Rhoden on Nets: They have an "identity crisis" ... luckily, it's not existential

This is getting really tiresome. A pundit or columnist starts off his appraisal of the Nets with some variation of "the Nets are not a terrible team" and then proceeds with a damning appraisal.

WIlliam C. Rhoden of the Times is the latest in a to-the-camera commentary on the Nets current situation which in two minutes (and six seconds) "analyzes" the Nets. To him, it's (groan), the Nets have never regained "the soul" after losing Dr. Jr. who was traded because the Knicks demanded $4.8 million, in 1977 dollars, in payment for territorial rights ... or it's that the Nets don't have a personality like Carmelo Anthony to compete with the Knicks ... or that Deron Williams is such a coach killer that his "hometown team" in Dallas "said no" to him (in what world is an offer of $70 million a rejection?) ... or finally that Williams and Joe Johnson make a lot of money and need to produce. Now there's a startling revelation.

We're not taking it personally. We just find it hardly revelatory. But here it is anyway.

• The Nets' Ongoing Identity Crisis (Video) - William C. Rhoden - New York Times