In an interview with Chris Carrino, Billy King made it clear the Nets will not be waiting any longer to win. The plan is to take advantage of the team's current assets --Deron Williams' youth, $19 million in cap space and the impending move to Brooklyn-- and push for progress this season, not wait.
"When you make a move like we did to get Deron Williams, you're making a move that you're trying to win now," said the Nets GM. "He's 26. and you can say to yourself in three or four years you want to be in a position to win a championship. At that point, he's 30 years old. So, when you've got Brook also and Deron, we're gonna try to make moves so that we're in the playoffs. once you're in the playoffs, anything can happen".
While continuing to emphasize that he'll take the best player available...and put an emphasis on athleticism, King also said he's told his scouts, "whoever we probably will draft at that pick, don't expect them to play a lot of minutes. We have a lot of cap space so our goal should be to upgrade the talent level while our draft picks should be developing and be able to fit in later." More excerpts after the jump...
- NETS VIDEO: NETS Draft Preview - part 1 - Chris Carrino & Tim Capstraw - New Jersey Nets
"If we find someone who can come in and play a lot of minutes, that will be a bonus".
"[Draft] is probably the best day of the year for me."
"I think there are players we can add, via free agents, to get us into that position to be in the playoffs, making a push...but we'll always explore trades.
"There is talent in this draft, but you have to do a litle work, little digging to find it."
"We're going to take the best player. whether it be a point guard, center, power forward. We're not going to say, we've got three point guards under contract, there's no need to take another one. Guy's going to have the best talent on the board, we're going to take him."
"Got to get guys who can guard (the Heat). Got to get guys to put the effort in to slow them down so team defense can take over. So that's where you've got to have guys that are athletically inclined and have the mindset to do what it takes to slow them down."
"We're one year removed from going to Brooklyn so I think the reality is that its happening. So i think people kept saying, 'they're going to Brooklyn, Yeah sure. We'll see when it happens'. Now, they're seeing it and it's there. so a player knows we're one year out, I think a lot of players like to be involved in the process of seeing the new locker and that. So brooklyn is going to be a bonus for this franchise."