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February 16, 2012
Top 10 Greatest New York & New Jersey Nets
Uncle Mike's Musings
One can argue with Uncle Mike's greatest-player rankings, but the roster of worst Nets' owners of all time has an undisputed #1.
2. Jason Kidd, Number 5, guard, 2001-08. Few athletes have ever made as much difference to a team as Kidd did when he arrived in a trade with the Phoenix Suns for clubhouse cancer Stephon Marbury in 2001. Almost instantly, the Nets went from being one of the NBA’s joke franchises to being a genuine title contender. First season: Eastern Conference Champions. Second season: Same, and actually won 2 games in the NBA Finals. Third season: A 3rd straight Atlantic Division Championship. Fourth season…
Well, that’s when Bruce Ratner bought the team, and their fate was sealed. He instantly began the process of moving the Nets to Brooklyn, and the Nets became a lame-duck team, and have spent more seasons as such (7, 2005-12) than did the Montreal Expos (4, 2000-04). Despite another Division title in 2006, it was pretty much all over. Ratner broke up the team, and drove the fans away. The last Nets game I’ve attended had 12,000 people at the Meadowlands Arena – and this was when the San Antonio Spurs were in town, as defending champions, with Eva Longoria still married to the Spurs’ Tony Parker, and Nets part-owner Jay-Z and his wife Beyonce also in the front row. You’d think people would at least want to see them… Pretty soon, Kidd didn’t want to be there, either, and left under a cloud.
Posted by eric at February 16, 2012 11:10 AM