The color scheme has changed, black and white replacing the blue, red and gray that used to decorate the practice court still located in New Jersey, the state they spurned after 35 years. And oddly enough, the Nets’ first game since moving across the river will be played in the Garden State, even if their jerseys say “Brooklyn” now, when they take the court in Atlantic City Saturday night.
Deron Williams glared his way through the Nets’ final season in New Jersey, making zero effort to hide his frustrations.
He finished the year in couture street clothes, nursing minor calf pain as his team sheepishly exited through the back door of the Garden State. Along the way, he opted out of the final year of his contract, admitted he was banking on the Dwight Howard deal and swept a token fly swatter at all the Dallas rumors.
The Nets are now in Brooklyn, but D-Will is not. Is his departure also in black and white, or is Brooklyn still sitting at the table with chips to play?
Here are five “out cards” which could keep No. 8 in Jay Z threads this fall:
Deron Williams glared his way through the Nets’ final season in New Jersey, making zero effort to hide his frustrations.
He finished the year in couture street clothes, nursing minor calf pain as his team sheepishly exited through the back door of the Garden State. Along the way, he opted out of the final year of his contract, admitted he was banking on the Dwight Howard deal and swept a token fly swatter at all the Dallas rumors.
The Nets are now in Brooklyn, but D-Will is not. Is his departure also in black and white, or is Brooklyn still sitting at the table with chips to play?
Here are five “out cards” which could keep No. 8 in Jay Z threads this fall:
Deron Williams glared his way through the Nets’ final season in New Jersey, making zero effort to hide his frustrations.
He finished the year in couture street clothes, nursing minor calf pain as his team sheepishly exited through the back door of the Garden State. Along the way, he opted out of the final year of his contract, admitted he was banking on the Dwight Howard deal and swept a token fly swatter at all the Dallas rumors.
The Nets are now in Brooklyn, but D-Will is not. Is his departure also in black and white, or is Brooklyn still sitting at the table with chips to play?
Here are five “out cards” which could keep No. 8 in Jay Z threads this fall:
The season may be over for the New Jersey Nets on the court, but their fans still have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming weeks.
After 35 years in the Garden State, the New Jersey Nets are set to move to Brooklyn next season. The Nets will become the first team to represent Brooklyn since the Dodgers left the borough in 1957.
The franchise will call the brand new Barclays Center its home. Along with the move to the $1 billion arena in Brooklyn, the Nets will embrace a fresh look. On Monday April 30, the franchise is set to unveil their new logo and color scheme for the 2012-2013 season.
However, with the power of Twitter, the logo, or what seems to be the Nets’ new emblem, has already been revealed. The logo is rather bland. Its colors are black and white, with the team’s nickname situated on top of a white basketball covered with the letter “B.”
Nets officials have not acknowledged the validity of the logo, and at this point it seems that nobody really knows if the emblem is the real deal.
If this logo is in fact the one that the Brooklyn is going to unveil on Monday, the Nets will be taking the same “old school” path that so many other teams have used in recent years. The black and white color scheme may be the best thing about the logo, and could mean that the Nets are in store for some nice new uniforms, which minority owner Jay-Z helped design.
Read more New Jersey Nets news on BleacherReport.com
The New Jersey Nets’ last game representing the Garden State won’t even be in the United States, and the franchise already seems ready for the move to Brooklyn.
Sometimes I wonder why people love big, gauzy ceremonies and the like. But I realize one good reason for them is that if the faces of the franchise can show up, grin together, say nice things … that means something. It means, for instance, that the whole thing wasn’t a waste of time. It makes you feel whole.
But the Nets in New Jersey … something about it just never worked.
Fittingly, the final game in New Jersey on Monday was a Nets’ loss – 105-86 to the 76ers – in front of a soldout crowd celebrating the finality of 35 years in the Garden State.
Fittingly, the final game in New Jersey on Monday was a Nets’ loss – 105-86 to the 76ers – in front of a soldout crowd celebrating the finality of 35 years in the Garden State.
It’s time to make it official. The Nets‘ season is over. And so is their time in New Jersey.
The countdown to Brooklyn began as soon as Deron Williams put the finishing touches on his 57-point outburst against the woeful Charlotte Bobcats.
That is the memory for New Jersey fans to savor from the Nets’ final season in the Garden State. That is going to be their last highlight moment as residents of Newark.
Unfortunately, it didn’t even happen in Brick City.
The playoffs, which were still a slim possibility a week ago, are officially out for this year. The Nets don’t have a chance without center Brook Lopez, who is going to miss three weeks of action with a sprained ankle. And, to be honest, they didn’t have a chance with him. It was fun to dream, though.
So let’s pack up the office supplies, throw the balls into a ball bag and start thinking about what’s next.
Brooklyn.
The Barclays Center.
Another lottery pick.
Deron Williams?
Fan excitement?
The first three are givens. The Nets are moving to Brooklyn next year no matter what happens the rest of this season and will bring with them one of the worst returning records in the league and one of the top picks in the draft.
The last three are anything but given. Deron Williams sounds like he wants to stay in a (Brooklyn) Nets uniform and Dwight Howard sounds like he wants to be in the bright lights of the Big Apple, too. But them signing extensions (Williams) or new contracts (Howard) are the keys to the final piece of the puzzle (fan excitement).
If they don’t get the first two components, forget about the third.
It seems like most people believe there will be fan excitement and commitment when the Nets move to Brooklyn no matter what. However, I submit to you that no Brooklyn-born fan alive right now has ever suffered through the kind of season the Nets are currently dealing with and won’t react well when it happens.
Let’s not forget that the last time Brooklyn had a home team to root for was in 1957—segregation was still enforced, John F. Kennedy was still alive and no one had stepped foot on the moon.
That’s a long time ago. And I wonder if the current crop of hipsters who dwell in Brooklyn will support a team that wins only 18 games a year.
I don’t believe so.
Sure, the home opener will be sold out no matter what and so will plenty of the early games in the season simply because there are enough corporations in NYC that will want to buy seats to show off in front of clients.
However, real Brooklynites—the ones who will fill the stadium day-to-day, pay for the cheep seats and concessions—have never suffered a losing season. They’ve never had to pay to watch bad basketball. They haven’t shelled out $150 per person per game to watch a team struggle through a season.
If the Nets don’t get D-Will and D-Howard, they will next year.
So let’s look to the future. Let’s think about what the Nets have in store, but don’t think that just because they’re moving to a new stadium in a new city that it won’t be the same ol’ Nets. Because unless they sign the two big names above, it will be. And Brooklyn fans will cheer for that team as much as New Jersey fans cheer for this one.
Which is to say, limitedly.
Read more New Jersey Nets news on BleacherReport.com