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Billy King: We Built Nets to Face Heat

By Net Income
Jeff Zelevansky

Billy King made the rounds Monday, talking to Boomer and Carton on WFAN and Colin Cowherd on ESPN.  He talked a lot about the playoffs and the Nets chances, admitting to Cowherd that the Nets are built to "challenge" the Heat.

Asked by Cowherd do teams build their rosters to beat the Heat, King responded, "Yeah, you try to build a team to challenge the champions."

Specifically asked if the Nets did that, King admitted, "Yes, I would say we did."

In talking to Boomer and Carton about the first round, the Nets GM denied the Nets "wanted" the Raptors. "Everybody thinks we wanted them. we didn't want them. we just wanted to get guys ready for the playoffs."

King also discussed Jason Kidd's use of a long rotation -- and his willingness to switch things up in the starting line-up, something pundits now think could be a Nets advantage in that they keep opponents guessing as to who will be in the floor.

"No one is ever out completely and if you're not playing well, you're never completely in," King told Craig Carton, citing how Andray Blatche has taken Mason Plumlee's minutes in the playoffs.  He added that Kidd can do that because he has "built the trust with all the players.  there is a trust level between him and the players."

King also had kind words for Marcus Thornton who Kidd used sparingly early in the round then exploded in Game 7

"Sometimes you make trades and they don't work but I always thought that he has a lot of confidence in his ability to score," he told Boomer Esaison. "So I felt that given an opportunity that he would win us a game or help win us a game by making shots. I didnt know when it could come but last night he had been pateint --it was his first playoffs-- and he stepped up and it feel goods, but i really feel good for him."

And when Carton suggested Mikhail Prokhorov would want results from his $200 million in the Nets roster, King corrected him, saying it's "more like $196 (million)."  That would include salary, luxury taxes ... and the amnesty payout to Travis Outaw.

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