Jarrett Jack: “I would rather have everybody talking about us in April"

It doesn't bother Jarrett Jack that the Nets are not on everyone's list of contenders this fall.

"I would rather have everybody talking about us in April than talking about us in October," he told Tim Bontemps at a Children of Promise, NYC event in Brooklyn this week. This wasn't team-sponsored event where Jack was the Nets rep.  He sponsored it personally.

He told the kids who attended that none of his NBA success came close to fulfilling his mother’s dream: earning his college diploma from Georgia Tech this past off-season, not long after his was traded, along with Sergey Karasev, in a three-team deal that saw the Nets give up Marcus Thornton and the rights to some Euro-Stash.

Jack has impressed in pre-camp scrimmages, according to Brook Lopez.  He has said he understands his role will be to back up Deron Williams and hopes he and the rest of the NBA can forget his sub-par season in Cleveland last year.  He'd prefer you think of him as the guy who was the spark of the Golden State two seasons back.

"I’m just trying to, I guess, get back to the space I was in during my time in Golden State," he told Bontemps. "That was the most fun I’ve had playing as a professional. It wasn’t just my individual success, obviously but our success as a whole.

"I’m just trying to get that back. That was the part of it I really, really enjoyed. Last year was such a young team, and a lot of teaching had to go on during the whole long marathon, the whole season, here we have a lot more veterans so hopefully that won’t be as much of a process we have to go through."

He also explained why he took the number zero. It's about a new start in Brooklyn, he said.

• Jarrett Jack ready for new beginning with new-look Nets - Tim Bontemps - New York Post