The Nets are openly setting the playoffs as the bar for success next season because they have a legitimate star in Deron Williams, and they are intending to keep him.
General manager Billy King reiterated what Williams had said last week about wanting to remain a Net and is seemingly convinced he won’t have to make any huge moves to convince the point guard to re-sign.
“I don’t think I’ve wavered in saying I expect him to be back,” King said. “My thought process hasn’t changed from the day we traded for him to him making those comments.
“I felt like that’s the goal we’re working for — to build something special here,” he said. “It’s nice to hear, but he and I’ve had some great conversations and when you have those conversations you’re on the same page and I think we are.”
That same page is reaching next year’s postseason.
“I want to be in the playoffs,” King said. “That’d be the goal, to be in the playoffs next year. Having Deron and having the right pieces, I think we have the ability to put ourselves in that position.”
He lauded the changed attitude of a club that doubled its 12-win total of the previous season, and said now the Nets just need experience and health, which will improve if more players arrive at training camp in shape, a problem last season.
“We had a lot of guys that came in out of shape,” King said. “Devin [Harris] didn’t come in his best shape, Travis [Outlaw] didn’t, Johan Petro; and a lot of these guys admitted it in our individual meetings. That’s the start.
“You can’t come in training camp expecting to get in shape,” he said. “That’s when the injuries come about.”
They will need a healthy Brook Lopez, who King said will have “minor” surgery on his right arm next week to remove calcium deposits. Dr. Andrew Weiland, who performed Williams’ wrist surgery, also will handle Lopez’s case. Weiland also repaired a broken bone in King’s right hand as the general manager greeted the media in a soft cast yesterday.
King also is in agreement with coach Avery Johnson that re-signing Kris Humphries is a priority. He was less committal about retaining Sasha Vujacic, and said the Nets hope to add more athletic wing players this offseason but will draft the best available players at No. 27 and 35 or 36.