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TORONTO — Despite his team’s rough start, Nets general manager Billy King said he still believes in Jason Kidd as a coach and says the Nets need more time to come together after dealing with several injuries in the season’s opening weeks.
In an interview with the YES Network that aired during Tuesday night’s 102-100 Nets victory — a win that snapped the team’s streak of five straight losses and eight in their previous nine games King said Kidd already has become a much better coach than he was just a few weeks ago when training camp began.
“Fortunately, I get to see him every day at practice, and we meet pretty much every day and talk,” King said, “and from Day One of training camp to now, he’s grown [tremendously], and I think he’ll continue to grow.
“It’s amazing how people are critiquing every little thing: if he stands, if he’s sitting, what is he doing? But the one thing I know is he’s working as hard as he can. He watches a lot of film. … He is putting as much effort and time into it. So the progress he’s made, if he continues on that pace, he’s going to be fine.”
King said the Nets, like everyone else, expected to be faring much better to start this season than their 4-10 record after beating the Raptors. But he pinned much of the blame on the many injuries they’ve suffered — including missing Andrei Kirilenko for 10 games, Brook Lopez for six and Deron Williams for five.
“Guys still [view] Jason as their leader, they believe in each other,” King said. “It’s been frustrating because we expect to be winning more games, but injuries have taken a toll a little bit on us, because we’ve asked other guys to do a little bit.
“But that’s not an excuse, it’s a reality. But guys are still fighting, we’re adjusting on the fly and trying to adjust due to the injuries.”
He also said he still has plenty of belief in the group he put together this summer — one that has an NBA-high payroll of $102 million and is going to cost owner Mikhail Prokhorov roughly $189 million in payroll and luxury-tax commitments this season — and the Nets simply need to get some wins to get things going in the right direction.
“I think we’ve got to just figure out how to get some wins, because winning helps you feel a little better,” King said. “Right now the guys are a little frustrated. They’re not doing well. … The more time we have, we’re going to get there.
“I’m not down on this group. I’m still bullish on this group. So it’s just going to take time. I’m just working. The only way I know how to get better is just hard work.”