LOS ANGELES — Ever since Deron Williams was traded to the Nets a little more than two years ago, he has yearned to get back to the playoffs after making several trips to the postseason with the Jazz early in his career.
But after the Nets committed more than $330 million in present and future salary to overhaul their roster last summer ahead of moving into their new digs in Brooklyn, Williams has bigger things in mind than simply making it to the postseason.
“We expected [to make it],” Williams said after yesterday’s practice at UCLA, which came a day after the Nets clinched a playoff spot in their first season in Brooklyn when the Sixers lost in Denver. “It’s not time to celebrate.
“It’s great for the organization. It’s great for the fans. But as far we’re concerned we expected to be there. We’re just trying to get as high a seed as possible.”
Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov echoed that sentiment, as the Russian billionaire issued a statement in the wake of the team clinching its first trip to the postseason since he bought the team in 2010.
“Of course I’m pleased the Nets have made the playoffs, but I can’t say I’m surprised,” Prokhorov said. “We have a lot of talent which is really coming together now and starting to gel. I am confident that the team’s best days on the court are still ahead.”
But Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo didn’t dismiss the team’s accomplishment of returning to the playoffs for the first time since the 2006-07 season, when Jason Kidd was still running the point and the team was playing at the Meadowlands.
“It’s the first step, and it’s a step we believed we would get to, but I think it’s very significant,” Carlesimo said. “This is the ninth time I’m going to the playoffs, but there’s a bunch of times I went home. You don’t know what that feels like.
“We shouldn’t be the ones patting ourselves on the back, but nor should we say, ‘We knew we were going to get in … it’s not a big deal.’ It is a big deal. I told the players they should be proud and they shouldn’t act like it’s not a big deal. I’m really happy for them. I think it’s great.”
After claiming victories in each of their first two games of the Circus Trip this week in Detroit and Dallas, the Nets will face the Clippers tonight hoping to win their third straight and seventh in their last nine. And, for Williams, it’s another chance for the Nets to show they’re already in a playoff mindset as they try and gain ground on the Knicks and Pacers in the compact Eastern Conference standings.
“That’s what we’re doing right now,” Williams said. “That’s how we’re trying to attack these last 14 games.
“It’s the playoffs for us because of how everything is so tight. We’re trying to catch New York, we’re trying to catch Indiana, so every game counts.”