No kidding. We were built to be a total train-wreck for the remaining time in New Jersey – all our ownership cares about is Brooklyn, we are worthless to them so we get to suffer through a couple more 26-30 win seasons before their “new fans” potentially get to enjoy some success. Really makes you want to head to the Meadowlands in droves huh!?!

Let me ask you this, Isaac. Have you ever been a season ticketholder? How many games have you attended the last few seasons?

at Net Income:

From 1990-2004, I attended on average 10-15 games a season. I have never been in a position to be a season ticket holder based on finances and school/work committments but have made the drive of upwards of an hour each way, sometimes more to get to the Meadowlands and support this team whenever I can. Since Ratner has bought the team, I have only gone 5 or 6 times a season and only when given tickets or purchased through a secondary market since I will not give this ownership group my money.

Should the Nets stay at the Medowlands or move to Newark, I would very like purchase a half-season ticket at the very least. The thought of losing my team will make me appreciate it even more should we ever have the right to get it back from these greedy monsters.

If you are going to tell me im not a diehard fan simply because I was not a season ticket holder, you are flat-out wrong. I have lived and died with this team until Ratner came into the picture and slowly sucked all the enjoyment out of being a fan with a lot of help from that tool Yormark.

Right, they gonna be “horrible”, “Depressing” and “undermanned”. But who cares ?
All we are looking for is the future and it has to start with the worst record in the 2009-10 season to secure the No.1 pick in the draft ! After that, we get LeBron and the Brooklyn-move.
That is the ideal case, that is what we are looking towords. This season has to be a loosing-streak !

Go Nets!

Most “experts” agree that they like the young talent (Lopez, Harris, CDR, Lee etc.) on the Nets. Then they go and pick them to finish last. Sounds like they are conflicted or covering their backsides. Probably using conventional wisdom or covering their backsides. Same difference. Who cares. I would be more concerned if they were picking the Nets to finish first.

Sobering, sobering. We get all excited when CDR has a big game or Yi sinks some baskets, but the reality is pretty devestating. Even Thorpe says if Yi can outplay the other 4’s in the league…. Come on, he probably can’t outplay the other 4’s on the Nets! Ryan Anderson out played him as will Battie, Boone, and Najera – not exactly Garnet, Bosh, and Brand. If Yi turns into one of the top 4’s!!!! What kind of logic is that?

I think this Nets team is better than the Thunder, who for some reason [Kevin Durant] are the new, young “it” team this season. That’s no knock on Durant. I just think NJ is a better team.

Good to see fans so optimistic. Season’s over before a game is played.

The real Nets fans haven’t listened to “Expert pundits” for years. Even when the team was in its finals years we were picked to be mediocre. Last year the team surprised out of the gate and people started changing their tunes really quick. Just more motivation for this team to excel this year. GO NETS!

Ya because we have never heard any of this before. These guys are making a safe pick. Due to where we are in the rebuilding process there are too many unknowns on this roster for any of these guys to feel comfortable picking us elsewhere. If they are wrong they can be pleasently suprised and not catch any flack because “no one saw this coming.” The truth is nobody knows how good (or bad)the team will be and its easier to just say it will suck.

Why think when you can just hop on the bandwagon? It is ridiculous that almost all of these “experts” picked us to finish behind the hopeless Knicks. We’ll start off slowly, then if we stay healthy, we may become competitive. Not as good as last year, though—28 wins.

That Jon Barry is such a wit… nitwit. Hollinger is also so smug. Ugh…

What I think will separate this team from last year’s team is competitiveness and defensive intensity. We have guys that are hyper-competitive(Lee, CDR, TWill come to mind) that will hopefully overcome our lack of proven talent. While I loved Vince, and was at Carolina when he was dunking over Duncan(I still have a vivid memory from the 10th row of this happening), he never really had the killer instinct. Sure, he could drop 40 points any given night, but defensive effort in the 4th quarter has never been his forte. Most NBA games come down to getting stops in the 4th quarter…hopefully this roster has the defensive intensity to get the job done. While I doubt we will reach the 40 win plateau, I am still holding out hope, but I certainly think we equal last year’s 34 wins.

