Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have Nets fans feeling pretty good about their chances to win a title this season, but it’s not the first time such confidence has existed with this team.
Back in 2013, the Nets made a huge blockbuster trade for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry, with the hopes that it’d be enough to finally get them their first title since the 70s.
Needless to say, things didn’t work out that way, and it wasn’t long before everyone realized the experiment was a failure.
Looking back on his time with that team, NBA legend Paul Pierce spoke a bit about what went wrong, admitting that he expected things to go differently.
“I thought we’d be a lot better. I thought Deron Williams was ready to be an MVP type of player.” said Pierce.
“He was the one that had to take us to that next step because by that point, me & Ticket, we were like the help. We were the leaders, but needed the young guys.”
The Nets did make the playoffs that year, finishing 6th with a 44-38 record. They didn’t last very long in the playoffs, though, getting eliminated in 5 games by the Heat in the Eastern Conference Semis. That team fell apart pretty quickly after that.
But who is really to blame? At the time of the trade, Pierce was 36-years-old, so there was no real expectation he would lead the team. It was Deron Williams who had to step up if they were ever going to be great. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t in the cards…
