Billy King: "It’s going to take time”

Uh-oh.

Billy King laid out the goal for the coming season: make the playoffs. But at the same time, he admitted things may be tough early on ... just when the schedule is roughest. As Andy Vasquez notes, Before Dec. 1, the Nets will face San Antonio, Memphis, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Houston, Golden State, Oklahoma City and Cleveland all on the road.

Argh.

"We’ve got some young guys and it’s going to take time," King said. "They have to play and they’re going to make mistakes and we’ve got to live with them because the only way we’re going to get better is applying it on the court.

"We have the ability to get better as a team because we do have some inexperience with some guys," King continued. "But we need our main guys, our veteran guys to carry us, to do their part to allow the young guys to sort of blend in and help."

A nice sentiment, but already it looks like one of those veterans, Jarrett Jack, may not be playing in the opener Wednesday night.  He's missed four straight practices with a tight hamstring.  Other than the starting point guard and Willie Reed (thumb) and Chris McCullough (ACL), everyone else appears healthy.

It will be the first NBA appearance for Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and King said he's spoken with him about the changes he will see.

"Preseason is fun but now I was telling Rondae I said ‘Dress rehearsal is over.’ I said you may have thought Orlando was a lot different from college, and then Vegas was more different than preseason. I said now it’s the real deal. The referees are different. The players are different. The coaches are different. And the intensity. And so that’s the fun part now. Preseason I didn’t yell at refs, now I will."

Might be a lot of yelling.

• Billy King on the state of the Nets - Andy Vasquez - The Record