Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has talked openly and often about the Nets being a global brand, and he’s stood by his word: today’s game in London, England at the 02 Arena isn’t their first foray out of the continent.
On March 4th and March 5th, 2011, the then-New Jersey Nets were in London for two games against the Toronto Raptors. Also, they were terrible that season: they went 24-58 and won just four games by double digits. But one of those double-digit victories games was in London!
The Nets actually swept the London bowl in 2011, winning 116-103 on March 4th and surviving a triple-overtime 137-136 victory on the 5th. Travis Outlaw hit some key free throws to save the Nets in the third overtime.
That last sentence should give you an idea of how bad the Nets were in 2011. Here’s their full roster from the end of that season, sorted by PER:
Brook Lopez (19.3)
Kris Humphries (17.8)
Deron Williams (17.0)
Brandan Wright (15.5)
Sundiata Gaines (15.3)
Ben Uzoh (14.7)
Jordan Farmar (14.1)
Sasha Vujacic (12.6)
Anthony Morrow (12.1)
Damion James (10.1)
Johan Petro (9.9)
Mario West (9.1)
Dan Gadzuric (9.1)
Travis Outlaw (8.8)
Stephen Graham (4.4)
How brutal is that? The five players with a PER under 10 played a combined 4,492 minutes. Eight (that’s over half) of them are out of the league, and not because of retirement after a long and fruitful career.
How different is it? Only two players remain from that original roster, and neither made the trip because of injury concerns. (Also, the Nets play in Brooklyn now.)
One more fun fact: the two games in 2011 were both considered Nets home games, meaning they played just 39 games at Prudential Center in Newark that year. Today’s game is considered an away game.
