Nets take high road as they await matchup with Jason Kidd's Bucks

They were being interviewed at Fort Hamilton, it must be pointed out, in front of a gym full of military personnel. So the Nets had little choice but to be on their best behavior yesterday when asked those inevitable questions about the return of their former coach, Jason Kidd.

The furthest any of them would stray from the politically correct was Brook Lopez, who was clearly joking when he said of Kidd, "Yeah, all right! We hate Jason Kidd! Oh, he's the worst, man!"

Lopez was chuckling as he said that. A moment later, he was asked, seriously, what kind of reception he thought Kidd might get at Barclays Center tonight when he brings his Milwaukee Bucks to face off against the Nets.

"I don't know," Lopez said. "It'll be interesting. I'm not a fan, so I don't usually boo a lot at games, but I think we're just approaching it as another game. We're all focusing on ourselves."

Kidd, of course, orchestrated a hurried and mystifying exit after one year as the Nets coach. Reportedly, he sought more control from the Nets and when they refused to give it to him, he bolted to Milwaukee and took over the Bucks. Now he returns for the first time since his departure to Barclays Center, where his No. 5 hangs from the rafters with the franchise's other retired numbers. And to hear his former players tell it, none of them has any hard feelings for the guy.

"It'll be good to see him in the building," Kevin Garnett said. "Hopefully we won't forget what he's done for Brooklyn and Jersey over the years. I think sometimes we as fans forget, and I think it's important to remember the good."

Kidd said before the game against the Knicks: "I'm only thinking about the Knicks right now, so . . . You should've known that was coming." Will he be excited tonight? "NBA city, that's it, but the big thing right now is I'm in Milwaukee preparing for the Knicks, so tomorrow you can ask me that question."

"Our time [together] was good," point guard Deron Williams said. "It was up and down because of how the season went -- the season was such a struggle early on, but once we got going it was great.

"It was unfortunate how things ended up, but that's just how things worked," Williams continued. "This is a business, at the end of the day. Our organization and he made a business decision; he's now with the Milwaukee Bucks. We're worried about us now, and what we're doing as a team, and he has his team to worry about."

After finishing 15-67 last season, the Bucks are 6-5 under Kidd. The Nets are 4-6 and have lost four straight since Joe Johnson called them "selfish." The Nets are hungry for a win, no matter who they get it against.

"For us as a team, it's another day at the office," Johnson said. "At this point we need to come out and get a win on our home floor."

Notes & quotes:

This was the second straight year the Nets have held a practice at Fort Hamilton, and afterward, several players and cheerleaders, along with Miss New York 2014, Jillian Tapper, and Brooklyn boxer Zachary Ochoa, stayed to feed a Thanksgiving meal to 100 residents of Bedford Stuyvesant.With Al Iannazzone

in Milwaukee