The 'First Fan' speaks ... of disappointment, hope

I went to the first Nets game ever played in the Teaneck Armory. I’ve been to almost 1,600 Nets games home and away. I’ve followed them to Long Island,  New Brunswick, East Rutherford and Newark.

I’ve enjoyed great runs in the ABA, and mostly dismal times in the NBA. I’ve seen horrible ownership after horrible ownership and simply bad management pretty much from Day 1. I had my grandfather "screwed" out of his small minority stake in the team by Roy Boe to the point where the last eight years of his life Boe was referred to that "(expletive deleted)" as that minority stake proved to be worth 20 times more when the Nets joined the NBA.

There’s nobody that’s invested more blood, and emotional capital in this team than I have This is the team I live and die with. I hated the idea of moving to Barclays because I knew it would mean giving up my season tickets of 22 years I thought that would be the end of my fandom but when I sat back I realized that the move to Brooklyn would be a good thing --we’d finally have an owner invested in this team and we were promised a rabid fan base to support the team ( what a crock ). .I committed then to continue to support this team for the rest of my life.

I was excited by the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce trade and was willing (like most of you, if you’re being honest ) to have a realistic chance at finally winning an NBA title.  I never imagined that those Boston picks would turn into the bonanza that they’re going to be. I bought the hype. Obviously, like most of you, I’m distraught at where we are right now. I wonder what Billy King has to hold over Proky’s head to keep his job. I want both King and Hollins fired and young / innovative blood brought in.

There truly probably has never been a worse time to be a Nets fan. Things look bleak,.BUT at the end of the day, to me, Proky is the best owner this organization has ever had – by a huge margin. Is he perfect? No  Was he somewhat NBA naïve? Absolutely. is his continued employment of Billy KIng absolutely mind numbing? absolutely

But at the end of the day, sit back and look at the owners we’ve had – Ratner destroyed a NBA Finals team. The Secaucus 7 were horrendous. Need we get into Roy Boe? Proky is a winner in life. His forages into real estate are what you would expect a genius billionaire to do – but he’s never wavered in his support of this team. Has he cut costs – absolutely , but why would you continue to bleed tens of millions when you know the product on the floor is going to suck ?

He’s building an infrastructure to support long term success and until proven other wise, I believe his ego will not allow him to fail this team. He’s won at every other thing he’s ever done in life. I believe at some point, he’ll figure this out, hire the right people and bring us the championship we all clamor for. I sincerely believe this. I just hope I live long enough to see it. The night this happens, I will be in the stands at whatever arena this occurs in – and all the pain will be worth it. I keep telling myself this.