@Net Income

How are people’s pessimism about the season before a game is played any different than other’s presumption that Brooklyn is a success before the team is even there?

@ Trenton;
  Don’t get Net Income started…

Hollinger takes the reliance on statistics too far. He was right about the Nets in the past because their core was so well established in Kidd, Carter, RJ – you knew what you would get there, no surprises, and they surrounded those 3 with a bunch of scrubs that were also well established in their scrub-dom. So, the team’s record was relatively easy to predict. But with a group of young guys with upside like we have now, I think its a bit more challenging to predict where they will be by the end of the season. Obviously they are not going to be a very good team, but there is a broad range between being awful and being competitive on a nightly basis. Hollinger’s reliance on stats has resulted in him saying Anthony Randolph should not be drafted – in either round – and that TWill was “not an NBA player”. He also would have drafted Beasley over Rose. And he thought Joe Alexander would be a much better player than Brook Lopez. Now he thinks Courtney Lee will be the same guy as he was in Orlando, even though he clearly now has the opportunity to step up and be more of a go to player than he was on a stacked Magic team.

Honestly, how many of these jokers know anything about the Nets? Anyone have a link to their predictions last year? How on earth do they almost unanimously see the Knicks as better?

Lets say the Nets are terrible next year and land the top pick, who do they pick? Kyle Singler? They need a PF. Thats why they needed to get the top pick last year so they could draft Blake Griffin.

Well to put ANY faith in ESPN “experts” is like saying the Broncos won’t make the playoffs this year. Which is something they said, by the way.

And some of you guys on here… whining about the move to Brooklyn. If I can live in Sussex County NJ, and root for the Broncos in Denver and the Yankees in the Bronx, I can root for the Nets in Brooklyn. Some of you guys on here are really pathetic.

If you’re a fan in Seattle and your Sonics move to the effin midwest, you have every right to whine and complain like some of you guys are here. But the Nets are going to Brooklyn. BROOKLYN, NY. Get over yourselves, please.

(NOTE: Yes. I am a Broncos fan. Have been since I was 8 or 9 when they won their super bowls. Does that make me a front runner? YES. But at least I’ve stuck with ‘em since I’ve cared about football. Although I am a Nets fan, I don’t know how much of the term “frontrunner” applies to me :) ).

Here’s Chris Broussard quote- “Devin Harris and Brook Lopez are nice. It’s the rest of the roster that’s the problem. There’s young talent in Terrence Williams, Courtney Lee and maybe Yi Jianlian. But this crew was bad with Vince Carter. Without him, they’ll be horrible.”

Notice how he doesn’t even mention CDR who is one of the top scorers in pre season? Goes to show you none of these guys know anything about the Nets and just go on the safe thought of “NETS SUCK…enough said….”. Dont pay any attention to these jokers.

I’m interested in what will happen when we sign a big star next summer, but have at least 1 season left in NJ. My guess is if lebron james is there, people will suddenly not be so offended by the ownership saying forget about NJ.

We need to sign Amar’e or Bosh, if we sign LBJ it still doesnt solve the power forward problem.

The Brooklyn / NJ conflict will go on forever, Lebron or no Lebron. Kinda like Israeli/Arab conflict, Northern Ireland, Brittany Spears etc…

First and foremost: Screw you, John Barry. “Is this an NBA roster?” Kiss my ass. There are worse rosters in this league that have average ages FAR above the Nets.

We’re putting out a ton of inexperienced players. It’s almost impossible to accurately predict where this team will head because most of this talent is unproven. So there is certainly the potential that this team can be better than average. But being average was all we ever were with Kidd, Carter and Jefferson at the helm.

I want either a great team or a terrible one. If the team is terrible, it gives us one more crucial piece in the form of a lottery pick. I could care less how good or bad this team is this year, really. I’m sick of being mediocre and stuck in the middle of the pack.

