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| Even when they were the Nets were the best, no one cared. |
To say the New Jersey Nets are the laughing stock of the NBA is probably an understatement, I'd say they're more like the laughing stock of professional sports. I'm not even going to sit here and bash them for the fact that they play in the New Jersey, it just that they've never been relevant...even when they were relevant.
When I think of the New Jersey Nets, I think of three things. One, the Izod Center, which has to be the worst named venue in the history of venues, and was located in the shadows of the Meadowlands, which was the only thing that kept it a recognizable structure. Two, the Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Jason Kidd era but I'll touch on that more in-depth later. Finally, number three, Jay-Z's small ownership of the team(something like 1.5%) which he takes far too seriously. As he said, "If Jesus is paying Lebron James, I'm paying...Gerald Wallace?" With the Izod Center lacking relevance, I'll go deep on the other two subjects.
Since I'm not old enough to remember the days of Dr. J, Otis Birdsong or Daryl Dawkins I'll pretend the Nets franchise started in 2001 when they acquired Jason Kidd. Trading the highly talented, but seriously immature Stephon Marbury, for Kidd was by far the greatest move the Nets ever made. The veteran superstar joined up with the likes of Kerry Kittles, Keith Van Horn and rising stars Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin. The Nets took off that year and made it all the way to the NBA Finals before getting obliterated by the Kobe-Shaq duo in Los Angeles. The trio of Kidd, Martin and Jefferson helped the Nets return to the NBA Finals the next year where they fell to the growing dynasty out in San Antonio. In '04 New Jersey tried to revamp its roster by adding Vince Carter, but instead of putting them over the top, they failed to get past the second round three years in a row. This 6 year playoff run ended ugly as the Nets have failed to make the playoffs since. But even in the Nets finest hour they were still mired in the basement of relevancy.
The early 2000s was the NBA's darkest hour. As the Lakers broke up, the league fell to the hands of the Spurs, Pistons and Nets, who drowned the league with boring basketball in towns no one cared about. Add the NBA's offseason issues, such as Allen Iverson's antics, Kobe's rape case and Antonie Walker's scary gambling addiction, and you had a league in peril. So while the NBA was off dealing with ratings and image issues, the Nets were winning games, and yet no one cared. Even in the Nets glory days they just simply couldn't shake their East Rutherford blues.
In 2004, right in the midst of these so called "glory days", Jay-Z was apart of an ownership group that bought the Nets. Later in 2009, Mikhail Prokhorov, a russian entrepreneur bought the controlling shares of the Nets and teamed up with Jay-Z to be the faces of the Nets with plans to move them to Brooklyn in 2012. Prokhorov and HOV advertised the living hell out of these "new look" Nets, but really had nothing to show for it. They took part in the Lebron sweepstakes in 2010 and felt like they had a good chance to get him, but like the Nets usually do, they ended up empty handed. But instead of getting any of the big name free agents like the Knicks did, New Jersey's best acquisition was Travis Outlaw who turned out to be absolutely worthless. At the deadline in 2011 the Nets thought they had made a major acquisition by getting highly touted point guard Deron Williams from the Jazz. This move was ultimately to lure Dwight Howard to New Jersey at the next trade deadline, but once the Howard circus resulted in him staying in Orlando, the Nets were once again looking empty handed.
Jay-Z and Prokhorov have been talking a ton of smack about the Knicks since they day they've arrived, but the only relevant team in New York is still the one that plays in MSG. The Nets can keep talking a big game, but right now they're looking like they're heading for another long stay in the league's cellar. Deron Williams will surely opt out, heading for greener and more championship ready pastures. Gerald Wallace might not opt out, but I'm not really sure anyone is shaking in their boots knowing the Nets best player will be him. Kris Humphries is unrestricted along with the emerging Gerald Green. Right now the Nets summer looks like it's going to be an ugly one. Brooklyn might be excited for it's first professional sports franchise since the Dodgers, but it won't be excited for too long. Next year it's just going to be a case of "talk s**t get hit" for the Nets and the ones doing the hitting will be Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said "good riddance, see you later" to the Nets. I can't wait 'til Brooklyn wants to do the same.
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