“Brooklyn’s Backcourt” is so good, Avery Johnson thinks at least half of it always needs to be on the floor. The Nets coach made sure his All-Star backcourt of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson played together in Friday night’s scrimmage. But he’s also trying to figure out how he’s going to deploy both of them in games this season with the idea of always having at least one of them on the court. Read more after the jump.
“We’ve made a concerted effort to have them playing together in practice, drills, scrimmages, and then we have to figure out which one of those guys we want to lead our second team — because we’re not going to play a true second team this year,” Johnson said after yesterday’s practice. “We don’t think we can have Deron and Joe out of the game at the same time, so that’s something else we’re trying to develop.”
The coach made sure the two guards played together in the scrimmage to continue the process of getting familiar with each other on the court and the way they both like to play. From that standpoint, he was happy with what he saw.
“They looked pretty good,” Avery Johnson said. “They didn’t shoot the ball great, but they got to the free-throw line. I think both of those guys combined for maybe 12, 14 free throws.
“It’s just a work in progress. Joe, when he has the ball, knowing where Deron is and vice versa.”
In the scrimmage, the coach got in three full quarters using NBA rules, which was what he had hoped to do, and was happy with the way the players performed. The group led by Williams and Joe Johnson emerged with the victory.
“It went well,” Avery Johnson said. “I thought our defense was really, really good overall. We got after it defensively, [with] a lot of physical play. That led to quite a few free throws, but if we can do a better job of playing defense without fouling, then our defense is going to go to the next level.”
The only injury to come out of the scrimmage was a strained hip for backup point guard C.J. Watson, who was the high scorer with 24 points. Johnson wasn’t concerned about the injury becoming a long-term issue for Watson, whom he expected to practice today.
That practice will take place at Barclays Center, the Nets’ new home in Brooklyn. It will be the first time the team will take the floor at the new arena, something they plan to do several times over the next few weeks in order to get used to it before the season opener against the Knicks on Nov. 1.
“It’s important,” Johnson said of developing a comfort zone inside the arena. “It’s important for us to start getting into that building, players getting used to their locker rooms. The main thing is it’s important for us to get in the building, get a feel for it, see if we can get it to feel like home.”