I’m looking at the mock draft for next year, it has the nets picking willie warren out of OU (he can be our back up pg with dooling and alston leaving), tyler smith out of Tennessee and Desean Butler out of WVU

@Isaac
I have been a season ticket holder upstairs the last two years and this year have a second seven game package downstairs. I had seven and ten game packages the two years prior to last year and have attended on average 15 games a year going back to 1994. I remain a loyal fan, mainly because I see hope in the young players, the cap space, the large number of draft picks and of course a new arena 11 miles from the IZOD.

I hope the Nets move to Brooklyn since there is no appreciable fan base in New Jersey…never has been. When a team goes to the NBA championship, as the Nets did in 2002, and then sees its attendance drop from 23rd to 26th the next season, is it any wonder the team was sold to someone who thought he could do better in Brooklyn? Hard to imagine he could do worse.

I also love New York City.

The NETS are not that bad. Harris is the key but he is very fragile . I am hoping Brooks, Yi, Lee & CDR will alternately combine to have excellent games so devin doesn’t need to do all those ankle breaking moves of his which sometimes works against his own ankle. He needs to feed these guys at the right spot and right situation so they too can use their talents.
   If there will be no injury up to All Star games then I am confident NETS will make it to the playoff. I see 15W -25L on the first 40 games. If no injury on the first five they can turn that around.

The Nets play 16 of their first 25 games on the road.

Among the teams they play on the road in that stretch are: the Lakers, the Cavs, the Blazers, the Nuggets, the Heat, the Magic and the Hawks.

If they can survive that stretch, and it will very very difficult, things could turn out all right.

“Net Income Says:

October 20th, 2009 at 1:16 pm

When a team goes to the NBA championship, as the Nets did in 2002, and then sees its attendance drop from 23rd to 26th the next season, is it any wonder the team was sold to someone who thought he could do better in Brooklyn?"

Another misleading statment on the part of everyone’s favorite poster, Net Income. The reason the attendance numbers went down after the trip to the Finals was because YankeeNets (ownership group at that time) decided to report actual turnstile numbers instead of ticket sales.

This means that if you showed at the game, you were counted, regardless of whether or not you bought a ticket. Before that, the Nets were known for presenting ticket sales as the actual attendance numbers, which happens with many other teams in the NBA (including the Knicks).

“I also love New York City.”

Good, then you can go live there and watch the Knicks. If you hate Jersey so much, why don’t you just move to Brooklyn?

I don’t hate New Jersey. I have lived in New Jersey all my life except for two years in the Air Force and a year in Washington.

I just have broader horizons.

I am definetly a Netsfan and an optimist.
I think the Nets can be close to 500.
I think Yi can average 12 and 7
I think Twill can make difference
I think CDR can put up 15 pts
I think Lee can average double figures
I think Brook can average close to 20pts
I am sure the Nets will make some trades before the deadline
If Yi flops expect him to be traded for a big man
Alston will be traded
There are too many expiring contracts and trade kickers for this team to not make a deal
Brooklyn is a reality. New ownership is a reality.
Our new owner won’t stand for losing like Ratner
I think the Eastern conference is full of maybe teams
Philly DC Chi Ind Mil Tor Mia Atl NJ Det
None are a lock for the playoffs
This will be a great season for the NBA
Next year even better for the Nets
Go Nets Go Brooklyn

“Among the teams they play on the road in that stretch are: the Lakers, the Cavs, the Blazers, the Nuggets, the Heat, the Magic and the Hawks.

If they can survive that stretch, and it will very very difficult, things could turn out all right."

Winning 1 of those games would success.

I hope the predictions are true. Let’s have an awful season and a top 5 pick.

