What the Brooklyn Nets Need from Andrei Kirilenko This Season

Andrei Kirilenko will be as important as ever to the Brooklyn Nets in 2014-15.

With Paul Pierce gone and Croatian rookie Bojan Bogdanovic presumably heading toward a learning curve, Brooklyn is going to need AK-47 to step up at the small forward spot.

The team will also ask the veteran utility man to help mentor some of its younger foreign players.

Despite doing a decent job of replacing Pierce, Shaun Livingston and Jason Kidd this summer, the Nets—in some way, shape or form—will miss them. Pierce’s leadership. Livingston’s calm and cool demeanor. Kidd’s ingenuity.

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One thing the Nets will most certainly not miss? Kirilenko’s dreaful haircut.

The 33-year-old forward was severely hampered by injuries last season and looked as if he had aged well beyond his years—literally and figuratively.

Kirilenko has a sweet new ‘do—he says it makes him feel younger—and a clean bill of health, which gives him a strong chance to have a bounce-back year after 2013-14's dud.

The Nets are going to count on the Russian to be a reliable force on the floor as well as in the locker room.

Consistent health

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First things first: The Nets need Kirilenko healthy and on the court.

In 2013-14, the veteran managed to play just 45 games and scored a measly five points a night. It was the first time in his 10-year career that he had averaged single-digits in the scoring column.

Aside from his low statistical output—3.2 boards, 1.6 assists and 0.9 steals, all career lows—Kirilenko just didn’t look like himself. He’s always been a pesky defender, but you could count on one hand the amount of times he flashed that aspect of his game.

He was hurt for the majority of the year, playing four of the team’s first five games before going out all the way until New Year’s.

Even when AK-47 was available, he was scarcely used by Kidd, who struggled to properly utilize the versatile forward, giving him a sporadic 19 minutes nightly. Kidd also inexplicably benched Kirilenko for Game 1 of the team’s opening playoff series against the Toronto Raptors.

It has been reported that Kirilenko and the rookie coach didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye last year. Here’s an excerpt from Nets Daily in July featuring an interview AK-47 gave to Russian paper SovSport:

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As he has previously, Kirilenko seemed to diss Kidd, at one point suggesting he may not have wanted to deal with the pressure of coaching in New York, saying, "So the pressure is huge. And Kidd couldn’t handle it. Or maybe didn’t want to." He called the team's second round exit a "lack of success." (Kirilenko's wife, Masha, publicly criticized Kidd for not playing the veteran in the playoffs.)

The criticism got harsher later in the interview.

"Basically he was not able to do much of anything, if you look at the big picture – we have to admit that fact," says Kirilenko, throwing his arms open. "There were objective reasons. Our starting center, Brook Lopez, injured himself early and was out for the whole season. There were health problems with other players. But the serious goals set before the club were not cancelled. We were serious about fighting for the title.

"When Kidd became head [coach] of the team, no one really knew what to expect," he added. "Of course he had colossal experience as a player but no coaching experience. Or reputation. At the beginning it was difficult. What else could it be when you’re losing more games than you’re winning? Things were a bit easier for me as I was injured at the time and couldn’t be on the court and do anything about it, no matter how much I wanted to. So, inside, I was calm."

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Kirilenko expects more consistent minutes under new coach Lionel Hollins, and it’s very likely that he’ll receive them. At his best, Kirilenko can guard multiple positions and shows no fear in sticking to guys like LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony.

Here’s what he told reporters at Deron Williams' charity event in September: “I’ve never had a problem to be the guy who’s worried about the position. I’m more worried about the game time. If you’re playing 25-30 minutes a game, it doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. The bench or the starting lineup: That’s the only concern I have.”

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If Kirilenko can stay on the court, his numbers will be much closer to his career average of 11.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.8 blocks than last season’s disappointing stat line.

However, it should be noted that Kirilenko was forced to sit out the team’s second day of training camp with “back stiffness,” according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.

“I've had (back issues) probably the last 7-8 years,” the veteran said, per Bondy. “I know the symptoms so I'm trying to be careful and be smart about it. But again, there's not much you can do about it.”

Relax, Nets fans. Kirilenko has participated in three preseason games after missing time with the back injury, playing upward of 20 minutes in two of them.

Still, the Nets had better keep their fingers crossed on this one.

Dependability

Kirilenko needs to be healthy, but he also needs to be consistent and effective when he's on the floor.

Especially early in the season.

Bogdanovic could turn out to be more valuable than Pierce as the year unwinds, but a veteran coach like Hollins won’t lean too heavily on the rookie initially. 

That’d be like giving a 17-year-old the keys to a shiny new Mustang—too much, too soon.

“It’s a little bit tough for me [so far], because I’m not used to practicing like this, with this kind of energy and toughness,” Bogdanovic said, via Tim Bontemps of the New York Post on October 1. “Everything is new for me the first couple of days, but over the next few days I’ll pick it up.”

The NBA’s three-point line is a foot further from the basket than overseas, where the sharp-shooting 25-year-old made a name for himself. The ball is different, too.

“It’s different on my fingers,” Bogdanovic said of the NBA ball, per Bontemps. “It [feels] completely different.”

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Bogdanovic, who has impressed Hollins this preseason, could take a few months to truly hit his stride even if he does crack the starting lineup.

“I think Bojan has surprised us with his steady play, his consistent play,” Hollins said on October 15th, per Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York..

The transition from Euro ball to the NBA won't be entirely smooth, though.

In addition to the differences in court dimensions and ball texture, the rookie will be thrust into a new world of frequent traveling and a rigorous, physically grueling 82-game season.

In the meantime, Kirilenko’s play will become so much more important. Alan Anderson is the team's only other legitimate option at the 3.

Kirilenko won’t necessarily fade as Bogdanovic, who will likely play some shooting guard and some small forward, progresses. He’ll still be an important piece of the Nets throughout the whole season.

But the former All-Star, who can also play power forward, absolutely needs to take on a larger role as the rookie forward gets acclimated to life in the NBA.

Mentorship

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Sure, the Nets will expect Kirilenko to put up numbers and help the team win games in a variety of different ways.

But AK-47 will do more than that—he'll also serve as a mentor.

In addition to Bogdanovic, Kirilenko will take second-year forward and fellow Russian Sergey Karasev under his wing. Here’s a really cool tidbit from Andrew Keh of the New York Times on October 4:

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It was in the late 1990s, when Kirilenko was a promising teenager playing for CSKA Moscow in the Russian league. On a day without a game or practice, several of the team’s players showed up at the gym anyway to shoot, and the team’s veteran point guard, Vasily Karasev, brought along his young son, Sergey.

Sergey was about 5 years old, and Kirilenko and the other players goofed around with him, encouraging him to run around and toss up shots. Kirilenko picked up the boy over his shoulders so he could dunk on the 10-foot rims.

Now Sergey Karasev, 6 feet 7 inches tall and capable of dunking just fine on his own, is Kirilenko’s teammate in the N.B.A.

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Karasev was a disappointment last year after the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted him with the 19th pick in 2013. In 7.1 minutes a game with the Cavs, the 20-year-old averaged less than two points, though he did show some promise in the D-League.

If Kirilenko can aid Bogdanovic through the growing pains of becoming a strong NBA player and help groom Karasev into a threat off the bench, the veteran will have earned every bit of his paycheck.

Throw in consistent health and a reliable stat line, and you're looking at an ideal situation for both the Nets and Kirilenko in 2014-15.

All stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.