The “Bad Boys” Pistons of the late 1980s and early 1990s used their rugged, physical style of play and suffocating defense to fight their way to back-to-back championships.
No one would confuse this year’s Nets, a team with question marks at the defensive end of the floor, with that group. But that’s exactly the reason coach Avery Johnson brought up that team in an interview Sunday night — because that’s the kind of mentality he’s hoping to infuse into his team.
“I think if you want to be really, really good in track, and you run the 200, Usain Bolt is your measuring stick,” Johnson said following yesterday’s practice. “If you want to be a dynasty in sports, the Yankees, the Spurs, the Lakers, they’re your measuring stick.
“We’ve got to have a team that we can try to emulate. We’re probably not going to get there. We’re not that nasty … I was just using that as an example because I thought that was a great defensive team.”
His comparison also referred to the fact those Pistons teams were led by an All-Star backcourt of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars — like the Nets are led by Deron Williams and Joe Johnson — and that for them to win, it will take more of a collective effort, as opposed to rallying behind a central, dominant star player.
“When you go back and look over the last 20 years, looking at our team, we don’t have Shaq, we don’t have Tim Duncan,” the Nets coach said. “That mode of team … that’s where we’re trying to go.”
On the injury front, Tyshawn Taylor again sat out of practice with the strained right quad that has sidelined him since the beginning of camp last week. Johnson said the goal is to potentially get Taylor back in practice by the end of the week, with the goal of having him make his preseason debut in Boston next Tuesday if everything goes smoothly.
Also missing practice time yesterday was Keith Bogans, who sat out the second half of practice with soreness in his lower left leg, and Kris Humphries, who was excused following the death of his grandfather.