Best case scenario: Top 3 pick in the draft. Brooklyn is a go. The Nets get their Russian billionaire owner. Thorn and Kiki are re-signed. Tons of cap room to go nuts.

at Net Income:

With all due respect then, maybe you should take your broader horizons to New York City and root for the Knciks as suggested above. What you still fail to realize is that there are Nets fans loyal to both the team and New Jersey and you continually slight us. I have outlined for you maybe a dozen times why attendance and support tends to be disappointing at the Meadowlands and why that situation would almost certainly improve should the team move to Newark.

Your logic really makes no sense, you keep going to all these games yet you rip on the Meadowlands and its fans constantly. You don’t see Newark as a viable option although it truly is – why can’t you just go and support the Knicks instead?

at Kevin:

“My guess is if lebron james is there, people will suddenly not be so offended by the ownership saying forget about NJ.”

First of all, I will never forgive this ownership group for how it has treated its fans (myself included). Secondly, I can’t stand LeBron (aside from his obvious talent) – him being on the team would greatly turn me off to the team regardless of where they are playing. He is not a good guy whatsoever.

So be it. I’ll take the #1 pick then.

@Christos

Kyle Singler?? You do know this is going to be one of the biggest big man drafts in years. So IF they are terrible, thier not drafting Singler. Thier taking Favors or Monroe with a top pick (if not there are another handful of big men not named Singler who are going in the top 12)

Anyway, i’m not judging this team yet. I’m optomistic that we will be better then advertised, however we are young and clearly rebuilding. Talk to me after next season and i’ll let you know if our strat. has been a success.

@ MrT

Are you kidding me? Because Netincome wants the Nets to move to Brooklyn and have an attempt at a strong fan base he hates New Jersey? I love New Jersey and have also lived here my whole life and I would like the NETS to stay in Jersey but I know in my heart of hearts that this team can not survive in NJ. Will moving to Brooklyn guarantee attendance to jump through the roof, of course not. But it can not hurt their chances.

In a better world their would be no reason to care about attendance figures and money issues and all that and we could just play basketball among fans of the NETS in jersey. But the fact is people seem to be absolutely blind to the fact that without better funding this team is going to be extinct. Enjoy the final years in Jersey and be happy like someone said earlier that the team isnt moving to Seattle or something. The NETS are just going back to NY where they started. Not that big of a deal. 11 miles from Izod…I have season tickets and although I wont be getting a full season the year they go to Brooklyn, I will be getting half a package or something along those lines. Because I am a PsychoNetsFan!

If and only if Yi plays agressive, Nets win 40 games!!!!!
If not, they still win 30 games….
We are going to surprise this year.
Defense will be our thing.

If we just count the first 2 quarters of games this season, I bet we make the playoffs.

@Psycho,

So you’re willing to bet our team’s chances on what you THINK MIGHT HAPPEN if they move to BK?

Also, YOU can drive that 11 miles you and NI constantly speak of to Brooklyn – I’ll stay home and listen to Ian Eagle instead of missing the first half of each game stuck on the Manhattan Bridge! That way, I can still support the team without giving them my hard-earned dollar.

at Psychonetsfan:

“The NETS are just going back to NY where they started.”

Once again a reminder this team did not start on Long Island. They were originally known as the NEW JERSEY Americans.

@MrT
Why drive? There are 11 subway lines directly beneath the Barclays Center site, and two others within two blocks. That’s half the 26 lines in the New York system.

It’s 11 miles as the crow flies, 15 miles by car, from the IZOD. Of course, if you have to drive and live anywhere south of the Raritan River, the Barclays site is closer than IZOD, by about five miles. The Verrazzano Bridge is expensive however.

i feel depressed. Nets wont go anywhere… see other teams like memphis, oklahoma, and some others. they all in rebuilding mode and so far they had the last 2-3 seasons below the 25 wins barrier.

Whatever. These guys are all talking about this season, and it’s easy to put down the Nets right now. But my hope is that the team is being rebuilt for a longer haul. Suppose we do tank this year, get a #1 draft pick, get a new billionaire owner with lots of money burning a hole in his pocket, and move to Brooklyn in the near future. All of the sudden, one particularly lousy season won’t look so bad.

