P.J. Carlesimo: "Better we do, better our chances of working next year"

In a recent interview with his hometown paper, the Scranton Times-Tribune, P.J. Carlesimo says management hasn't specified what he'll have to do to retain his job next season. Carlesimo said the team simply just needs to do well.

"Clearly, the better we do, the better our chances are of working next year," Carlesimo said in the interview published Monday. Currently, he's 30-18, matching the fastest start of any Nets coach ever. "Would I prefer being a head coach to an assistant coach? Absolutely," Carlesimo added. "But there's only 30 (head coaching) jobs in this league. You're really lucky if you get a chance to get one. It's not like it's owed to you."

He said the Nets good run under his leadership has a lot to with him retaining Avery Johnson's system. ""A vast majority of the stuff that we put in is Avery's stuff," Carlesimo said. "Yeah, we tweaked a couple things here and there. But essentially it has been a smooth transition for the players because it's the same stuff and the same coaches."

Carlesimo credited his players for the success and one of them told Scott Walsh the interim coach has done a "great job."

"He's done a great job," Gerald Wallace said. "He's given guys an opportunity to come out and play and express themselves. With a team like this, with so many high expectations, to come on in the middle of the season, he's held the team together and kept us going. It's a credit to him."

• NET GAIN: Brooklyn thrives under interim coach P.J. Carlesimo - Scott Walsh - Scranton Times-Tribune