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If you've come looking for lowered expectations, this is not the place. Chris Broussard talked to Joe Johnson and the Nets' 6'8" shooting guard didn't back down about the Nets' chances this season, saying the team is the best he has played for and capable of winning it all.
Saying the Nets are the best team he's played for is heady stuff. This is a guy who played with Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion in their prime in Phoenix. As for the championship projections, this is not a guy, as Broussard notes, who is given to exaggeration.
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it,'' Johnson said. "We got the pieces necessary to do it. We got a great center [Brook Lopez], one of the best point guards in the game [Deron Williams], Gerald [Wallace] at the 3, some hardworking 4s. We got the guys you hate to play against but you love them on your team. So I think it's going to be a pretty surprising season, honestly.''
- Joe Johnson says Brooklyn Nets are the best team he's ever played with - Chris Broussard - ESPN
- Joe Johnson: I didn't burn Atlanta - Mike Mazzeo - ESPN New York
- Five reasons to be positive about the Brooklyn Nets - Jeff Uler - Sheridan Hoops