Billy King Visits Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco on ESPN Radio 98.7

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Updated: May 6, 2013

The Brooklyn Nets GM Billy King took a few minutes from his schedule to chat with Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco on ESPN Radio 98.7 today at 1:45 to discuss all things Nets.

The conversation went on about everything involving the past season along with the dismissal of P.J. Carlesimo and the status of hiring a new coach. Check out the full transcript below:

[quote_simple]SAS – What happened in Game 7 on Saturday?

BK – “I just think the intensity level that the Bulls came with, we didn’t match it in the first half and we dug ourselves a hole and came out in the second half and gave the intensity. As Larry Brown always used to say, “When you get behind by that many, you got to play perfect and the other team has to make some mistakes”, they didn’t and we played as good as we could the second half but we dug ourselves too big of a hole.”

RR – Did the way you dug that hole and the lack of intensity, does that tell you something about the makeup of the guys you currently have on this roster?

BK – “I don’t know. It is an indication that they weren’t ready to play that game but you take it back to this team was down 3-1 went to Chicago, so we put ourselves in position to get to Game 7 so a lot of teams I have been with have been down like that and have given up and are just resigned to having their off-season. So the shocking thing is that the way we had played to get to Game 7, for us to play that way, I would have never foresaw that to happen that way.”

SAS – A lot of people are under the impression, I believe it to be a false one by the way, that Game 7 and that loss in Game 7 is what sealed P.J. Carlesimo’s fate. In the event that you guys would have won that game obviously it would not have been something that would have ultimately happened even if you had lost later on in the playoffs. To that you say what?

BK – “I said from the beginning when we named him the interim that this would be something that I would examine and evaluate the overall season and PJ carlesimo calling timeoutnot just game by game and that’s what I did. In talking with ownership we looked at the whole picture of everything and we are trying to get the best fit for us going forward for the long term. We’ve got a roster that is in place and there’s not a lot of movement of the major pieces but there is things we can do. I just felt long term that we needed to get a good fit for us. P.J. did a hell of a job for us and I told him that but when you look at long term it is somewhere we had to look different.”

RR – What is your vision for the right fit long term that didn’t mesh with P.J. but you do believe exists in another candidate?

BK – “There’s a lot of candidates out there at this time and that’s why we reacted quickly and that’s why I want to talk to different guys. Some guys I know how they coach and how view things and I want to pick their brain on our roster now that they have had a chance to see us play and then come to the conclusion of the guy. I have guys in mind that I want to talk to that I have watched over the years and now it is meeting that guy and trying to get to that level of comfort.

SAS – When we think about a P.J. Carlesimo, a lot of people look at 35-19 as his record from when he took over for Avery Johnson. When you look at that record and you look at where he stood in terms of what he accomplished during the regular season. When you say it wasn’t enough or you say that you are looking for a long term solution, crystallize for us what that means compared to what he actually produced for you this season?

BK – “Ultimately you have to win in this league but it is also about development. Players for the long haul, its about philosophies on how you want to play and things like that. I say that we you say “long term”, we have a roster that knows we are going to win a lot of games but it is looking at the long haul of where we want to get to and development of players and style of play and different things we want to do. Thats what i had to look at.”

SAS – Were you concerned at all about the development of Brook Lopez because I didn’t hear a lot of great things about Brook Lopez and his relationship with P.J. Carlesimo?

BK – “That’s one thing I’ll never do. Its not about one player. It wasn’t about one player when we made the decision about Avery and its not about one player now. It’s about ME having a comfort level with who the next coach will be that can embody some of the things that I had instilled in me from some great coaches that i have played for and worked with. I try to take my basketball knowledge and experience and I still talk to a lot of people who has watched us play and get their input and thoughts as well as my opinion of who we need to be.”

RR – Yesterday you said that you would give Phil Jackson a call. From the early signs do you get the feeling that there will be some interest on his part?

BK – “I have no idea. I have not made any calls. Yesterday and today finishing up with all our players with exit interviews and now I will focus on that. I have no idea . I have not had any conversations with Phil so its hard to speculate.”Phil Jackson walking on sidelines

SAS – When you mention the coaches you played for and worked under. You played for Coach K. and you worked with the great Larry Brown for a number of years. When you talk about looking for the next coach, what kind of coach does he need to be based on the personnel that you have or are you willing to allow it to be a coach that you have so much confidence in that you might be willing to tweak or change the roster to some degree to appease that coach and yourself?

