If you google "Nets" and "it didn't work out" you'll get a lot of hits.
There's Mikhail Prokhorov on the Nets' last three years...
"I can say, the only thing I care about is building a winning team. And I do believe we had a fair shot with all these trades. It didn't work out because sport isn't predictable. That's why we love it, but I can fairly say our focus remains absolutely the same today."
Then there's Billy King on Deron Williams buyout...
"Unfortunately it didn't work out here to the best of all our likings, but I wish him the best. And I do sincerely mean that."
Joe Johnson, on Brooklyn's Backcourt, too...
"I’m a bit disappointed that it didn’t work out how we planned."
Billy King now talks about the Boston trade in the same vein ... But no one is using the "M word," mistake.
"We took our shot and it didn’t work," he told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, but he also thinks it will eventfully work out and not take that long. "And now to see some of these guys develop and to get it back and for us to have the cap space [next summer], we can do it pretty quickly. We want to win but we knew we may take a step back when some of the decisions were made. But what I like is we’ve put ourselves in the position to beat a Golden State, we just didn’t make the right plays. That’s just learning how to win. We’re talking the steps."
King said the Nets lack of picks --three first rounders and five second rounders over the next five years-- is an impediment but talked about ways around that.
"Not having the picks, you’ve got to figure out other ways to get it, second-round picks," King said. "If you don’t have picks, you just get young guys."
He didn't cite who he considered young guys, but Washburn mentioned Shane Larkin, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Chris McCullough, aged 23, 20 and 20 respectively. Larkin and Hollis-Jefferson of course are part of the rotation and McCullough is about six weeks, maybe less, from his first NBA practice.
King also talked about how Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young need to do more that just play well.
"Well that’s what we said when we re-signed those guys," King said of Lopez and Young. "I said, ‘If you’re coming back, I need you guys to be the leaders of this team and not accept certain things.’ I think Thaddeus and Brook have made more efforts to be more vocal."
So it goes. Hope it all "works out." Because if you extrapolate 2-11 over a full season, it translates into 14-68.
- Nets can only blame themselves for mess - - Gary Washburn - Boston Globe