BOSTON — It didn’t take long for Kris Joseph to learn that the NBA is a business.
Just a few months after the Celtics selected him in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft, Boston released Joseph in January after he played six games.
Last night, Joseph, as a member of the Nets, made his return to TD Garden for the first time since the Celtics let him go.
“I mean, it is [a little weird], seeing that this is the team that drafted me,” Joseph said with a smile before the Nets’ 101-93 victory. “There’s something roiling up inside. This is the team that drafted me, and I’m here on the opposite side.
“But you understand that this is a business, and who knows. Next season, I could be playing against the Nets. You never know how this stuff is going to work out, and you just take it in stride and work wherever you go, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
After the Celtics let Joseph go, he eventually signed with the D-League’s Maine Blue Claws as a free agent before Milton Lee, the general manager of the Nets’ D-League affiliate, the Springfield Armor, swung a trade to acquire him.
Joseph, who played four years at Syracuse before the Celtics took him with the 51st pick in last year’s draft, went on to average 19 points per game and shoot just under 44 percent from 3-point range with Springfield before the Nets signed him to a 10-day contract on April 2.
“It’s been great, man,” said Joseph, who played three scoreless minutes last night. “It’s a great set of guys, with Joe Johnson, [Deron Williams], great veterans like [Jerry] Stackhouse, [Keith] Bogans … it’s been fun.”
“When I got here, I didn’t feel out of place. I fit right in, and I’ve just been working hard.”
Joseph’s former coach, Doc Rivers, said the thing standing between Joseph and a productive NBA career is an ability to produce on a nightly basis.
“I think he has NBA ability,” Rivers said. “I just think he’s gonna have to get to a point where he can do it every night, and have the toughness and the focus to do it every night.
“You’d watch him at Syracuse and I felt the same way … that’s a mental thing, and he’ll either get there or not. I hope he does.”
Nets interim coach, P.J. Carlesimo said he is hoping to get Joseph playing time over the next several games, as there should be an opportunity for Joseph and the other young guys on the team to get minutes if the Nets are able to officially secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
“I like Kris a lot,” Carlesimo said. “I think he’s active. … I’d like to be able to get him some more time so we could look at him. I think Kris Joseph can be a good player in the league. It’s just hard for us to get him time right now.”
Joseph said he doesn’t know if the Nets will sign him for the rest of the season, as his 10-day contract is set to expire at midnight tonight.
“Not yet,” he said. “Hopefully it works out.”