Jason Collins (right) on the bench with Paul Pierce. (AP)
A couple minutes into Jason Collins’ first appearance for the Nets on Sunday, my wife said what has become a common chorus, “Why is this such a big deal? It shouldn't be.”
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Author Archive
Richard Jefferson could fly -- but he could also score. (AP)
2003-2004 Stats: 78 GP, 39.2 MPG, 19.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 3.8 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 49.3 FG%, 31.9 3P%, 81.2 FT%
2003-2004 Advanced: 60.3 TS%, 52.2 eFG%, 18.9 PER, 117 ORtg, 104 DRtg, 11.7 WS
All-Star Team? No
Team: 49-33, lost in second round to Miami Heat (4-1)
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AP
On June 1, I found myself in sitting in the outfield bleachers at Yankee Stadium for a Saturday night Sox-Yankees tilt. I’m a Mets fan, but was ready to give in to the 27-ringed hydra for a while. Sitting with my soon-to-be-inlaws (Yankees fans, the lot of them) seemed like a good excuse to cheer for a winning baseball team for once. But then the game started, and the Yankees fans around us made good on every generalization about their ilk. The deluge of homophobic slurs that started in the first inning weren’t much of a surprise, but the third-inning heckles involving the Boston Marathon bombing did catch me off-guard. When you find yourself among the rotten, it’s hard to root for the home team.
I bring all of this up because as June proceeded, the Nets —- my beloved, one-time underdog representatives of Jersey -— finally completed the transformation that they had been teasing for the past 18 months or so. They became the Yankees: NBA Division.... MORE →
It’s hard to figure out what Brook Lopez did to deserve what he got. He came into the league a pretty un-hyped 10th overall pick, performed at a high level and stayed humble throughout. Yet, it was never good enough. People didn’t talk about him often, but when they did, he wasn’t doing enough.
His first few years were clouded by desolation, misdirection and strawmen. For his debut season, he was transplanted to the ruinous East Rutherford swamps, an inhospitable territory laid barren by Bruce Ratner and Jason Kidd. He responded with a season worthy of the All-Rookie first team and enough laidback, goofy charm to begin thawing the cold, dead hearts of Nets fans. His second season was a legit breakout, putting up 18.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and shooting 50% from the field and 81% from the line -— all at the age of 21. But the chorus -— outside of Nets fans -— was that he was putting up empty numbers on a 12-win team. Kinda true, but also, those are just plain good numbers. Whatever. Brook never wavered from his bro’d-out stoicism. Then the guy somehow sidled his way into the role of the non-rebounding, injury-prone trade piece for the best center in the league. He wasn’t actually any of those things, but they were the only buzz-phrases to define him for 18 months or so.
But then his feet healed, he vanquished the Epstein-Barr virus from his system and Dwight Howard continued his slow descent into being the worst. And now as we look back semi-fondly on the Brooklyn Nets first playoff run, we see a seven-game series in which Brook secured his place as the best player on a one-day strong playoff team (unless Deron grabs that mantle, in which case we won’t be mad). As the longest-tenured Net, he’s the closest thing we have to “our guy.”
But through it all, Brook keeps his distance. He’s the reserved, sage bro in the corner, debating alternate Batman histories and gauging every angle in his bank shot repertoire.
Brook, we’ve been crushing on you for years now, but no one believed us. No one believed that you were the guy we knew you were, the guy you proved yourself to be this season. Basketball minds refused to believe in things that were fact, but they cannot ignore your prominence any longer. Even though it’s still early in your career, this first Brooklyn season and postseason are heavily weighted arguments in determining your perception league-wide. But your work is just starting. This year was a breakthrough, but now you need to do it again. Fans and coaches and players and pundits aren't going to taste the stock before the soup is finished. I’m pretty sure you don’t care about this at all, but carrying your team (yeah, your team) next year like you did this year will nudge the needle ever-closer towards “Nets Great.” I know, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves. Don’t want to move too fast. But that’s just what you do to us. You make us feel young again, and not only because that’s when seven-footers still existed in the NBA. Hope you like this tape, whether you bump it on the subway or that crazy bus elevator at Barclays that people talk about. Thanks for a great season.
Animal Collective, “Brother Sport”
“You're halfway 'til you're fully grown. You've got a real good shot.”
Nude Beach, “You Make It So Easy”
“’Cause it’s not my fault that you thought that I might be somebody else.”
Art Brut, “DC Comics And Chocolate Milkshake”
“I guess I'm just developing late.
DC comics and chocolate milkshake—I never got over that amazing taste.
I've been accused of some things,
I'm not sure what they've meant:
Peter Pan syndrome and arrested development.”
Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, “Don't Look Down”
“Don't look back at the way we met, don't look back at me now. Don't retract all the things you said.”
