As the Nets are set to unveil their high-profile acquisitions at a noon press conference today at Barclays Center, one of the players they traded away this summer wonders how they’ll all fit together.
“It’s a great group,” Keith Bogans said of the Nets’ new roster after the press conference introducing him and the other new Celtics. “It’s a great group on paper. But they put a great group together in L.A. last year. … It’s going to be fun to watch.”
The Nets have been compared in some quarters to how the Lakers looked going into last season, when they were expected by many to be a contender after acquiring Steve Nash and Dwight Howard to play alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. The Nets will have a similarly star-studded roster in Brooklyn. They will introduce Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry and Andrei Kirilenko today, to go along with current All-Stars Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez.
But the major difference between that Lakers team and the one Nets general manager Billy King and assistants Bobby Marks and Frank Zanin have constructed over the past few weeks is the Nets should have plenty of depth going into next season.
While the Lakers had very little on the bench behind their projected starting five, which included Metta World Peace who now is with the Knicks, the Nets legitimately can go at least two deep at every position and should have well-above-average bench pieces in Kirilenko and Andray Blatche — and potentially a third if Terry can bounce back after a poor season in Boston last year.
“I think they definitely have more depth,” Bogans said. “But can they make it work? That’s the question. It seems like they really have no role players on that team. They have all superstars. … That’s going to be the problem. They’ve put five [star] guys on the floor … too many egos, too much testosterone. It could be a major problem.”
But Bogans said he does think the group the Nets has put together can work — particularly if the team learns to follow the example set by Pierce and Garnett when they get back to work in October for training camp.
“I think it can work,” Bogans said. “If everybody is on the same page, which I think Kevin and Paul [are]. A lot of those guys will listen to them, because they’re older and have accomplished more. [Coach Jason] Kidd can [change the culture], but ultimately it’s going to have to be [Garnett] and Pierce.
“They’re going to have the most influence of those guys. They know how to play, they know how to win, and they have to get guys to do it.”