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When Avery Johnson was hired to coach the Nets in June 2010, it was a franchise full of possibility. It had been recently purchased by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov and was two years away from a move to a billion-dollar arena in Brooklyn.
In those two years, Johnson’s Nets went a combined 46-102 with rosters largely devoid of talent and, at least last season, crippled by injuries. It was more than enough to test the faith of Johnson, who wasn’t used to losing.
“A lot of times your faith can’t be tested until you’re under pressure and until you’ve got adversity and disappointment,” Johnson told The Post recently. “So faith was tested a lot.
“There were a lot of sleepless nights, but at the same time, when I would go to church, or even talk to our pastor, Pastor Willy, he was always encouraging me, saying ‘Coach, things are going to turn out alright. Things are going to get better.’
“And, sometimes, I would ask Pastor Willy, ‘When?’ ”
“When” turned out to be this summer, as the Nets were able to convince star point guard Deron Williams to re-sign, a move that was the foundation of a dramatic overhaul of the roster. It left the Nets with six players from last season’s team and just three who played more than 20 games with them a season ago.
That means the Nets still have plenty to figure about one another as the season tips off, and Johnson does not anticipate immediately having all of the answers.
“We’ll know more in the regular season,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of question marks right now. But we understand more about what we’re trying to accomplish than we did Oct. 2.”
The key to everything, though, is the backcourt of Williams and six-time All-Star Joe Johnson, whom the Nets acquired in a trade with the Hawks this summer. They form arguably the league’s top backcourt, and Williams repeatedly has said the Nets trading for Johnson was a deciding factor in him agreeing to re-sign.
“I always said I could see myself coming back here,” Williams said earlier this month. “I definitely think I made the right decision.”
The combination of Williams and Johnson will give the Nets plenty of scoring punch in the backcourt, but equally important is the health of center Brook Lopez. Despite playing just five games last year due to a pair of foot injuries, the Nets invested heavily in their young center, giving him a four-year, $60 million contract this summer as a restricted free agent.
Lopez, who has made it through the preseason healthy, is one of the most effective scoring big men in the NBA. But the Nets need him to improve his rebounding and his defense, two areas where he has struggled in the past.
“It’s just about being focused,” Lopez said. “I’m not worried about the numbers. If I give the same effort night-in and night-out, I’ll be alright.”
That general theme can be applied across the entire Nets roster at the defensive end. No one expects the team to have any trouble scoring thanks to their three offensive anchors and forward Gerald Wallace in the starting lineup, along with guards C.J. Watson and MarShon Brooks and forwards Mirza Teletovic and Andray Blatche all capable of filling it up off the bench.
But to go where they want, the Nets as a whole have to raise their level defensively, and won’t have the benefit of an elite defensive big man to help that happen.
“We’ve got to be able to defend the paint, but not necessarily by always blocking shots,” Avery Johnson said. “We’ve got to be a charge team, we’ve got to be a team with hard, legal fouls, but also still be able to block shots.
“I think that’s what the key is. We’ve got to be able to defend the paint as a team. Some teams that maybe have one big guy that can do it all, that’s great. We don’t have that.”
But what they do have is a new look, a new color scheme, a new roster, a new city and a new home at Barclays Center. And, for Johnson, that’s enough to get excited about the possibilities.
“We’re in Brooklyn now,” he said. “We’re in our arena. There’s a lot of pride and hard work that went into all of this. This one means more, and it should for all of us.”
TIM’S TAKE
The Nets spent the offseason completely overhauling every aspect of their team as they prepared to move to Brooklyn. Now, armed with a vastly upgraded roster, the Nets should make their first playoff appearance since 2007. How deep they go will depend on how successful coach Avery Johnson is at getting this group to play defense.
Prediction: 49-33, third in East, second round of playoffs