After overachieving Nets make the playoffs, a stronger fan base and a lure for free agents. But Brooklyn won't go back to Dodger-land.
The Brooklyn Nets overachieved, this past season, exceeding expectations and making the playoffs. They even won their first playoff game, on the road in Philadelphia, then lost some tight games before being defeated soundly two nights ago by the 76ers, a team with more size and more talent.
Still, the Nets have established an identity and a culture, in contrast with the grotesquely mismanaged New York Knicks, and that could help the Nets land a major free agent (like Kevin Durant) in the offseason. The team, wrote the New York Post's Brian Lewis, "could look completely different next season." Plus: New York.
A boost for fandom
So that led Chris Almeida of The Ringer to write, on 4/18/19, Is Brooklyn in the House? Nets Fandom Is Having Its New York Moment, setting the scene "[i]nside of a pub in the Pacific Park development of downtown Brooklyn," watching a road game with the fan group called the Brooklyn Brigade.
(Um, Pacific Park isn't downtown, and it has no pubs. The Brigade tends to meet at McMahon's--which replaced O'Connor's--on Fifth Avenue, just down the block from the Barclays Center.)
The itinerant Nets, especially when based in nowhere New Jersey, were tough to rally around, with little local fan base, and the move to Brooklyn, initially heightened by novelty, fell flat when the team overpaid--and mortgaged its future--when acquiring aging Boston Celtics stars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
Now rebuilding smartly under GM Sean Marks and coach Kenny Atkinson, the Nets have some legit reasons for pride. The fans are louder than they were.
It's a reminder, though, that we can't, and won't, return to Dodger-land, when a team somehow embodied the borough's identity. (We don't have a daily Brooklyn newspaper, for example, and fans of far-away teams can easily follow them.)
Players come and go. Remember Jeremy Lin? Will the All-Star D'Angelo Russell be signed? To quote NetsDaily yesterday, What’s next for Nets? It’s a business.
The "fabric of the borough"?
Is there now a community connection? From the article:
Still, the Nets have established an identity and a culture, in contrast with the grotesquely mismanaged New York Knicks, and that could help the Nets land a major free agent (like Kevin Durant) in the offseason. The team, wrote the New York Post's Brian Lewis, "could look completely different next season." Plus: New York.
Meanwhile, though the team came in last in NBA attendance, the last four regular-season games and the two home playoff games were sellouts, which is good for the team and the arena.Dudley re: #Nets edge: "You can live in the city, live in Brooklyn, the practice facility is right here. It’s a Top 3 best practice facility. So yes, the word is out. People know about it. People know how good Kenny & Sean Marks are and what they’ve done to develop this culture."— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) April 24, 2019
A boost for fandom
So that led Chris Almeida of The Ringer to write, on 4/18/19, Is Brooklyn in the House? Nets Fandom Is Having Its New York Moment, setting the scene "[i]nside of a pub in the Pacific Park development of downtown Brooklyn," watching a road game with the fan group called the Brooklyn Brigade.
(Um, Pacific Park isn't downtown, and it has no pubs. The Brigade tends to meet at McMahon's--which replaced O'Connor's--on Fifth Avenue, just down the block from the Barclays Center.)
The itinerant Nets, especially when based in nowhere New Jersey, were tough to rally around, with little local fan base, and the move to Brooklyn, initially heightened by novelty, fell flat when the team overpaid--and mortgaged its future--when acquiring aging Boston Celtics stars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
Now rebuilding smartly under GM Sean Marks and coach Kenny Atkinson, the Nets have some legit reasons for pride. The fans are louder than they were.
A FRANCHISE grows in Brooklyn:— The Brooklyn Brigade (@BrooklynBrigade) April 18, 2019
Over the past 3 seasons, we’ve watched this franchise fully re-define itself & develop literally before our eyes: front office, head coach, & emerging young stars all established themselves HERE.
And ALL of them are PROUD to be here. That’s huge. https://t.co/uxMv4RRXfE
But there's no comparison--as far as I can tell--to the connection I observed when visiting Pittsburgh. That's OK; Brooklyn is bigger, and its fans come from various places.None of that is meant to disrespect or diminish the rich history of the Nets franchise prior the move to Brooklyn.— The Brooklyn Brigade (@BrooklynBrigade) April 18, 2019
All I’m saying is that this is the first season since the move to Brooklyn that the franchise seems organic to Brooklyn rather than a transplanted team. (-BE)
It's a reminder, though, that we can't, and won't, return to Dodger-land, when a team somehow embodied the borough's identity. (We don't have a daily Brooklyn newspaper, for example, and fans of far-away teams can easily follow them.)
Players come and go. Remember Jeremy Lin? Will the All-Star D'Angelo Russell be signed? To quote NetsDaily yesterday, What’s next for Nets? It’s a business.
The "fabric of the borough"?
Is there now a community connection? From the article:
The Nets have been good before, but they’ve never strung together more than a handful of good seasons, and they’ve never done it in a place where they’ve developed a lasting connection with their community. That appears to be the goal now: The Nets’ “approach to becoming a part of the fabric of the borough was to start at the grassroots level on the ground in Brooklyn neighborhoods,” Mandy Gutmann, the team’s vice president of communications, wrote in an email, citing efforts such as when the Nets teamed up with the Food Bank for New York City to provide food to federal workers during the government shutdown in January.Oh, come now. The Nets, as well as specific players, have offered various civic gestures since the team moved to Brooklyn. That's fine, but there's always a mixed motive: they deliver both a community contribution and a public relations boost.
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