Tanlines, “Brothers”
“Take the stairs, make mistakes, just make up for them. On the spot, don't pretend.”
Yuck, “The Wall”
“Tryna make it through the wall. You can see me if you're tall. Well, if you're tall, looking over.”
Lambchop, “Nice Without Mercy”
“And the sky, it opens up like candy. And the wind it don’t know my name. And the warm comes back even though I thought it would not. Yeah.”
Panda Bear, “Bros”
“Hey man, what's your problem? Don't you know that I don't belong to you? It's hard and hard enough to keep it up when everything is so new.”
Cass McCombs, “Eavesdropping On The Competition”
“You said if you could only get through life without one opinion, you'd be fine… Now you're free as the ferry out of Galveston.”
WU LYF, “We Bros”
“So maybe we will fail, fail to not see. Maybe we will fail, but at least we will be free.”
Season ticket holder and The Brooklyn Game contributor Andrew Gnerre attended the first playoff basketball game in Brooklyn Nets history. Here's what he had to say.
via whatakatiepie on Instagram
It’s weird how much I cared about these free shirts. Then, after waiting on an extra slow line to get in (the security ramped back up to pre-Streisand pace, for obvious unfortunate reasons), I wasn’t handed one and was grumpy immediately.
It’s just that after enduring all the posturing and promises from the billion-dollar owner and his number one marketing goon on their way from East Rutherford to Newark to Brooklyn, I felt the fans who made it here deserved one shirt. Put an ad on it, I don't care. Put 15 ads on it. Just please, give me an oversized shirt that I'll probably never wear again so I can put it over whatever clothes I'm already wearing and cheer like a maniac for three hours. But nope. No shirts at the door. They don't respect the fans enough...
Oh right. The shirts are on the chairs. OK, never mind, I'm good. Thanks Brett and Mikhail!... MORE →
The Brooklyn Nets will face the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs, starting Saturday night at 8 P.M. Today and tomorrow, we'll take a look at how the teams match up.
Reggie Evans, Carlos Boozer fighting for a loose ball. Shocking. (AP)
So here, in the 65th game of the season, the Nets are pretty much where we expected them to be at the beginning of the year. Against the Hornets on Tuesday night, the offense worked, with Deron Williams the newly spry cog at the center. The defense wasn't spectacular, but it also held a middle of the road offensive team to 98 points, instead allowing a bottom-dwelling offensive team to put up 106 like they did the night before. They took care of a sub-.500 team like they pretty much always do. The Nets without one of their starters (Joe Johnson) are a better team than the Hornets without one of their starters (Ryan Anderson), so the Nets won. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Nets' now-predictable dichotomy was on frustrating display in their first two possessions... MORE →
Comfort. That's what we want from the dudes on the team we root for. When the ball is in their hands, we want to feel at ease. Rooting for a team is such a gut-wrenching, exhausting trip that you need a calming guide to take you safely through the hallucinations and fever dreams of fandom.
Jason Kidd was the epitome of this. When he was on the court, all was well. He’d figure it out, regardless of the situation. We were in good hands. We also want moments we can reminisce about. If the guy seems happy to be there, that's gravy. But since that one guy got a headache and left, there haven’t been many players to don the Nets sweater who have afforded us fans these requirements. In fact, I’d say there’s only been one: Anthony Morrow.... MORE →
The Brooklyn Nets seem boring. Not to me, and maybe not to any of you—the faithful—but to many. One of the most influential sports writers on the planet, among others, has voiced this very thought. A writer for The New Yorker recently brought up how boring the Nets are during his piece about the Knicks-Rockets game: "For all the flashiness that surrounds their arrival, there is no getting around the fact that, on the court, the Brooklyn Nets are a boring team, playing a boring brand of basketball." And then, this guy.
They’ve spent the year at or near the bottom of the league in pace, fast break points and turnovers forced—generally three statistical indicators of a sluggish, austere group. At their most effective, they employ a lumbering, anachronistic seven-footer on the offensive end. At their least effective, they fall into an iso-heavy mess of missed jumpers. Their highlights are pedestrian; their dunks are by moderately athletic power forwards. Gerald Green isn’t walking through that door.
But yet, those who think this team is tedious and uninteresting just aren’t looking hard enough. Here are 10 reasons why this team is not boring. (Make sure to leave reasons 11 through infinity in the comments section.)
When I woke up Saturday morning, I was still in a fight with my girlfriend. The worst. So I made breakfast and turned on the 2002 Nets-Pacers game that lives on my DVR. Keith Van Horn put his hand on my shoulder. "Just give her a call. This'll be fine." Aaron Williams grabbed an offensive rebound. I felt better. Yeah, things will be fine.
Sports don’t matter, but they can help.... MORE →
“They're gonna play 'The Addams Family,' this is America.”