@ MrT

What chances are the Nets taking moving to Brooklyn? In NJ their bleeding finances like a stuffed pig and if Brooklyn falls through their will be no Newark Nets. The team will be sold to the next highest bidder who could take the team halfway across the US. Right now we have a billionaire coming in who knows the game of Bball and will help turn the NETS into a winning franchise again. Why people focus on the name in front of the team is beyond me.

And yes I will drive or take the train to see them play because I’m a fan of the NETS. To think I’m stupid for spending money or taking the time to see them play is idiotic and childish on your part. You want to be cheap and not support your team fine, but don’t talk down to people that want to.

“Trenton Says:
October 20th, 2009 at 12:28 pm

@Net Income

How are people’s pessimism about the season before a game is played any different than other’s presumption that Brooklyn is a success before the team is even there?"

I notice comments like this are ignored by said person since it’d require him to insert his own foot in his mouth, much like that nonsense spoken about CDR all summer long.

And Net Income, I know you are so enthralled with Brooklyn so much that shamefully trash NJ and the Nets fans from New Jersey who loyally support this team on a daily basis, but please lets be a bit more honest about the commute for those of us here to Barclays

It will not be a walk in the park folks. Especially if you prefer to drive instead of relying on public transportation(which won’t be a walk in the park either). This guy acts like Barclays is equipped with star trek-esque transportation devices. Driving into New York from NJ can be absolute murder for those of you familiar with the commute, especially if there is an accident and tons of rubber necking…and we know that isn’t a rare occurrence. So imagine trying to make a 7:30 start time.

11 miles as the crow flies…LMAO. Carry on. I have no problem with the team moving if it makes the Nets better but i’m not killing myself to support the team if they are moved outside of my state. I have no problem driving to IZOD on a weekday, can’t say the same about driving to Brooklyn.

@omG
Perhaps I am alone in my thinking, but I am not so enthralled with the OKC Thunder. They have a great young player, probably the greatest young player in the NBA other than Lebron and Dwight Howard. But Jeff Green, James Harden and Russell Westbrook don’t make me think the 1950’s Celtics.

And I note as well that the Nets will have TWICE the cap space the Thunder will have come July 1 and the same number of draft picks as the Nets over next three years. Heat, Nets and Thunder all have nine. Nets have five firsts and four seconds, the Heat and Thunder have four firsts and five seconds.

I don’t get why most of these experts pick us to be last in the conference. Obviously now they are really thinking with Vince gone we have no scoring, but we actually do with CDR scoring a lot more this season. Our defense will def be better there is no question about that. The only thing that we might suffer from is injuries from Devin Harris. He is the key IMO.

TWill is a rookie. CDR and Yi are unproven. Lee is unproven other than as a role player. That’s a lot of question marks.

Moving the team to Brooklyn will not guarantee anything. That is a prooven fact. If a team needs to improove, it will be because of the team, not where they play. Offseason moves don’t mean everything either. I can still remember when the Lakers were said to go all the way in the 2003-2004 season just for acquiring Gary Payton and Karl Malone after to add to Shaq and Kobe, but they lost the NBA Finals to the Pistons despite that, plus a lot of them got injured that season. BTW, weren’t the Celtics said to repeat last season, so what happened there? It shows that the future is not set in stone. Let them say whatever they want, because we can always get the last laugh later on. I still think it’s big loss to trade VC especially when so many demanded for that and finally got their wish. When the Nets do bad without, I will have those who wanted that trade to thank for it.

@Mr. Dollar Bills
Every day, 1.2 MILLION residents of New Jersey commute into New York City…all five boroughs. A substantial portion of them use mass transit: trains, buses, PATH, ferry, light rail or a combination.

Six different counties have at least 100,000 residents commute to the city every day: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Union, Middlesex and Morris. That’s according to 2000 census figures. I suspect it’s about the same now.

The Nets anticipate 30% of their fan base will follow them to Brooklyn. I think that may be a high number, but it depends on the team’s success no doubt.

