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October 13, 2011
Iannazzone: Nothing would surprise Nets fans
Bergen Record
by Al Iannazzone
The announcement that the NBA would cancel the first two weeks of the regular season probably drew this kind of reaction from Nets fans all over the state: It figures.
Deep down, you had to know that in the Nets’ final season in New Jersey, things would not go smoothly. Why should they when they haven’t in the previous 34 years?
Every team has drama, but it seems the Nets are among the league leaders in that category every season — even when they had some very good years in the early 2000s.
There was Jason Kidd nearly leaving via free agency in 2002; the Alonzo Mourning experiment and experience; the mutiny against former coach Byron Scott after the Nets reached back-to-back NBA Finals; and the sale of the franchise to a real estate developer who cared more about bringing the team to Brooklyn than he did about a championship.
Bruce Ratner isn’t responsible for some of the bad draft picks the Nets made from 2003-2007. But his arrival and some of the subsequent moves led to Kidd souring on the organization, and the Nets haven’t been the same since.
NoLandGrab: Nor has Prospect Heights.
Posted by eric at October 13, 2011 11:15 AM