Here are some thoughts on the Nets’ 114-98 win over the Celtics in Brooklyn Friday night:
1. There isn’t much to say about Friday’s win, which stretched the Nets’ home winning streak to 11 games and improved them to 17-2 at home in 2014, 10-2 in their last 12 overall and 26-10 since the start of 2014. The Nets pounded a bad Celtics team from beginning to end, doing what they’ve repeatedly done since the start of the new year.
So, instead, let’s look at several interesting nuggets that came out of Nets general manager Billy King’s press conference before the game, which was originally set to update the status of Brook Lopez, but then turned into a forum on the state of the team.
There’s no question Livingston has been outstanding for the Nets, helping turn their season around as part of the smallball lineup that’s reversed the team’s fortunes. But keeping Livingston with the team beyond this season isn’t going to be an easy task.
The Nets have two avenues to keep Livingston: sign him for 20 percent more than he’s making this year, which would be about $1.6 million, or sign him to the mini mid-level exception (because they are far over the luxury tax), which would allow them to give Livingston a three-year deal for a total of about $10.3 million.
But if the Nets do that, it would all but end their chances of signing Euro-stash Bojan Bogdanovic this summer, as his contract with Turkish power Fenerbahce Ulker expires this summer. The only way to bring Bogdanovic over here, realistically, would be to pay him that same mini mid-level exception.
The Nets are high on Bogdanovic, and have been for some time, but it’s hard to deny how big of an impact Livingston has had at both ends of the floor this season. Just listen to this description of the players King wants to fit the Nets’ newfound identity of a four-perimeter-player, one-big-man lineup.
“We start that way, but then we get bigger, too, because Kirilenko comes in,” King said. “I think it’s the way we play defensively, switching a lot on the perimeter, so you have guys that are very versatile. Probably versatile guys that can play defense, that are unselfish offensively, where the ball is moving in a free-flowing offense.”
The description fits Livingston perfectly.
That said, if the Nets do choose to use the mini mid-level to sign Livingston, that could make
Bogdanovic an attractive trade chip this summer, either to use in addition to a player under contract to upgrade the roster, or to acquire a first-round pick in this year’s draft, one the Nets currently don’t have a pick in.
3. The subject of the unrest in Russia and Ukraine over the Crimea situation was also brought up to King, though he understandably and predictably avoided the subject.
“I’ll leave that to [President] Obama and [President] Putin to figure out,” King said. “I follow politics, I love politics, but I don’t know anything about who we are putting sanctions on, or who we’re not.”
So far, it appears the only kinds of people being sanctioned by the U.S. government are those with direct ties to the current Russian government led by Putin. But this is clearly an unstable situation, and one that has to be monitored from a Nets perspective moving forward, given that owner Mikhail Prokhorov has transferred all of his holdings back to Russia as part of his political interests there.
Obviously this could have a pretty dramatic effect on the Nets if anything happened involving Prokhorov, because the Nets have a record $190 million in payroll and luxury-tax commitments due this year, and are going to have a big payroll and tax bill next season almost regardless of what happens this summer.
This situation isn’t going away anytime soon, so it remains to be seen what will happen next.
It seems likely, however, both will be back in Brooklyn. When King said without hesitation that Livingston is “priority number one,” it was a good indication that Pierce — a client of powerful agent Jeff Schwartz, who also represents Deron Williams, Jason Kidd, Mirza Teletovic and, beginning last summer, Livingston — is expected to be back. The veteran small forward seems to enjoy Brooklyn, where he’s playing with Garnett and for a coach in Kidd who he’s known for a long time and respects.
There’s also the fact the Nets can pay Pierce more than pretty much any team likely will be willing to pay him as the 37-year-old prepares to enter his 17th year in the league. Because the Nets’ plans are obvious for the next couple of seasons — be competitive through 2016, when most of the salary comes off the books and a certain superstar small forward who plays in Oklahoma City will be a free agent — signing Pierce for, say, two years and $18 million total, would make sense for both sides.
It also doesn’t hurt Pierce is playing with one of his oldest friends in Garnett, who also seems to have enjoyed his time in Brooklyn. Garnett has been much more willing to accept a reduced role this season with the Nets, playing a career-low 21 minutes per game.
But after his brutal opening two months of the season, Garnett has been excellent when he has been on the floor since the start of the new year, when he shifted over to center full time. Garnett, like Pierce, has adapted to playing in Brooklyn, and particularly has taken an interest in working with rookie Mason Plumlee. Garnett likely will be back for the final year of his deal — and an even 20 years in the league — next season.
5. Speaking of Plumlee, the latest of several late first- and second-round picks King has hit on during his time as the general manager of both the 76ers and Nets, in what is arguably his best skill, King shed some interesting insight into how he looks at four-year college players — like Plumlee was — and how they’re underrated.
“Four-year players, a lot of people look at them and say they are finished products,” King said, “and sometimes that’s a good thing, because they understand their roles. Sometimes you’re taking young guys and trying to project them out, and you don’t know how they’re going to develop their bodies. … Over my career we’ve had some success with Todd MacCulloch, Kyle Korver, Willie Green, because they had to come in as a freshman and pay their dues, and they have great work ethic.”
Still, King admitted he was surprised with how well Plumlee has adapted to the pros.
“I thought Mason coming in, I knew he would work, and he would be willing to listen. I didn’t know how quickly he would adapt. That’s why I said at the beginning of the season he’ll probably play in Springfield [Mass., for the Nets D-league team]. Maybe that was for motivation for him not to be going to Springfield. No disrespect to Springfield. I’ve been there, it’s a nice town.”
But while Thornton has always been known for his scoring ability, he’s also been known as someone who doesn’t give his teams much defensively. But Thornton’s defense is something Kidd has harped on since Thornton came to the Nets, praising him for the work he’s put in on that end, and King confirmed it was an issue he and Kidd discussed with Thornton after the trade.
“Well, I knew he had the ability to score,” King said “and the one thing Jason and I both told him was, ‘Now you have to give the effort defensively. The system can help you.’
“And he’s bought in, and he’s with guys who are veterans and he’s listened, but offensively I thought he had a chance to have big nights because he’s done that in his career.”
Thornton has definitely done that so far, helping the Nets to several wins with big individual scoring runs.
7. Finally, let’s get back to Lopez, whom the Nets have found plenty of success with him sidelined, leading to the inevitable conversation of whether or not Lopez would actually fit in the new system the Nets are playing, using more speed and quickness on defense — a pair of things Lopez, for all of the things he does so well, doesn’t possess.
Predictably, both King and Kidd went out of their way to say Lopez still could be a key component for the Nets moving forward.
“I think he can fit in. I think if you put Brook at the center and the other four guys around, I think you can play the same way.
“The last time we played Boston, when you go 4-for-30 [from 3-point range], it’s good to have a Brook Lopez who you can throw it to inside and get some easy buckets. I think he’ll fit in fine.”
There’s no question Lopez would give the Nets a low-post presence they otherwise lack, but the bigger issue is how he would fit in defensively, given his lack of speed.
But one other thing that’s been a key to their success has been ball movement, which is something the Nets didn’t see much of when Lopez was on the floor, as he would get the ball on the block and things would grind to a halt. King said he thought Lopez would be able to adjust.
“It’s hard to say he’s got to improve because he hasn’t had a chance to be a part of it,” King said. “We played a certain way [before]. We’d throw it to Brook, throw it to Brook and he’d score for us. Now I think the way we’re playing is a little different. I think Brook would’ve easily adapted because for one, he can shoot the ball from the perimeter.
“I don’t think we’d be playing the same way we did last year with Brook. I think we’d be playing this way, where the ball would move.”