The untimely passing of a Nets superfan: "Gamblero correctly identified that the Nets were a blank slate, there for the taking."

From Bryan Joyner in The Classical, What Jeffrey Gamblero Knew, about the untimely death of a Nets superfan:

I should note that I found Gamblero to be singularly annoying, a perfect point of fixation for my frustration with the bland, anodyne Nets. Even now, the team doesn’t really have fans as much as they have a bunch of people who go to the games and root for them while debating food options.
....It’s clearer now. A graffiti artist and poker player who moved from one successful hustle to the next, Gamblero correctly identified that the Nets were a blank slate, there for the taking.
...Vanchiro may not have been the team’s official mascot, but he cared about the Nets as much as anyone, the players and front office personnel very much included. Three years in, we in Brooklyn are still not quite sure what the Brooklyn Nets are, as a franchise. Jeffrey Vanchiro, for better and worse, knew from day one.