BK – That’s one thing when you start talking to candidates they are gonna talk about the roster and players and if you talk to enough of them and there’s a common theme you realize maybe that the vision that people have of this player or these players. The fortunate thing is I have had great relations with people in basketball so throughout the year you get calls and people give you thoughts on games or personnel. So I have been able to this year gather peoples thoughts on what they though about the roster and how we play and different things like that. It is going to be an embodiment. I take a lot of what I learned from Coach K . I think he instilled a lot of teamwork , defense, toughness, and sharing the basketball. That’s the way I was brought up in basketball so working with Larry Brown was the same thing. He comes from the Carlina background so I thinks its a simple game where if someone is open you throw it to them, you have ball movement and the object is to play team defense. So that is where i am really going to start. Those two simple principals.”

RR – There isn’t a ton of financial flexibility with this team. Teletovic and Bogdanovic , are the Euro stashes and Euro players the only way to improve this roster?

BK – “No because I look at the team across the river and they didn’t have a lot of options. They had a lot of guys on the veterans minimum. Teams add players. The Miami Heat had the Big 3 and they went out and added players they were limited. Your limited but if your in a good market you can attract players that can come in and help you. This group did win 49 games but I think we can win more. I just have to add some pieces to the bench. The one thing that teams that are playing now they have that we didn’t have is that they have been together. Indiana and Paul George with Roy Hibbert, they have played together for awhile. They have been with Frank Vogel even though he took over he had been there for a while. Miami has been together. The Knicks, a lot of their core have been together so its about putting guys together and keeping some guys together so that when you go to training camp its not a learning process all over again. They will have to learn a new system but the personnel will know each other because a majority of these guys will be back and we will look to add some guys to it but sometimes continuity is the best thing you have going for you. San Antonio has proven that over the years they have had continuity, Oklahoma City has had pretty good continuity and Memphis they had their missteps where they got knocked out of the playoffs. Now they are going further because the pain of losing, they don’t want to go through that collectively again.”

SAS – When you talk about continuity, clearly that hasn’t been the case necessarily when it pertains to coaching in the career of Deron Williams. In Utah, Jerry Sloan retires abruptly. In Brooklyn, Avery Johnson was fired and obviously it wasn’t just him but a whole bunch of things that went on in Brooklyn and now P.J. Carlesimo is gone. there are people that look at the 98 million dollar man in a Brooklyn nets uniform and they wonder about him Billy, and what role does he play in terms of influencing the tenure and the security of any coach that is going to come to Brooklyn?

BK – I say Deron had nothing to do with Avery being fired. People can make the assumption and make the accusation but he had nothing to do with it. It’s on me. P.J. not being back is not on Deron and I think all of our players came out and supported P.J. so its not on him. A lot of times when coaches Deron Williams wipes face in jersey vs Bullsget fired players do take the brunt of it, especially the guys who make the lost money and I think Deron accepts responsibility of being that type of guy. At the end of the day these decisions are made by me along with ownership. The next coach coming in we’ve got a group, a veteran group that knows how to play D. They will have the challenge of putting this together as a group to go further and I am confident we will get there.”

SAS – One last thing Billy, the next coach, and it doesn’t matter who it is and I don’t care whether it is Brian Shaw, a first time coach or a guy like Phil Jackson , they will be answerable to Billy King correct?

BK – “Yeah it is my responsibility to get a coach in here and work with that coach. I have worked with some big names before and its not about that the owner wants a marquee name. It’s not about a marquee name. We want the guy that can do the job the best and going forward for the long term. We want to find the right guy and like I said yesterday, Tom Thibodeau was an assistant and stepped in and has done a heck of a job in Chicago. Doc Rivers never coached when he took over in Orlando and Mark Jackson so you know there are guys out there and we just have to do our homework. I’ve got to do my homework and find the right guy and spend time talking to enough people I trust their basketball knowledge and getting the right person in. Our players will be fine with whoever we choose as a coach.”[/quote_simple]

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