WASHINGTON — The Nets got one of their key injured players back Saturday, and another could soon follow.
Andrei Kirilenko returned to the floor for the first time since leaving Sunday’s win over the Kings in Brooklyn with a sprained right ankle, scoring five points in 12 minutes in the Nets’ 101-94 loss to the Wizards at Verizon Center.
“I felt OK,” said Kirilenko, who had missed two games. “Nothing bothered me. It was just the first game coming back. I’m feeling pretty good.”
In addition to Kirilenko, Nets coach Jason Kidd said Kevin Garnett — who sat out his eighth straight game with back spasms — is on the mend, and didn’t rule out the possibility of Garnett returning Monday when the Nets host the Suns.
“He’s doing better,” said Kidd, who deemed Garnett questionable for Monday’s game. “We’ll see how his workouts go, and we’ll see how he feels Monday.
“From the reports [athletic trainer Tim Walsh] is giving me, he’s doing a lot better.”
Three weeks ago the Nets signed Jason Collins to a 10-day contract, making history and headlines by welcoming the first openly gay player in the four major American professional sports.
But Saturday’s announcement that the Nets had signed Collins for the remainder of the season after inking him to two consecutive 10-day deals barely made a ripple in the news cycle. After saying from the start he wanted the focus to be about basketball, it appears that’s finally the case for Collins and the Nets.
“We always focused on basketball,” Kidd said. “We let you guys handle all the other stuff. But having him on the team was always about basketball and to help us win games, but he can also help the younger players understand what it means to be a professional.”
For Collins, signing with the Nets culminates a journey that began last spring, when he publicly came out in an article in Sports Illustrated. After spending the first few months of the season working out and waiting for an opportunity, he’s gotten one playing for Kidd, his teammate on the Nets’ back-to-back Finals teams back in 2002-03, and with several other former teammates from across his 13-year career, or teammates of his twin brother, Jarron.
“I think it’s cool,” said Joe Johnson, who played with Collins in Atlanta. “Jason is a great dude. Since I’ve known him in our Atlanta days nothing has changed. He’s still the same guy. We joke with him, beat him up from time to time, that’s just kind of how it goes around here.”
The Nets had a range of reactions to the news Phil Jackson will be joining the Knicks’ front office. Some wouldn’t discuss it, but others thought it was wise of their crosstown rivals to add Jackson’s 13 championship rings to their franchise.
“I’m in agreement with everybody,” Shaun Livingston said. “I think it can only help. He’s had success wherever he’s gone. I know it was as a coach, but his passion for the game and his basketball knowledge and acumen, and just his presence and demeanor.
“Certain guys just have a presence about them, and his, you just have to see the resume. It can only help.”
“It doesn’t change our rivalry,” Williams said, “[but] I think it’s good to have one of the best basketball minds ever to be in your organization. But, I don’t know [how he’ll do].”