I’m always on the lookout for innovative ways to rank teams, and often those innovative ideas come from places that aren’t normally sports-related. Because they don’t key in on basketball, they look at the game sideways.
Food Republic has done such a preview, ranking the 30 teams in the NBA by what appetizer they would be on the Cheesecake Factory’s menu. Classic, especially considering that the Cheesecake Factory is the unofficial restaurant of NBA players.
Sure enough, the Nets come in at #5 — as the classic Caesar Salad.
From the funny folks at Food Republic:
The second in the “I can’t believe these guys are still playing” teams, the Nets have become the basketball team facsimile of their owner. Brash, bankrolled and probably made out of at least 40% caviar, this NBA version of Last Vegas is like a Caesar Salad in its classic nature. Seriously, if you saw this starting line-up in 2002, you would have been like “That’s a pretty serious team,” or “Why is that 14-year-old playing center?” Either way, you’d probably still want to watch and that’s what the Nets are right now: infinitely watchable old guys anchored by a much younger center and a fading PG who used to have functional ankles. Also, note that this ranking is 100% Caesar haircut joke free.
The Nets rank 2nd overall in the Eastern Conference, behind only the Miami Heat/crispy calamari, which is accurate.