Billy King is working to try and rebuild franchise that last season flirted with historic futility. That is not planting a tree in the backyard work, that is building the Panama Canal work (just with a smaller chance of catching malaria). The Nets need a lot of things.
But New Jersey GM King has new, driven ownership behind him flush with cash. He has the green light and is going to shake things up, likely more than once. The Nets have been rumored to be in the middle of the biggest potential trade in the league this season. So what King told the Star-Ledger is not exactly a shock.
So when Mikhail Prokhorov promised the playoffs 6-18 on a seven game losing streak was not what he had in mind?
The problem with Prokhorov’s boast is that the short-term goal of making the playoffs could well differ from building a winner long term. And the real goal needs to be a team that contends in three years or so. Good young players need to be given a chance to learn on the job — not good for winning now, exactly how you win down the line.
King, to his credit, seems to get this. Based on his words, he’s not getting sucked in for short-term gain, he’s got his eyes on the prize. And that prize is in Brooklyn.
But actions speak louder than words. We shall see.