When Jason Kidd said at this preseason press conference the Nets were a “vanilla” team last season, he laid down a marker for the biggest thing he wanted to change about this group in his first season in charge.
Through the first 10 days, at least, it’s clear the makeover of the Nets’ demeanor and attitude — because of the presence of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce — is underway.
It was most clearly on display in Tuesday’s preseason opener in Washington, but the makeover has been ongoing since the hiring of Kidd in June and, more specifically, since Nets general manager Billy King pulled off the blockbuster trade to bring Garnett, Pierce and Jason Terry to Brooklyn on draft night a week later.
For a team that was questioned about whether it had a pulse at times last season, that will no longer be the case, because of the presence of the three veteran chatterboxes. That’s especially true of Garnett, who players have admitted they can’t help but follow given his first-ballot Hall of Fame résumé.
That is my biggest takeaway so far from Nets training camp. Here are four others:
These aren’t last year’s Lakers
Once the dust settled on the makeover that King completed to try and turn the Nets into title contenders, one of the biggest questions outside observers have had about this team is whether it is too old to contend for a title. In doing so, a popular way to look at this Nets team has been to compare it to the disappointing Lakers of a year ago, who never got going despite the star power of Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol on the roster.
Though the Nets have plenty of age and experience on their roster, they have much more depth than that Lakers group. While those Lakers had four star-level players, a couple of rotation players and then a bunch of well-below average players filling out their roster, the Nets can go 10-deep in their rotation with quality NBA players, and arguably can go even a player or two beyond that. Several Nets bench players — most notably Shaun Livingston, Andrei Kirilenko and Alan Anderson — played well Tuesday in Washington.
So far, more ball movement
Since last season ended, the Nets have said they want to move away from the isolation-heavy offense they played under Avery Johnson and P.J. Carlesimo last year to one that includes more motion and ball movement. So far, it looks like they are moving in that direction.
In the brief 12-minute audition the starting five (with Livingston filling in for Deron Williams, who didn’t play because of a right ankle injury) had in Washington, the ball was moving, and everyone got some touches. Brook Lopez finished with seven shots, Garnett five, Joe Johnson four and Pierce three in those 12 minutes. If the Nets can consistently get that balanced shot distribution and ball movement, everyone should get plenty of open looks and their offense will be effective.
Pierce and Johnson should have no trouble co-existing
Another issue many observers have brought up since this group was put together this summer was wondering how Johnson and Pierce — as long-time ball-dominant wing players — would coexist.
That potential issue always seemed to be more overblown than it ever would turn out to be a real problem. That began to play itself out on Tuesday. The presence of two above average 3-point shooters, such as Johnson and Pierce, on the wings only meant there was more space for Garnett and Lopez to operate inside, leading to everyone getting more open shots. There’s no reason that shouldn’t continue all season long.
Evans appears to have leg-up on Teletovic
One of the few position battles coming into training camp was between Reggie Evans and Mirza Teletovic for the backup power forward spot behind Garnett. If Tuesday’s game was any indication, Evans already may have it locked up.
Evans and Andray Blatche were the clear second-team combination of big men, coming in together for the second halves of the first and second quarters behind the starters and then playing together to begin the third.
Teletovic, on the other hand, didn’t get into the game until the final minutes of the third quarter, though he did shoot the ball well — finishing with 15 points and six boards.