“Wassup Brooklyn!” were there first words out of Kevin Garnett’s mouth on the day that he was officially introduced as a member of the Brooklyn Nets alongside Paul Pierce and Jason Terry at the Barclays Center. General Manager Billy King and Head Coach Jason Kidd joined the trio at the press event.
There were two main themes during this event, one focusing on the past of these great players and the other spinning their stories forward.
Boston Legends
The first topic was concerning the trio’s time in Boston. This question was mainly addressed towards Pierce who spent 15 years in Boston and admitted that it is “a tough situation,” and that he “would have loved to end in Boston.”
Garnett went on to say that it was “unfortunate” that he had to leave Boston but that having Terry and Pierce moving with him made the situation a lot more attractive. Despite these tough feelings Garnett spun things positively saying that, “change has to happen sometimes for things to be better.”
Garnett was also asked about how this situation compares to how the Celtics were constructed in 2008 saying it’s “a mirror image of that team” before adding, “the biggest question is how we will be able to gel and how quickly.”
Championship Aspirations
With three NBA champions on stage, not including Coach Kidd, much of the talk concerned how this team would reach its championship aspirations. It was the first thing King mentioned during his opening remarks stating that, “you want to add players with a championship pedigree.”
Pierce echoed these thoughts about championships when he said, “the ultimate drive is to win a championship, and Brooklyn gives us the best opportunity.” Garnett added that, “the bones of what the team has already, made them very attractive.” While Terry added that he was “blessed” to have this championship opportunity.
The players talked specifically about what could make them a title contender, including Pierce saying that he wants them to be a team with “no egos.”
Garnett went on to outline the three things that he thought would bring this team to the next level, “we have to sacrifice our own games, make defense a priority, and be able to do things we’re not comfortable with.” On this point Pierce added that “we understand sacrifice, and we have no choice but to make this work.”
Pierce believes that the Nets have the ability to stack up with Miami, Chicago, and Indiana in the East. Although a question about the Knicks seemed to be the last thing this group was interested in. When a question was posed to Kidd about the Knicks he laughed before saying that “the big picture is what is important,” and that, “the gold trophy is the only goal.”
When the players were asked if any of them wanted to field the question about the Knicks, Garnett calmly replied, “Nah.”
By Sam Jackson