Billy King took over the Nets General Manager position in 2010 replacing long time fan favorite Rod Thorn. This was an important time for the Nets, as they were two years away from the move from New Jersey, across the river to Brooklyn. Billy King’s job was to take the Nets, who lets face it were tanking in their final years in New Jersey, and turn them into a title contender like how they were in the early to mid 2000’s under Thorn.
The move to Brooklyn was supposed to be exciting, a new era of Nets basketball where they would be contending for championships every year and the Nets did have a lot of promise.
The team formally known as the New Jersey Nets looked to be in great shape back then. They had the most cap space available going into the 2010 off-season, multiple first round picks for multiple drafts, a former NBA Coach of the Year in Avery Johnson, and young rising talent in Brook Lopez (who never missed a game in his career up to this point), Devin Harris, double-double machine Kris Humphires, Marshon Brooks, Courtney Lee, sharp shooting Anthony Morrow, and the presence of Jay-Z was supposed to help do something. Billy King walked into a perfect situation for anybody who wants to be a sports GM.
Before coming to the Nets, Billy King was the President and GM for the Sixers from 2002-2007. King took over running a team fresh off of an NBA finals appearance that had the reigning NBA MVP in Allen Iverson, the NBA Coach of the Year Larry Brown, and a team that owned the third best record in the NBA.
King single-handedly ran Philadelphia into the ground. Larry Brown, the coach who showed that city the most success snce the Dr. J days resigned in King’s second year, only to win a Championship with the Pistons the following season.
After Brown left, the Sixers made one playoff appearance, ironically losing to Larry Brown’s Pistons in 2005. That was Philadelphia’s only winning season post Larry Brown during the Billy King era. The Sixers looked like a young promising team with a young MVP in Iverson, but never did any damage after Brown left who King chased out of town.
Billy King was fired in 2007 after six seasons with two playoff berths, one with Brown at the helm.
July 14th 2010, the Nets hire King to make all basketball decisions. What a job he walked into. The most cap space in the league, multiple first round picks for multiple drafts, a young nucleus of players, and Jay-Z was supposed to help recruit players. Rod Thorn left Billy King in great shape.
The Nets were finishing up finalizing their new ownership with Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the George Steinbrenner of basketball, purchasing the team. The new owner promised a championship in no less than “five years.” Well this season marks the fifth anniversary of him making those comments, and at 14-16, and on their fourth coach in five seasons, those chances are looking slim.
This was supposed to be the Nets come up. There were talks of signing Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, David Lee, and/or Joe Johnson. Obviously not all of them but the team was “supposed to” sign at least two of them. With all the money King had, and help from Jay-Z that off-season was supposed to be the Nets big break.
With all the cap space, King dished out a 5 year/$35 million contract to Travis Outlaw who was waived after one season. That was just the beginning of terrible personnel decisions King has made in his tenure. Below is a list of moves that should be enough to get Billy King fired:
August 2010: Courtney Lee for Troy Murphy. Courntey Lee played one season in New Jersey after starting on a Magic team that went to the finals. King traded the 24-year-old Lee who averaged 12.5 points a game for glorified bench warmer Troy Murphy, who never saw the floor and was traded to the Warriors that February.
February 23rd, 2011: Traded Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, two Future 1st round picks (Gorgui Dieng and Enes Kanter), and cash for Deron Williams. While at first this may have seemed ok, Deron Williams had no intention to re-sign with the Jazz and the Nets could have just tried to go after him in free agency, while keeping their picks and young talented forward . The 23 year-old Favors, who starts in Utah, has averaged 10.1 points per game and 7 rebounds in his five seasons in the league, compared to Deron Williams who is the richest bench player in the league.
March 14, 2012: Traded Shawne Williams, Mehmet Okur and a first round pick to Portland for Gerald Wallace. Not only did King give up way to much for a guy who was on the down tail of his career, he gave him four year/$40 million dollar contract. King said he traded their 2012 pick because there were only “three players they were coveting.” The Blazer’s used that pick to draft some point guard named Damian Lillard, while Gerald Wallace can’t crack the Celtics rotation.
July 2012: signed Deron Williams to Max Contract. Speaks for itself today. Bill Simmons ranked this five year/$100 million contract the fifth worst contract in the NBA. D-Will makes $20 million a year and comes off the bench and had the worst season of his career last year.
July 2012: Traded Jordan Farmer, Johan Petro, Anthony Morrow, Deshawn Stevenson Jordan Williams, a first round draft pick and the rights to swap a future first round draft pick for Joe Johnson. While Johnson brought another talented player to Brooklyn his contract is terrible. Atlanta traded him for a bunch of “scrubs” just to dump his absurd salary. No team in the NBA was willing to trade for him due to his overpriced contract which was ranked #4 worst NBA contract in 2014 by Bill Simmons. Yet, not only did King trade for him, he gave away a draft pick and the right to swap an addition first round draft pick for him. JJ has the second highest contract in the league, but hasn’t played anything to close to deserve his ridiculous six year/$119 million contract.
July 2012:, Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Marshon Brooks, Kris Joseph and 3 unprotected first-round draft picks, plus abilities to swap another draft pick for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry, and DJ White.
Could be the worst trade in franchise history next to the Damian Lillard for Gerald Wallace one. The Nets actually won fewer games with this roster (44 last season, 49 the season before.) King traded the Jet mid-season, Pierce left after one season, and KG should have retired three years ago. If anything Billy King has rebuilt the Celtics, Hawks, and Blazers instead of the team that employs him, the Nets.
2010-Current: Four different head coaches in five years. Avery Johnson got fired after two months into his second season with the team after winning coach of the month. PJ Carlisimo was fired after going 39-19 taking over for Johnson. Jason Kidd was traded to the Bucks, and now Lionel Hollins is struggling to keep this team at the .500 mark.
The Nets have no cap space, keep trading away picks, and is a roster filled with bad contracts and not much young talent. The future sadly doesn’t look bright. It’s time for change in Brooklyn. A coach can only get blamed for some much, same thing with the players. Expectations haven’t been met in the five years King has been in charge, and as a Nets fan myself, it’s time for a change.
