:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57902799/643012440.jpg.0.jpg)
The mayor not think the Nets in Brooklyn has been much of a success, but the commissioner has no doubt. It’s been a great success.
It all started Wednesday. Rich Calder of the Post, who covers City Hall, was with New York’s mayor, Bill DeBlasio, at a Town Hall in Queens when a man in a Nets jacket rose to ask a question. Before he could get it off, DeBlasio couldn’t resist the diss.
"I'm from Brooklyn too, but this Brooklyn Nets idea has not been working out as it was planned, so I admire you for sticking with them,” he said. Later, he added insult to injury by giving a shout out to Mets fans at the town hall in Belle Harbor.
This did not sit well with the Nets or NBA Commissioner Adam Silver who was asked about it at the NBA Mexico Games in Mexico City.
“I believe the Brooklyn Nets have exceeded all expectations in terms of the move from Secaucus to Brooklyn,” Silver said. “The development surrounding the area around the Barclays Center in Brooklyn is fantastic in terms of restaurants and commercial business and the residential (development).”
He also praised the new road Mikhail Prokhorov and Dmitry Razumov are taking with Sean Marks and Kenny Atkinson.
“In terms of the team, they’re on their way,” Silver said. “The current owners will be the first to admit they made some rookie mistakes in their early days of owning the team. They in essence went for it, trying to take a short cut in terms of trying to build a championship team. It didn’t work out.
“But I have enormous confidence in Sean Marks as general manager, coach Kenny Atkinson. I think the fans here will see a young hungry team that is well-coached and wants to achieve. As a New Yorker and as the commissioner of the NBA, I couldn’t be happier with what’s happening with the Nets.”
In the 24 hours after Hizzoner’s diss, his spokesman tried to minimize the harm, suggesting DeBlasio could show up at a game this season. Maybe in disguise.
- Adam Silver disagrees with de Blasio: Nets thriving in Brooklyn - Brian Lewis - New York Post