Avery Johnson optimistic in introductory conference

Now updated with some video highlights at the end.

Any coach taking over the reigns of a team that won 12 out of 82 games the year before should probably believe in the power of positive thinking, and new Nets coach Avery Johnson apparently does. Johnson wasn’t shy about predicting big success for the Nets in the near future, and he also wasn’t bashful about broadcasting his sunny attitude:

“I am all about the positive,” Johnson said after being introduced as the Nets’ 16th coach. “I am about hard work. I am about dreaming. I have a big dream right now in my mind in terms of where this franchise can go and where we can take it and I see all the possibilities...

.;..Where I come from is all about winning and it starts with having a winning mentality,” Johnson said. “We have to get rid of the losing stench and losing mentality that we had here last year. We know it is going to take a lot of work and I don’t think it’s about being overly optimistic. It’s about having a positive outlook.”

Starting point guard Devin Harris’ support of Johnson, who coached him in Dallas, was less than overwhelming:

“We butted heads, we’ll probably still butt heads going forward,” said Harris, who called Johnson a player-type coach who can be a bit of a dictator when he does not get the desired results. “But it’s all about winning and that’s the only thing we both respect...

...Obviously I would like to have a little more trust on the sideline,” Harris said. “I’m at a different point in my career. I think he has learned a lot from his absence in coaching and I think we will be a good fit.”

I mean, of course Devin Harris has earned more trust at this point in his career. He led the Nets to 12 wins last year. When you lead a team to 12 wins, you do not have a license to continue to do things your way. Harris has put up some great individual numbers since joining the Nets, but I don’t think he’s earned the right to patronize his new/old head coach by saying he was the one who was learning while the Nets were flirting with historic levels of failure.

If the Nets want to get relevant, everyone needs to lose their ego and realize that everything about that team needs to change. Time will tell if Harris is on board with that line of thinking.