The 2012-13 season was an odd one for the Nets franchise.
Of course, there was plenty of excitement with the team making the move from New Jersey to Brooklyn. But after the first 28 games of the season, the Nets had already decided to move on from their head coach, Avery Johnson — who was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month 24 days before he was fired.
And while former Nets point guard C.J. Watson — who averaged 6.8 points and 2.0 assists per game while averaging 19 minutes a night in the 80 games in which he played for Brooklyn that year — found the franchise’s decision rather odd, he wouldn’t change anything about the way that year went, which he explained to Brand “Scoop B” Robinson on the Scoop B Radio podcast:
I thought we kind of underachieved. We didn’t get as far as we wanted to obviously in the playoffs, but I don’t think I would change anything. I don’t know if I would have fired Avery [Johnson] after he got Coach of the Month or whatever, I thought that was kind of weird. But I think it was blessing in disguise and I guess it was meant to happen but like I said, I wouldn’t change anything. It happened how it happened.
But the franchise is in a much different position now than it was in Watson’s lone year with the team. Although they won’t be able to play in the bubble with the rest of the team, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are set to turn Brooklyn into a contender next season.
And Watson is ready to watch the duo go to work:
They’re two great players. KD, in my eyes, is probably one of the top one or two players in the league. And especially when he’s healthy, he’s unguardable. And you throw another player in like Kyrie in there who can create his own shot, make big-time shots in crunch time when you need them … I don’t think you really need a bunch of plays for those two players. Just put ’em in a pick-and-roll in obvious situations and you know, hopefully, they get the best shot that they can every time down the court. But I don’t think that it’ll be a big adjustment because those two players are like I said the top ten players in their category in the league.