I’ve been a New Jersey Nets fan for quite some time. I’ve seen dreadful basketball. But during this 2010 season, which began with my team setting the record for the longest season-opening losing streak in the NBA’s history, I have been overwhelmed not by the bad basketball, but the unforgivable management.
I have seen the team implode over the last two years, with suits selling or trading all the players that had made the team a contender. Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, my beloved Richard Jefferson banished to the obscurity of Milwaukee, just to free up money. And with all this money free, the Nets had been hoping for years to sign a superstar — but even with the prospect of all these millions, who was going to come play for a team that was soon to be the worst in basketball?


The answer: a resounding, “nobody.” The same “nobody,” in fact, who shows up at the Izod Center every game to watch this team (and I use the word “team” loosely) begin their season by going 0-18. But not to worry–Nets management is confident they can pick those ticket sales up by moving to a city indelibly devoted to another terrible club.
And these guys are embarrassed to wear uniforms that say New Jersey? As a New Jerseyan, I promise you, Nets: the embarrassment is mutual.
Photo, from the Nets v. Knicks game on Sunday, by DP Styles on Flickr Commons.

11 replies on “Would You Drive to Brooklyn to See the Worst Team in Basketball?”

  2. Send them to Brooklyn.They stink, so they’ll Diffidently fit right in with the rest of the garbage over there. New Jersey will get another team to play at Prudential (The Rock).

  3. well said Noah! I used to miss anything to watch the Knicks back in the mid 80s when Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley played for the team. But I have been equally disgusted and can no longer honestly call myself a fan. The Nets were exciting in the early 80s too, with players like Darryl Dawkins, Buck Williams, Otis Birdsong, and Micheal Ray Richardson. I think their decline really started in 1987, when they picked Dennis Hopson over Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller and Kevin Johnson in the NBA draft. Except for the Jason Kidd/Vince Carter era, management has just had one misstep after the other. Oh, to have a b-ball team to live and breathe for….

  4. JBS,
    The living “Pimp” Charles Oakley, did not get to the Knicks until 88-89 Season, he was drafted in 85′
    I was an avid Knicks fan in the early 90’s to mid 90’s when the Knicks were actually good with Starks, Marc Jackson, Ewing, Oakley, Charles Smith(Scrub missed a layup), Doc Rivers, Greg Anthony, Hub Davis, and My personal favorite….. ANTHONY MASON…. What a beast!
    – Drazen Petrovic 1964-1993
    RIP
    Peace to the Nets, I can take the train to see the KNICKS…….

  5. “Peace to the Nets, I can take the train to see the KNICKS…….”
    … or the Acela Express to see the Celtics.

  6. So, I just assumed that they were hoping to avoid any controversy surrounding the move by getting rid of the fans.

  7. I will repeat an earlier post :
    Are the Nets still playing?
    Sorry to hear that.
    Seton Hall Pirates are truly NJ’s baskteball team.

  9. Don’t kid yourselves…SHU hasn’t been relevant on the college bball scene since the mid to late 90s when the likes of Adrian Griffin played there.
    They are a bottom feeder in the Big East.
    Once you get outside of the high school ranks, basketball in New Jersey is in a sad, sorry state.
    Who really cares though…college bball means nothing until March and the NBA means nothing until late April/early May.
    Stick with the NFL, NCAAF, EPL, and international soccer and you can’t go wrong.

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