Since buying the Nets back in 2010, owner Mikhail Prokhorov has repeatedly stated that his goal is for the Nets to become NBA champions by 2015.
But to P.J. Carlesimo, who the Nets chose not to retain as head coach after the Nets were bounced out of the playoffs by the Bulls in seven games in the first round earlier this month, that goal could be an unrealistic burden for whoever his replacement is to bear.
“I don’t know if that’s realistic the way the roster is right now,” Carlesimo, now working as an analyst for ESPN, said on a conference call with reporters Thursday. “I would not say that team could not win a championship. We thought we could this year if things broke a little better for us.
“But if you have that on your plate, that you need to win a championship in two years, I think it makes it a little challenging. But, again, everybody starts the year saying we want to win a championship. Brooklyn has more reason to say that than a lot of the other teams in the league.”
After spending the first two years under Prokhorov’s ownership stuck at the bottom of the NBA standings while finishing up their time in New Jersey, the Nets underwent a massive roster overhaul – including committing over $330 million of Prokhorov’s fortune in present and future contracts – to bring what was expected to be a winning team to Brooklyn in the team’s inaugural season inside Barclays Center.
But with the increased talent level also came those increased expectations, which eventually played a role in Avery Johnson being dismissed after the Nets began the season 14-14.
“Well, I think it made it difficult to keep the job more so for Avery, because Avery was brought in, and he did the dirty work,” Carlesimo said. “You got the two years of getting your head knocked off while they were getting the roster together and getting the salary cap right and all that.
“Then when the team had a very representative team to put out there and you had all the great things that we all enjoyed this year in Brooklyn, he didn’t get a chance to reap the benefits of those two years, which was unfortunate.”
As for Carlesimo, who went 35-19 over the final four months of the regular season before bowing out to the Bulls in seven games, he repeated the same sentiment that he’s said publicly ever since the Nets made the decision not to retain him – that he was disappointed he didn’t get an opportunity to come back, but that he held no ill will towards the franchise.
“For me, it’s disappointing only because it’s such a good job,” Carlesimo said. “I think you know how I feel about it. There are only 30 jobs in this league, but there are a handful that are better than others, and I think Brooklyn is one of those jobs because it’s a team that’s got a chance to win every night.”
And while Carlesimo does think the expectations for the Nets current roster situation from ownership aren’t necessarily realistic, he maintained his
“I still do think it’s a good job. I think the expectations are maybe not totally realistic, but you’d rather have that from your owner and you know he’s got the wherewithal to back it up. That’s his goal. We talked about that from day one. He doesn’t make any bones about it.
“He doesn’t want to have a nice team. He doesn’t want to sell just [tickets] in Brooklyn and make the team competitive; he wants to win an NBA championship. And as a coach, you can’t ask for more than that. If what comes with that is a short leash, then so be it.”
Carlesimo also touched on the subject of what qualities his successor with the Nets will need in order to be successful. While many of the Nets players said in their exit interviews with the media that they thought the team needed a veteran coach who could give the team an identity, Carlesimo dismissed the idea.
“I think when you ask players what they want, it’s like spin,” Carlesimo said. “This time, I think there was a little bit of, ‘I wasn’t hard enough on the team.’ Every other time I’ve coached in the league, I was too hard on the guys. So I think people spin things the way they want to do it.
“I don’t think there is a magic person in terms of a profile. I don’t think it’s got to be somebody that’s coached in the league for ten years. I don’t think it’s somebody that has to have been a head coach. There are too many examples of guys with no coaching experience thriving right off the bat … in general, I think it’s a good group, and whoever is lucky enough to get the job will like working with that group.”
tbontemps@nypost.com