MarShon Brooks still upbeat in strange season, calls trade rumors a "compliment"

In an interview with USA Today Sports just before the Spurs game, when he scored a season-high 16 points in his team's worst game, MarShon Brooks was philosophical (and diplomatic) and the trade rumors that are building around him as well as his place on the Nets and the coaching change.

"I'm learning real fast that its a business. I was traded on Draft Day," he noted. "From there, I kind of took it as a business and teams are trying to improve every day. And if you're young, you're a valuable piece to your team or could be a valuable piece to a team if you get moved. It's a compliment at the same time."

Of the coaching change, he said it wasn't a big change and said he hopes P.J. Carlesimo gets a chance to show what he can do.

"Absolutely (P.J. deserves a chance.) He's been doing a great job so far. P.J.'s a guy [that] everybody around the team loves," he told USA Today. "He's kind of a players' coach. We like to call him the player's coach. He's always around, always make you laugh. He's just a fun guy to be around, great personality so obviously we can help him a little bit if we win some games. So if we want to him to stay around, we'll want to pick it up a little bit."

Here's the full transcript...

I'm learning real fast that its a business. I was traded on Draft Day. From there, I kinda took it as a business and teams are trying to improve every day. And if you're young, you're a valuable piece to your team or could be a valuable piece to a team if you get moved. It's a compliment at the same time.

When you're on the court, you just go out there and take care of the task. You all of us, we love the game of basketball. I think it's the best job in the world to do something you love every single day. So it's not really a distraction at all. You just got to go out there and do your job.

It's very exciting to be a part of Brooklyn because it's been a while since Brooklyn has had a major team in the city. There's a lot of energy around the team. At the same time, with us adding so many big pieces, we got certain expectations we've got to live up to. We're 16-14, so tonight would be a good win to get. YOu know early in the season, we were winning. It's nice to be in the media to have so much attention around certain teams.
Just got to work the team, get the team to grow, trying to start hitting our stride some time soon.

It's a lot different, moving from New Jersey to Brooklyn, just the media alone, there's gonna be a lot more media attention. Then, we got better players (smiles), more all-stars. We added Joe, a lot of different guys, veterans that are going to help us. So, we got a lot more media.

Not a tough transition at all. Assistant coaches are still around. It's not like our whole staff is gone. We're still using the same system, same in different things. Honestly, it's just a different voice.

Absolutely (P.J. deserves a chance.) He's been doing a great job so far. P.J.'s a guy. Everybody around the team loves him. He's kind of a players' coach. We like to call him the player's coach. He's always around, always make you laugh. He's just a fun guy to be around, great personality so obviously we can help him a little bit if we win some games. So if we want to him to stay around, we'll want to pick it up a little bit.