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Lowe: New Jersey Nets almost became the New Jersey...Swamp Dragons!

By Tom Lorenzo
ESPN

This is a story that all Nets fans needed this season. It's been one rough year, but, man, this is great.

According to Zach Lowe of ESPN, two decades ago the New Jersey Nets almost changed their name to the New Jersey Swamp Dragons. And this was to be their logo:

new jersey swamp dragons ESPN

Brilliant. So, so brilliant.

Lowe spoke with Tom O'Grady, the former Creative Director for the NBA, who ultimately unearthed this gem. O'Grady shared mock-ups of the logo along with some colorful proposed apparel.

He also spoke with those in and around the Nets franchise at the time to get their side of the story, as well as former NBA commissioner David Stern. Most of the former execs talked about how they felt the Nets didn't have much of an identity, which was true, and they were looking for a way to draw more fans from within New York City.

Former Nets President Jon Spoelstra even spoke about how he considered removing the "New Jersey" from the team name, but there was too much government red tape to make that happen.

It's really a fascinating story, from a branding perspective, much of which the Brooklyn Nets had gone through and considered in moving the franchise and deciding how to properly brand the team.

I'm going to save you much of the detail because you really should read the entire piece as is, but I do think SwampDragons Daily has a nice ring to it.

And we hear from one source --and a good one-- that at least one Net is quite enamored of the idea.

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