A study from BizJournals reported that the Nets franchise ranks 21st in a Fan Difficulty index. The Sacramento Kings “win” the #1 spot as the hardest team in the NBA to root for, and the Los Angeles Lakers rank as the easiest. (Methodology here.)
The Nets ranking puts them just below the Cleveland Cavaliers, and just above – get this – the Chicago Bulls.
First of all, 9th? Really? I get that Deron Williams & Mickey P are here, and that Brooklyn is coming. But did these guys see the last 20 games of this past season? It was like watching a slow-motion exorcism. If the Nets even slightly resemble that team, they won’t rank top 10 in anything.
The Cavaliers are an exception to that – no one wishes ill on the small-market kid who gets beat up and has his lunch money stolen, especially if the lunch money is $50 million in economic collapse. But Chicago? Are the Nets really easier to root for than Chicago? The Bulls scored the top seed in the Eastern Conference, have the most exciting point guard in the world coming off his first MVP, and just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. I’m not buying that the Nets rank as an “easier” team to follow night in and night out.
To put it in perspective: The Bulls won 71 games in 2011 – 62 in the regular season, and nine in the playoffs. The Nets have won 70 games in the past three years combined.
