Brooklyn, New York has an estimated population of 2.65 million people, population-wise the largest of New York City’s five boroughs. Considered separately from the other four boroughs, Brooklyn would be the fourth-largest city in the United States, ranking right behind Chicago, Illinois by about 15 thousand, or the average attendance at a Brooklyn Nets’ home game. The NBA’s Nets have bounced around since their inception as the ABA’s New Jersey Americans 52 years ago. It’s difficult to believe the they’ve just completed their seventh NBA season at Barclays Center, but as the nomadic Nets slowly build in Brooklyn, they’re hoping the growth evident during the 2018-19 season was the start of something big.
The borough of Brooklyn has a limited history where major professional sports is concerned, with baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers the main authors. Elders in and around Brooklyn still speak with a combination of nostalgia, hurt and anger as they reminisce about the relationship between team and community, and the team’s eventual relocation to greener pastures—and a cavernous football stadium—in Los Angeles, California.
My father was one of those jilted die-hard Dodger fans. He’d always speak glowingly about guys like Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, and others, and I always knew I could get him to take me to Shea Stadium to see the Mets when the Los Angeles Dodgers came to town back in the 1970s.
His allegiance never wavered.
The Dodgers were in Brooklyn for over 70 years. It takes time to build that type of devoted following, and it helps to have some success along the way. After several tries, the Dodgers finally won a World Series over the hated New York Yankees in 1955. After the 1957 season, with the taste of victory still fresh among their fan base, Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley decided the team would pack its belongings and move to Los Angeles.
That’s just cold.
After playing in venues in Long Island and different parts of New Jersey filled to much less than capacity, the Nets hope to build a devoted fan base among the 2.65 million Brooklyn residents and beyond. Like the Dodgers before their move to Beverly, the Nets eventually hope to become synonymous with the borough of Brooklyn. The straight line to that is consistent winning, which is very difficult.
There are several other obstacles:
Only six miles separate Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden, and although the basketball inhabitants at MSG have done little to nothing of consequence since they traded Patrick Ewing 19 years ago, the building itself is one of the oldest, most recognizable in the league as well as worldwide. Visitors from out of town—and country—already know of the place and consider it a must-visit during their stay, regardless of who’s playing or the caliber of the home team.
And there’s always the chance of running into a celebrity or seeing one on the big screen.
Most visitors to NYC prefer to hang out in Manhattan and the Garden’s midtown location is convenient to most visitor foot traffic in the area, as well as public transportation. We don’t dare think of Brooklyn as a suburb around these parts but for the visitor, in spite of everything it has to offer, it is considered an outer borough.
In a town where most major sports have two area teams, one is always more established while the other is constantly chasing notoriety. The level of media coverage plays a role with some sports, but the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Rangers have the more established followings in the area while—partly as a result of coming onto the scene later—the Mets, Jets, Nets and Islanders continue their quest for area respect in their sport. The latter two squads battle for equality in press coverage as well, with both needing to do something outrageous—like win four consecutive Stanley Cups—to get headlines.
Unfortunately for the Nets, the Knicks had a basketball monopoly on at least the five boroughs for decades before the Nets left New Jersey, and many of the most devoted Knicks’ fans call Brooklyn home. For the 2018-19 season, the 17-win, 65-loss Knicks filled Madison Square Garden to 95% capacity, averaging 19,000 fans per home date. The Brooklyn Nets made the playoffs unexpectedly, yet finished dead last among the 30 NBA teams in average home attendance at 14,941 per game.
They have some work to do.
Strangely enough, the Brooklyn Nets have experienced what other teams based in smaller cities with many non-natives have; cities like Washington DC and Atlanta immediately come to mind. A visiting team can waltz into Barclays Center, find many spectators with roots in that town and feel as if they’re playing a home game. The entirety of NYC is transient, but the Knicks don’t have nearly as many tickets available on game nights.
All is not lost for the Nets in terms of expanding their area presence, but a couple of things need to happen:
At the time of the 1976 NBA-ABA merger, the then Long Island-based New York Nets came very close to entering the NBA with both Julius Erving and Nate “Tiny” Archibald on their roster, which would have given them TWO generational players on the same roster and both were from the area. With the Knicks being largely mediocre from their last title in 1973 until the arrival of Patrick Ewing twelve years later, it would have been interesting to see if the Nets were able to create a true area rivalry.
The two never played together as Erving was sent to Philadelphia for financial reasons while Tiny’s Net’s career was cut short by injuries. In my unsolicited opinion, this was the Net franchise’s best chance at cutting into the Knicks’ metropolitan area dominance. There could have been a measurable number of Knick to Net converts, especially since that was a down time for the Knicks. That’s how good both players were.
The Jason Kidd-led New Jersey Nets represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals in 2002 AND 2003 yet barely made a ripple in the area. The Nets played an exciting brand of fast-break basketball that would have taken the roof off Madison Square Garden were it the Knicks. Early-round playoff games saw sections of empty seats in the Nets’ dimly-lit home arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The much-discussed, often mocked 2014 trade with the Boston Celtics delivered Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, two recognizable players who’d already won a title. But they were both on the downside of their careers. The team wasn’t horrible right away, but they’d relinquished several assets to Boston, who used them to become one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, their 2019 playoff performance notwithstanding.
The Nets avoided having to climb out of an even deeper hole when the Knicks couldn’t secure the top overall pick in the recently-held 2019 NBA Draft Lottery and the right to select Duke University’s popular Zion Williamson, seen by many as “the next big thing.”
Instant winning isn’t necessary. Even with the very real possibility of losing Anthony Davis via trade this summer, the New Orleans Pelicans reportedly sold 2,000 season tickets just hours after they won the draft lottery on May 14th.
Both area teams have cap space to make a run at free agents in July, and should the Knicks, hypothetically, sign Kevin Durant, it will set the Nets back even further in terms of relevance.
If the Knicks fail to sign Durant, they’ll have some explaining to do to their fan base and give the Nets an opportunity to build some solid footing, even if they don’t sign Durant.
If, however, the NETS mess around and sign Durant, things will get mighty interesting around here.
The Nets are headed in the right direction, re-building their roster quicker than expected without the high draft picks surrendered in the aforementioned deal with the Celtics. They’ve used later draft picks acquired in trades and clever free-agent signings to build roster depth, and their player development program has been widely discussed as among the league’s best.
Should they continue the momentum and grow into a consistent winner, including stumbling upon a championship or two before the Knicks do, the city will see a proliferation of black and white Nets’ gear around town, even if it’s temporary. (see Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, etc.)
The Knicks are watching, and any positive Nets’ headlines will cause the Knicks to abandon any youth movement for a shot at instant gratification. With the draft lottery “rewarding” the Knicks’ worst record in 2018-19 with only the third pick in June’s draft, it might also make them re-think their roster building strategy once again.
There will never be a mass exodus of Knicks’ fans. There will be discontent, protest rallies and public ridicule, but the last two decades have proven the unwavering loyalty of a large portion of their fan base. The Nets will have to win over the younger Brooklynite whose allegiance hasn’t been established yet, and the casual fan who tends to change teams on a whim. They’ll accomplish this by providing some unforgettable moments and tying them to borough pride.
Evidently, the Knicks have no such burden.
It will continue to be a long process to gain area respectability for the Nets. They will never own this town, but there are enough area inhabitants to provide strong support for both teams and create a true basketball rivalry. The Brooklyn Nets appear the be on the right track, but this will be a very important summer.
Photo by Alexander Rotker on Unsplash
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