The Nets have assembled a roster full of big names and expensive contracts. Now it’s up to the players to make it all work.
That was the message repeated over and over again by Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry — the trio of veteran Celtics acquired in the blockbuster trade that was agreed to last month — during yesterday’s press conference at Barclays Center to introduce them to their new home and fans.
“You see the talent that’s already here, and you see us coming into it, and now it’s about how well we gel, understanding one another and understanding each other’s games,” Garnett said. “I felt like the difference in the years we spent in Boston when we won was just how we dealt with each other, and how we communicated with each other.
“That sounds like little things, but it’s the little things that make up nights when you’re down and you come back and you make a run. … You have to communicate, you have to understand each other and it’s about how well you gel. That’s going to be the biggest question mark for this team: how we’ll be able to gel and how quickly we’ll be able to gel.”
With Pierce (35), Garnett (37) and Terry (35) having a combined 47 seasons of NBA experience, it’s clear this group wasn’t put together to contend three or four years from now.
The goal is for the Nets to immediately launch themselves into the championship discussion after the team’s first season in Brooklyn ended in a first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Bulls.
In order to do so, all of the high-profile pieces Nets general manager Billy King has assembled over the past year — including holdovers Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez in addition to fellow newcomer Andrei Kirilenko — will have to accept having reduced roles, something Pierce said he is more than ready to do.
“Obviously the talent is there,” he said. “I think you’ve got all the ingredients for a championship team. It’s just how well we put the seasoning salt in and the pepper and all the little spices together, and how well it’s going to come all out.
“We’ve got the ingredients. I think that’s our job as veterans and the younger guys, to come together, understand the bigger picture and figure out how to make it work. You have a high basketball IQ not only on the staff, but on the court, that the great players somehow figure it out, and I think we will.”
It will be up to new Nets coach Jason Kidd to find the best way to utilize all of the talent now at his disposal and keep his stars fresh for the playoffs — the “real season,” as Kidd has quickly become fond of calling it — next spring. That likely will include restricting the minutes of Pierce and Garnett, as well as holding them out of games periodically during the season.
“I think these guys are professionals, and they know what it takes to win,” Kidd said. “What we’re talking about is that everybody is sacrificing, and they understand that’s what it’s all about if you want to win. If you sacrifice and do the things that it takes, you have a good chance. I don’t look at it as them being centerpieces. I look at it as the team being a centerpiece, and we have a very talented team.”
No one is disputing that. The Nets have the talent to match any team in the league, including the defending champion Heat. It’s a goal the Nets aren’t shying away from, either.
“That’s the only reason we gathered,” Garnett said of the expectations already being placed upon the Nets. “You don’t gather to win a series. You don’t put a team like this to get to the Eastern Conference Finals or whatever.
“The ultimate goal is what it is. That’s why we’re here.”