ORLANDO, Fla. — Jarrett Jack received the news of his part in the three-team trade that brought him to Brooklyn in a rather unique setting.
“I was actually in class, sitting down in class and I got a phone call from my agent about 10 minutes in,” Jack said during a conference call with reporters Thursday. “I stepped outside and he was singing the ‘New York, New York’ song.
“My agent [Jeff Schwartz], he kind of briefed me on what was going on and that’s kind of how I found out about it.”
However he found out, the Nets were happy to bring aboard Jack, along with second-year swingman Sergey Karasev, as part of the three-team trade with the Cavaliers and Celtics. The Nets sent Marcus Thornton to Boston, the rights to three European players unlikely to ever play in the NBA to Cleveland and the Cavaliers opened up cap room to potentially sign LeBron James.
But for the Nets, the most important aspect of the deal was getting their hands on Jack, a reliable backup point guard who can step into the role Shaun Livingston vacated when he signed with Golden State last week.
“I see myself being able to kind of relieve Deron [Williams] at times of the ball-handling responsibilities, and then just trying to create opportunities for myself or for my teammates,” Jack said.
Jack and Williams have been friends since they played against each other in high school, and both were first-round picks in 2005. Jack said they spoke on the phone right after the trade had been verbally agreed upon.
“I actually talked to Deron [Wednesday] night, just trying to figure out where guys live and get that thing sorted out,” Jack said. “We both are excited to be teammates and not going against each other, and just looking forward to the season.”
After spending last season with a young, rebuilding team in Cleveland, Jack said he is excited about the opportunity to come to Brooklyn and play with a veteran team coming off a trip to the second round of the playoffs.
“I’m tremendously excited,” he said. “There’s a lot of guys I have admired from afar that I can be teammates with now. I think that’s the most intriguing part.
“But I definitely think we have the potential to do some damage in the East and make some noise, and be the force that people expected Brooklyn to be last year.”
Nets free agent Paul Pierce still is uncertain where he’ll be playing next season.
Pierce, playing in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas on Thursday, participated in a Google Hangout with a poker website and said he has to wait for LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony to sign for the market to open up.
“Who knows,” he said of where he’ll play. “[Former Celtics coach and current Clippers coach and president Doc Rivers], he’s given me a call. Right now it’s free agency, so you can talk to teams.
“I’ll talk to Doc, [but] right now I think everybody is waiting to se what LeBron and Carmelo will do before all the chips fall into place, and then you’ll see more guys sign.”
The Nets are in the position to pay the most money to Pierce, though he’s also likely to garner significant interest from Rivers and the Clippers — who can only offer him their mid-level exception — and the Bulls, where he could reunite with former Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau.