Billy King has a bare frame of a team to go with a bare frame of a new arena. So if Deron Williams was sincere yesterday in being excited about leaving a six-season home and postseason race for the ends of the NBA earth, then it was because of the way the Nets’ basketball boss framed it.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous going to a team that was 17-40,” said Williams, when asked why he was smiling. “Just talking with Billy, the direction he wanted to go in and players he’s looking forward to going after, got me excited.”
Barring unexpected labor difficulties, the Nets’ arena in Brooklyn will be finished by November 2012. The team is much more problematic. Even if arguably the best point guard on the planet, a free-agent in 16 months, said all the right things about keeping his mind open, he also implied his decision will come down to what teammates — current and potential — can get open.
As he walks the ball up tonight in his Nets debut in San Antonio, Williams will see mostly dirt (cheap contracts) and bricks, meaning Nets who shoot them. How long will it take until he wants to shoot himself? More important, by what means will King recruit winning players to take up all his cap room?
“Just show them the film of [Williams] playing and a lot of guys will want to be part of it,” said King. “The guy has averaged almost 10 assists and can score.
“To win a championship you need a great point guard and he is a great point guard. He has friends and when the time comes, I’m sure they will ask what he thinks. That’s the way it works.”
King has 16 months to show he is capable of better work than was done last summer, when Travis Outlaw was signed for five years and $35 million, and Johan Petro and Anthony Morrow were the other Nets’ principal additions.
The Nets only bona fide NBA starters are Brook Lopez and Williams. So, turned down by every potential franchise-changer on the open market or about to go on it, they took a necessary chance to get another Jason Kidd.
The Nets might get an extra year’s rental of Williams if a new CBA and a lower cap convince him not to take next summer’s opt-out. But a guy who has never been on a losing team is not likely staying where, deep down, he knows he can’t win, no matter how many earrings the Nets put on their pig.
“We have a full-time chef,” said coach Avery Johnson. “Aircrafts, the way we want to travel, there’s a lot of stuff in the works taking this to a first-class organization on and off the court.”
Off the court will come in second to on the court, though let the record show Williams has visited Brooklyn.
“Why?” asked a reporter.
“Hey, what’s wrong with Brooklyn?” Williams said.
Give King credit, Williams hadn’t been here 24 hours and already was getting defensive about the place.
Then again, maybe he really wanted to know what’s wrong with Brooklyn.
Ultimately, though, a max player anywhere he goes, including possibly to the Knicks, won’t need to be shown Mikhail Prokhorov’s money, or the building or the aircraft, but the players.