Yeah, it’s bad. The Brooklyn Nets go into Indiana Sunday with an 0-5 record and both of their 20-year-old hopes out with (minor) injuries. The record is the worst in the East and tied with the Sacramento Kings for worst in the league.
Fan emotions range from angry to depressed. Fire the GM! Fire the coach! Sell the team! So what if attendance is unaffected. Actually, it’s up with an average of 17,548 at Barclays Center in the three home games so far. That’s 99.97%! But so what. They’re tourists and
transplants, right? Where’s the fan base??
“Shock the world?” In which way?!?
But there are voices out there suggesting that maybe, just maybe, it’s not that bad here in those immortal words of Joe Johnson. One of them is Cam Ward of GQ who is also a Brooklynite and a Nets fan as well as a writer. His headline Sunday says it all, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Brooklyn Nets.”
Ward doesn’t get into details of offensive or defensive ratings or what pick has worked in the rebuild. He just likes the Nets possibilities as a New York team and interviews Julius Randle and Mikel Brown Jr., the opposite sides of the Nets roster. He also thinks that in the post Knick championship era, there’s too much being made of New York’s big June and Nets ability to track fans.
For a long time, the Nets could take solace in their cross rivals’ decades-long stretch of ineptitude. That vanished when Jalen Brunson and company lifted the Larry O’Brien in June, leaving Brooklyn with some soul searching to do. “It doesn’t make us feel very good,” Nets owner Joe Tsai told NetsDaily over the summer. “It irates our fan base and it is embarrassing.” As The Ringer’s Zach Lowe pointed out on his recently launched Substack, the Knicks’ title cost the Nets “an entire generation of fans.”
I, for one, have never understood why commentators are so obsessed with the size of Brooklyn’s fanbase. I am, obviously, a hugely biased homer, but you don’t hear the same concerns when it comes to other little-brother teams like the Clippers or teams, like Wizards, whose games are sparsely attended. Even as they’ve tanked these past couple of years, the Nets have maintained a 99% attendance rate and are the eighth most-valuable franchise in the entire league. Still, I have to hear talking heads argue that the team should move back to New Jersey? I might be salty, but that’s stupid.
Nets brass might also add that they’re being aggressive in making sure that the worst doesn’t happen. They announced earlier this month they are expanding their community basketball programs — Brooklyn Basketball — by buying three gyms in Gowanus, Bushwick and Greenpoint to supplement the youth training facility they opened opposite Barclays Center. Plus their highly popular free basketball clinic program, which has trained 50,000 kids in 250 schools across the city’s elementary and middle schools, will now be expanded to high schools. On Monday morning, Clara Wu Tsai will dedicate a newly refurbished Brooklyn park in Brownsville.
Ward also addressed the laments about how so many fans at Nets games are rooting for other teams as Michael Porter Jr. noted in his Curious Mike podcast not that long ago. “When we play Knicks, Celtics, Philly, Lakers, it’s mostly their fans. It’s crazy.” Ward quoted MPJ’s fellow veteran in response.
“I don’t give a shit,” says Julius Randle, tucked into a glass room in the corner of the Nets’ famously photogenic training facility, when I ask him about the invasion of opposing fans at Barclays. “I’ve been on teams that weren’t good and didn’t have the excitement around them. Then you start winning and the whole arena is there to see your team and cheer. So I think that’s just part of being a fan. For us as a team, we got to give them something to root for.”
He also quoted Randle on how much he likes it in Brooklyn and disputes the idea that his role is growing this next generation of fans.
“Oh Hell, no. It doesn’t really matter what team I play for. I was at my son’s basketball game yesterday and it was like, Man, I’m a Nets fan. You’re going to kill it this year. Then I get on the other side and it’s, Thank you for everything you’ve done for the Knicks’ …
“I definitely want to be a part of establishing a culture and giving the city of Brooklyn something to be proud of. I’m not here just to come out and get my numbers or whatever it is. I’m here to win a championship. I’m here to help these young guys excel and speed up their growth process.”
Ward also spoke with MBJ about the team’s culture and how he’s recognized and embraced his ability to cultivate a new generation of fans.
Many fans, myself included, took note of a phrase he kept repeating on draft night: “I’m home.” It felt like a full-throated endorsement of the franchise and its mission. “Most of the [Nets] fans are there in the arena for a draft night,” Brown says when I ask him what he meant. “So to hear the crowd pop and just to see the energy, it brought me a whole bunch of joy.”
Randle endorsed Brown’s possibilities in talking with Ward, in case you missed it. “I’ve been thoroughly, thoroughly impressed with not just his talent level, but his maturity and his IQ at such a young age is really, really impressive.”
As for all that competition with the guys on the other side of the East River and their fans, the Nets think that the Knicks championship will cross over and activate basketball interest in New York beyond the world champs. Peter Stern, Chief Financial Officer of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, recently told CFO Magazine how he thinks the Knicks success will provide a “tailwind” for the NBA overall in New York.
“This year, there were plenty of folks around New York who maybe weren’t basketball fans who ended up at a watch party or engaged in some way, shape or form with the playoffs. That’s a great thing for us as the Nets and Liberty continue to grow in Brooklyn,” he said.
Wishful thinking? We shall see. So far, so good as the attendance numbers mentioned up top show, but will continued losing hurt things? Ward says no matter what, he’ll be there. He’s an admitted homer.
“It’s unclear whether the Nets will ever convert a generation of fans spellbound by the Knicks, or even win the Finals. But I know I’ll be there.” he wrote.
