NBA

Deron: Adding Kirilenko to Nets as big as KG, Pierce

Even Deron Williams was surprised when Nets general manager Billy King first informed his star player of plans to bring Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn.

“I knew [Billy] was trying to get Paul, and I thought that was done,” Williams said Thursday. “Then he called me and was like, ‘I’m trying to get KG, too,’ and I told him there was no way you can do it.

“That’s what I said. … I almost hung up on him. There’s no way you can get both of them, but he did it.”

The megatrade, which also brought Jason Terry to the Nets, was one of several big moves King pulled off this summer. By the time he was done revamping the Nets – who will have a payroll of over $100 million this season, in addition to nearly $90 million in luxury-tax payments – he had assembled a team Williams said was deeper than any he’s played on, including his Jazz squad that made one trip to the Western Conference Finals.

“A lot of the teams in Utah were good, but I don’t think they were as deep as this,” Williams said. “I think that might have been a little bit of our problem, and we weren’t as big, you know?

“We kept running into the Lakers, and we just had no answer for them inside to their length. [Carlos Boozer] was only 6-8 … I’ll give him a couple inches,” Williams added with a smile. “This team is definitely … I’m excited. I’m excited. I feel like we have a chance. Nothing is going to be given to us, and we’re going to go in and work hard and stay together as a team, and we’ll be fine.”

One of the biggest moves the Nets made was convincing Andrei Kirilenko – one of the linchpins of those Utah teams alongside Williams and Boozer – to sign for one year at the mini-midlevel exception, giving the Nets one of the league’s most versatile players as well as an excellent perimeter defender. Having Kirilenko will allow coach Jason Kidd to deploy all kinds of different and creative lineup combinations.

And Williams, who has remained friendly with Kirilenko since being traded from the Jazz in 2011, did his part to recruit his old running mate to Brooklyn.

“Once I saw that he had opted out and free agency was kind of drying up,” Williams said, “I was like, ‘Man, just come play for us for one year, and you can make more next year [in free agency].’

“[Kirilenko] has made a lot of money in his career, so it wasn’t about money. He wants to come to a team where he gets to have fun and has a chance to win, and I think he’s going to have a chance to play here and we’re excited about that addition. That’s as big of an addition as [Pierce and Garnett], if you ask me. “

Williams also spoke about Kidd’s stated goal for his point guard to post a double-digit assist average, as he regularly did with the Jazz. Rather than trying to downplay it as a potential goal, Williams embraced it, saying it is something he should be able to do because of the abundance of talent around him and the Nets’ plan to run much fewer isolation sets on offense.

“That’s me anyway,” Williams said. “Last year, it was just hard for me to get assists. He didn’t really have to tell me. It’s something I wanted to do, anyway, and it should be easy with the guys we have. We have a lot of shooters. Last year, we had a lot of isolation, so it was just hard to come by.

“But I think playing faster and getting out in transition more, I am more successful in transition. It will open things up. If I’m driving, if I’m going to the hole, I’m going to attract a lot of attention and I’ll be able to find open guys. That’s what I look to do.”