Billy King: I thought I could've turned it around in Brooklyn
Erstwhile Nets general manager Billy King has had some time to reflect on his rocky tenure in Brooklyn, and despite having nearly every major move blow up in his face, King feels he could've righted the ship if given a bit more time.
"I know some of the mistakes that were made here and I thought I could have turned it around," King told Jabari Young and Vincent Goodwill on the Point Game Podcast, in his first interview since being removed from his post in January.
King was put in a difficult position from the outset, with a mandate from owner Mikhail Prokhorov to put a contender on the floor as quickly as possible. His answer to that - flipping three first-round draft picks and swap rights to a fourth in exchange for graying vets Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce - proved his most damning move. Their foreseeable future mortgaged, all the Nets now have to show for that deal is one playoff series victory (in 2014) and Thaddeus Young, who Garnett was traded for two seasons ago and who's since been re-signed long term.
"I think as I said when I interviewed for the job, 'we're going to make decisions together, we're in this together' and I felt we did that," King said. "And I thought we didn't have picks, but I thought we could go after free agents and we signed Thaddeus and Brook (Lopez) to deals.
"But I don't begrudge ownership. It's their team and they invest a lot of money. It's their prerogative. it's like when you're GM and you make a decision to fire a coach. That's a decision you've got to make."
It wasn't immediately clear that King had been expunged from the organization, as the language ownership used in the announcement suggested he'd been "reassigned." King was reportedly even supposed to advise the Nets in the process of hiring his successor.
He was replaced some six weeks later by Sean Marks, who was serving at the time as the San Antonio Spurs' assistant GM.
"I think the trend that's been going is to hire from San Antonio, guys from the San Antonio tree," King said. Former Spurs scout Trajan Langdon was also brought aboard as the Nets' new assistant GM.
King said he still feels a tinge of resentment about the way things went down, but understands it's all part of the business of the NBA. He's been through this before - having been removed as president and GM of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2007 - and knows it comes with the territory.
"I look at it like it's an opportunity they gave me," he said of the Nets. "And I thank them for it and I'm friends with them and is there bitter feelings? Yeah, but you know when you're hired, you're most likely going to get fired."
- With h/t to Nets Daily