@Isaac
Whatever you say, the Nets don’t draw at an arena that draws among the world’s biggest crowds for non-sporting events…that fact is indisputable. Check out Billboard magazine’s list of the world’s top non-sporting venues.

And of course, I resent all these comments about how I should move to New York and become a Knicks fan. I am the season ticket holder here. Please remember that: I show my loyalty every season. I just have broader horizons.

@Tal
Nothing about Brooklyn is “a proven fact”.

However, Net Income, you still seem to ride many of the claims Ratner has made no matter how much some of them have been disproven in the past on moving them to Brooklyn.

I haven’t watched any of the preseason games. Whats the honest opinion on this year’s team?

perimeter D?
Yi’s rebounding?
can we really be a running team?

@Tal
You and I both know that the reasons why things have changed at Atlantic Yards have more to do with the court delays and and economy than anything else. Things change in a radically different economy, as I am sure you understand.

I like that there counting us out now this team can be more motived to win games by these guy saying thet will be worst in the East but only time will tell
Also how about this trade for DeAndre Jordan for Josh Boone or Sean Willams Here a nugget for you

“espn” and “experts” is an oxymoron. won’t even read it.

I think we will win 25 games at best. I don’t care that much about wins this years. It’s all about player development. I’ll be really MAD if we get our B kicked with those washed up vets like Najera, Battie, Alston etc on the court.

at Net Income:

“the Nets don’t draw at an arena that draws among the world’s biggest crowds for non-sporting events”

How many times do I have to explain it’s a lot easier to sell-out for high-level concerts for top acts (due to the association with Live Nation, they get the high caliber concerts) that come around a few times a year and “family” shows in a suburban arena than it is for 41 pro basketball games a year (and most recently for a team that told its fans it is moving away from them)???

This proves nothing. Yes, Springsteen is going to put 20,000 in the seats every time he comes to the Meadowlands, so will Dave Matthews Band, the citrcus, the ice shows etc.

This does not mean the Nets do not have a legitimate fan base – it means getting to that arena for a Tuesday night vs the Grizzlies is not a high priority – and the same could be said for MANY NBA teams. You make it sound like every NBA team averages near capacity. That simply isn’t true. And as I have stated over and over – the Newark arena clearly will be a bigger draw consistently for the Nets based on all the factors I have listed repeatedly.

I have said this before, but I feel I will have to say this again. At the end of every NBA season, I go over to ESPN to look at the attendance figures each team averaged at home, and I always find that the Nets are able to average more than at least one team that had a better winning percentage than they did. Just last season they averaged more attendance that both the Pacers and Bobcats, who were much better than they were. Ironically, they both play at state of the art arenas such as Conseco Fieldhouse and TWC Arena yet the Nets still outdrew them despite how outdated the Izod Center is. If I go to the 2006-2007 season, they averaged more than the Hornets and 76ers, who both made the playoffs that year while the Nets were eliminated from playoff contention. Apparantely, the Nets do have a lot of support at home. BTW, I have looked at the bottom of box scores for Knicks homes games, and these days, you would be lucky to see that it says the full compacity there. The reason why concerts and other minor events sell more is because they are not there all year compared to those that are there full time. It’s not like if I miss that Bruce Springsteen concert at the Izod Center, there will be another one the next week or month just like the Nets, because I would have to wait almost a year to get another chance. BTW, the same thing for the other events held at MSG such as sumo wrestling, lipizzaner tournament, monster truck, and many others also get more than the Knicks, Liberty, and Rangers because they are not around for a good part of the year as they are. That is the difference here Net Income that you don’t get. If I could go to every Nets home game this season, that would be great, but I can’t because of the money. Even season ticketholders don’t go to every game because of other things, so they give them to others who can make those days.

In 2006-2007 the Nets made the playoffs. In fact they went 6 games with the Cavs in round 2.

My mistake, I meant that other one in the 2007-2008 season, but in that season they did average more than both of the teams that I mentioned from that year that did make the playoffs when they didn’t make it.