th pick in the Draft, which we hope will be a good player. It will probably be an older player instead of the little 19- and 20-year-old players that will go early.
"We have almost $20 million under the cap to play with. Billy's been great. He has some ideas that I'm not going to tell you about."