Nets Starting Five 11/5/13
JAZZ AT NETS
[box]SALT LAKE TRIBUNE– Utah Jazz: For Deron Williams, a crossroad season with Nets
With Brooklyn’s billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov spending over $180 million in salaries and luxury tax to build the supporting cast around him, Williams finds himself in the brightest of spotlights.
The Nets are expected to contend for a championship and Williams, armed with a five-year, $98 million contract he was given two years ago to keep him in Brooklyn, is their leader.
“Man, it’s tough,” he told reporters. “We talked about it before the game. The win against Miami doesn’t mean anything if we come in here and lay an egg, and that’s what we did.
“These are tough games to get up for, but if we want to be one of the best teams in this league — the best team in this league when it’s all said and done — we’ve got to perform better in these situations.”
“I’ve seen him make play after play for himself,” coach Tyrone Corbin said. “He can get other guys involved, too. He can attack. He can come off and hit a three. He can post up a guy. …
“A guy with that much talent, when he gets in the flow, everybody feeds off of it. He’s the kind of talent that can control the whole game.”
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[box]NYDAILYNEWS – Jason Kidd preaches Nets need time to develop
“Time, time,” said Kidd, who seemed unfazed by his regular-season coaching debut going so badly on Sunday. “The more time you spend in different scenarios, the better off we’ll be, and this is a new group from coaches to players. The more time we spend together, that trust will build because you’re going to have mistakes and trust can be lost very easily. But through a tough loss or a big win you gain that trust.”
Part of the learning curve for the players is recognizing the Nets will get mostly the best efforts of their opponents because of the hype surrounding the team. At some point during the game on Sunday, when it was clear that Orlando was exerting more effort than the Nets, Andray Blatche turned to Joe Johnson and relayed his thoughts on the coming season.
“I said, ‘Joe, you know what? This is going to be a tough season,’ ” said Blatche, who sprained his left ankle against Orlando, didn’t practice on Monday and is listed as probable for Utah on Tuesday. “Every time we hit that floor is going to be tough, because guys are going to come out there and bring their ‘A’ game. We’ve got the bull’s-eye. We came out there, after beating Miami — I guess we were feeling ourselves too much. So we came out there too relaxed. That’s not us.”
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[box] ESPN – KG: I need to be more aggressive
“I’ve got to be better with what I’m doing, making my minutes more productive,” Garnett said, according to the New York Daily News. “I’m just being a little more passive, trying to be the glue if you will.
“I need to be a little more aggressive at times. I don’t really think about the offense. Defense is where I’m trying to make sure that we’re cohesive and we will.”
Garnett, 37, is averaging 7.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 25 minutes in the first three games of the season. He is shooting just 33 percent from the field (10-for-30). He is 0-for-5 inside the restricted area.
“You know he’s unselfish to a fault, and for coaches and teammates, we like for him to be aggressive, to look at the basket, but that’s his makeup,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “He thinks teammate first and so, listen this is a new group and he has to find his spots and I trust that he will.”[/box]
[box] NYPOST – Nets’ Blatche: We’re in for a tough season
“I said on the bench to Joe [Johnson] … ‘Joe, you know what? This is going to be a tough season,’” Andray Blatche said after Monday’s practice at the team’s New Jersey practice facility. “Every time we hit that floor it’s going to be tough, because guys are going to come out there and bring their ‘A’ game, because of our team, because of who we are and what we represent and what we’re trying to achieve.
“Guys are going to come at us every game. We’ve got the bull’s-eye, and we can’t come out there with that type of energy. We came out there, after beating Miami [Friday], I guess we were feeling ourselves too much, so we came out there too relaxed. That’s not us. We’ve got to come out there aggressive every game and with a lot of energy.”
The Nets certainly played Sunday like a team that came out for the game too relaxed. From the opening tip, it seemed like the Nets were a step slow, leaving opposing shooters open, settling for jumpers instead of layups and failing to finish off possessions by allowing Orlando to get the offensive rebound.
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[box]NEWSDAY – Nets’ many stars having trouble finding their roles
“Everyone on this team has been the man on some team,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said Monday. “So now, it’s going to be where can I lead instead? If it’s not points, assists or rebounds, is it steals? Contesting shots? That’s all the game they’re learning.
“This is a new group from coaches to players. The more time we spend together, that trust will build because you’re going to have mistakes. Trust can be lost very easily, but through a tough loss or a big win, you can gain that trust.”
Shooting guard Joe Johnson admitted they are all going through an adjustment period.
“We’re still figuring it out. That’s why I think we have so many turnovers,” Johnson said. “At times, you have guys trying to be too unselfish and it leads to turnovers. We have to find the happy medium to where at times you can be aggressive. We just need to come out ready.”
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