Clarion Content

A nice icy cold glass of Kool-Aid from Nets management to their fans...

We hate to skewer the Nets just as they hit the high point of their season. All right, that's a line, as Knicks supporters, the Nets are the archenemy, and we don't hate it at all. Why is it the high point of the Nets season? Well, short of opening night, this is as good as it has gotten for the Nets. Yesterday they beat the number three team in the Eastern Conference to get to 6 up and 52 down.

We at the Clarion Content, as Knicks fans, have always viewed the Nets as provincial upstarts. They are not as threatening as the Devils, mind you, but they are gnats irritating the NY area's NBA king. Jay-Z might be a part-owner, but nobody raps about the Nets. They were doomed when they lost Dr. J. We knew this season was destined to be a joke for the Nets when they offered in a ticket promotion to send Brook Lopez to your kid's Bar Mitzvah, and/or send Yi Jianlian to your company picnic. Anyone this side of Bill Veeck would be cringing painfully at the idea of renting out major league players for free appearances.

Despite that, even we did not expect the Nets to be this bad. They are historically awful! Even with the win yesterday against the Celtics, they are still on pace to break the record for the worst NBA season ever. What is so galling to the Knicks fans on our staff, is the Nets absolute refusal to come to terms with it, to accept just how bad they are and how bad things are going to be. Nope, Nets management just keeps passing around the Kool-Aid Jim Jones style and Nets fans keep swigging it down. The examples are legion.

The Brooklyn arena nonsense predates this season. But despite wild claims by an owner now nearly broken by the real-estate market, Bruce Ratner, the Nets are still playing in the Meadowlands parking lot, in the glorious Brendon Byrne arena. Wait, what about next year? Oh, yes, next year they will become the number two tenant in a downtown Newark arena built for hockey's Devils. Ask any NJ/NY metro area denizen about the ease of getting from Newark to Brooklyn... Despite the distance factor, the reality is Chicago to Des Moines is simpler and quicker. At the Clarion Content, we have yet to see developments that convince us that the Nets will ever play in Brooklyn. The billionaire Russian nickel magnet helps, but unless eminent domain is used Kremlin style he is not going to be enough to get the Atlantic Yards stadium done.

Nor is the tall billionaire going to be enough to bring the Nets fans their wildest fantasy, LeBron. Seriously, LeBron is going to come to Newark? Maybe if the Fugees were still together, but money break groups up like the Five Heartbeats. LeBron is destined for a bigger time franchise, sorry Nets fans. No matter how much salary cap room you have, no LeBron, and oh by the way, no D-Wade either. He is not leaving South Beach for Newark. Maybe you get Chris Bosh, Nets fans, if you are lucky. It is cash and cache that bring big free agents to town. Jay-Z prolly gettin ready to sell his piece a your hoopty and buy into a better team.

Then last week, as if all that craziness weren't enough, in the midst of the worst NBA season ever, the Nets started floating ludicrous and perhaps certifiably insane coaching rumors. They fired Lawrence Frank earlier this year and replaced him with clueless and seemingly unmotivated Kiki Vandeweghe. They started with Rick Pitno, currently at Louisville. Pul-leeze! He might be itching to get back into the NBA some day after his previous unsuccessful dalliances with the Knicks and the Celts, but again, not with your franchise, no matter how bad the tabletop publicity he has been getting has been. He shot the story down publicly almost immediately.

So the Nets people, believing if they won't buy the small lie, perhaps the really big one will sell, launched a Mike Krzyzewski coaching rumor. Ha! He is leaving Duke for the Nets, really? You have a better chance of Red Aurebach coaching the Nets some day. Krzyzewski barely bothered to address the rumor since no one outside of East Rutherford bought it anyway.

There were no big moves for the Nets at the trade deadline. They are stuck with what they have. So put the Kool-Aid chalice down, Nets fans, even the Knicks are better than that, and in fact, at their worst the Knicks did not bottom out this badly.

Labels: NBA, sports, Sports Economics