Oct 1, 2012; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Avery Johnson gives an interview during the Nets media day at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim O
Today was the Nets’ Media Day and many different Nets were talking about the possibility of winning a championship title. Jonah posted some of the Nets players’ comments and Stefan Bondy of the NY Daily News provides more quotes:
- Andray Blatche: “Looking at our roster, the guys that we have we have a great team. We have a team that’s winning a title.”
- Joe Johnson: “I think we have everything you could possibly want on a championship caliber team. So we just have to put it together, come together as one. Sky’s the limit for us, honestly. …Hopefully we could jell a lot faster than what people expect. I think we have a chance to win the whole thing this year. I’m not just saying it. I honestly believe it. …Yeah, definitely (we can beat the Heat and Lakers). You have to go through these teams to win, right? I’m not sugar coating anything. We understand Miami is the favorites. Nobody is picking us to win anything. We understand that. I think hard work is definitely going to pay off.”
- Josh Childress: “Why not? I think the potential is a championship. We have a very versatile team that top to bottom is very versatile, very deep. And that’s the type of things you look for in a championship-contending team. I think that’s a viable statement by Joe.”
- Jerry Stackhouse: “I think we stack up equal to the team that I went to the finals with (in Dallas in 2006), if not better, depth-wise. But it’s never about what’s on paper. Every year you see teams that surprise you, teams that you think are going to do better than they do. But it starts tomorrow. And I think when you have guys buy into how we want to play, being unselfish and giving themselves on the defensive end, we’ll live with results. I don’t know what that translates to, whether it’s 50 wins, but I always think 50 wins is a sign of a good team that has a chance to do some damage in the playoffs.”
- Avery Johnson: “Where we are now, the goal is to win a championship. That’s the goal. At the end of the day, that’s what we play for. I couldn’t say that about the teams the last two years. I couldn’t say that on any level. But the goal is to win a championship.”
- Deron Williams: “I think we can be special. I think we can be a great group. I think we are going to be a great team. We have the right group of youth and veterans. Guys are not really worried about contract situations. We could just go out and play basketball. I think guys are at the point of their careers where they don’t care about statistics, they just care about basketball. That’s what you have to have.”
With the payroll the Nets have the next few years, it should not come as a surprise that they are talking about winning a championship title. However, they do not match up with the top teams, like the Heat and Lakers, on paper. They are good enough to win the second seed in the Eastern Conference, though, because the East is very weak this year. I think that a good, realistic goal for the Nets this season is to make it to the Conference Finals.