12/21/24
July 29, 2004
Kenyon is a Nugget.: Kittles has been traded to the Clips. Richard Jefferson is not happy. Jason Kidd is rehabbing, and his new backup? Jacque Vaughn. Nets fans are cancelling season tickets. Have the Nets regressed back to their laughingstock days? Is this still a playoff team?
(various reg. req'd. bugmenot people...)
posted by lilnemo to basketball at 01:53 PM - 6 comments
Are they doing this so they'll be flat-out terrible when they move to Brooklyn? I thought the Ratner was going to spend some money?!? “The Nets will be a huge draw for sports fans from throughout the borough and all of the New York metropolitan area, and we intend to give them a first-class team to root for." -- Bruce Ratner, The Nets new owner (and a liar, to boot).
posted by 86 at 02:52 PM on July 29, 2004
I'm pretty sure Ratner thought he'd be able to keep the team intact when he made that statement, not that it matters. The Ratner group thought for sure that if they could move the Nets to Brooklyn that they would outdraw the Knicks and siphon their revenue. Maybe they didn't account for all the "boys club fees", or maybe they thought they could manage to keep some cash for the development and lowball Martin. This is bad all around.
posted by lilnemo at 04:43 PM on July 29, 2004
Bring back DC! I miss the days of Kenny and Derrick..
posted by blarp at 10:37 PM on July 29, 2004
Maybe it's my Walton bias, but is anyone else kind of stymied by the Luke/RJ buddy duo? Guess I should pay more attention to college b-ball that's not the Big XII. The explosion/implosion of the Nets is pretty sad, as a refreshed Nets/Knicks rivalry would probably pull me into to EC b-ball more than anything else could. Bet I'm not alone on that one either.
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:29 AM on July 30, 2004
After reading the "Nets fans are cancelling season tickets" link, it seems to me that Ratner did not intend to keep the team together: Past ownership had been willing to take losses to spend for Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning, but Ratner's mission isn't championship basketball, but a personal windfall with a billion dollar development deal in Brooklyn. The Nets happened to be the means to the end, and it's clear every expense will be spared in the final seasons in Jersey.
posted by dusted at 02:44 PM on July 30, 2004
It's a playoff team alright. But this is a conference that features the Bobcats, Celtics, Hawks, Wiz, Bulls and Magic so it doesn't say much.