It was the third quarter of the first Brooklyn Nets preseason game at Barclays Center, and I was dissecting DJ Enuff's choices with my friend Andrew, and longtime Nets fan/prisoner. It was a particularly cathartic moment because, several years ago, I had guided Andrew toward the Nets when he came to me asking where to lay his NBA allegiance. He was born into a baseball family, so had no team by birthright; he was from Los Angeles and he’s sensible enough not to be a Lakers fan and (in the pre-Blake era) not want to be a Clippers fan. He was in the rare position to rightfully claim whichever team he wanted. I pitched the Nets. And, in an atypical victory for the New Jersey squad, I won.
My friend was rudderless and I tossed him a not-yet-inflated life preserver with a hole in it—then tied weights to his feet and shouted something about Brooklyn as he drowned.
So when he and I crossed the threshold and entered Barclays for the (sort of first) Nets game in Brooklyn, my sigh of relief was tremendous. We made it.
I promise I won’t spend all season comparing the Brooklyn experience to Jersey, but boy is it tough right now. Because this is way different. Or rather, it will be way different. This first preseason game was a fascinating study of an arena —- in every sense of the word -- trying to shake off 35 years of stigma and grease on its way to becoming the premiere basketball happening in the world. In other words, it’s preseason.
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Prerequisite Reading: One L
Written by eventual big law partner and bestselling author Scott Turow, One L is a nonfiction account of a young man's struggle to acclimate to the demanding, Lord of the Flies atmosphere of Harvard Law School. Turow, already an established academic when he enrolled in law school, struggles to learn the new language of legalese, cope with the unreasonable workload and navigate the cutthroat nature of his peers/competitors.
In 2012, with the world shrinking and wi-fi expanding, acclimating to a new job in a new country is probably easier than in the past. But it's not nothing. With a pretty hefty list of demands in front of him, if Teletovic struggles in one facet of his new life—whether the NBA three or the language barrier—the rest of the precariously balanced anxieties might be in danger of toppling over. What worked for him in his former life may not translate, but that's fine. It's all manageable with the right work ethic and disposition. This book is proof of that.
Or at least I assume it is. My guess is that it ends with the young student finding his footing, gaining comfort in the harsh and unforgiving law school setting and ultimately having a successful first year. I didn’t finish the book—and then I went to law school and dropped out after one year. So Mirza, I guess the main takeaway here should just be to try and avoid that.
Film Studies: Defensive Pride of the Stretch Four [Scenes beginning at 5:49]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWaN18LeyD4?rel=0&w=420&h=315]
This syllabus has taken on quite a different tone in light of recent, hilarious, misguided events, but the purpose remains the same: tall guys who shoot threes and play defense are a rare, untouchable force in this league.
We know Teletovic can shoot. Boy can he shoot.
To fulfill his lofty expectations, though, he'll have to defend. Boy will he have to defend. He does this and the Nets bench is that much closer to the league's best reserves, placing the Nets that much closer to the league's best teams. If he doesn't, the computer won't crash, but a few of the keys will get stuck.
While not the main focus of the course, some class time is dedicated to the cautionary tale aspect of the subject matter. Wasted potential is rampant in this league, partly because it's rewarded. A serviceable rotation player in this league makes much more than a comfortable living. Compared to the rest of the population, they are kings. Such a lifestyle, both on and off the court, is fairly easy to sustain. Presumably, judging from scouting reports and YouTube reels, Mirza could settle into that role like De Niro has done with comedies recently—it's not particularly fun, but someone will CTC. But Teletovic has the potential to be so much more. Maybe not quite Raging Bull, but certainly better than Meet the Fockers.
Elective: The American Myth of the 27-Year-Old
Mirza Teletovic is 27. According to some, this is relevant.
“The twenty-seven-year-old can accomplish anything: Yuri Gagarin orbited at age 27; Flannery O'Connor published Wise Blood and Hemingway The Sun Also Rises—their debuts. Think of Ryan Lochte v. Michael Phelps just last month when both were 27, or LeBron James, 27. This is the year at which baseball players ripen, like cantaloupes, their desirability on fantasy rosters spiking (think Matt Kemp, Prince Fielder). And it's not because they're so good (Delmon Young, 27) but because next season, they settle in; because twenty-seven's home runs and "Play-it-Again-Sams" wax into twenty-eight's solid OBPs and loveless marriages.”
Teletovic won't ever have a better shot at an above-average NBA career than right now. The cosmos and the talent are aligned. Not saying that any of this will be simple, but the youngish man could not reasonably ask for a better situation.
Student Notes: The luxury of this Nets squad is that their top-level talent should finally allow for their role players to be just that and nothing more. Instead of being forced to multitask into oblivion, Mirza can breathe and tick off each line on his checklist one by one. Knock down threes. Go inside after perimeter threat is established. Play smart team defense. Repeat.
