The Nets (Part 1)

The Nets haven’t exactly been very good since the ABA (which isn’t included here…they were really good there…Rick Barry, the Doctor, Bill  Melchionni, and Brian Taylor….but they haven’t been the WORST in the NBA….they DID have Kidd, and Buck Williams…and Drazen Petrovic……………………..and Vince Carter, I guess…Anyway, here we go (I don’t think that last paragraph made people want to read this…in fact, I bet most people will skip this team, thanks to my bad promoting…Might as well have said, “Come see the 12 win Nets, that happen to be missing their 3 best teams because of the ABA rule! And don’t forget about their two NBA Finals teams, that brought us some bad Finals, that were basically just Jason Kidd!…Don’t forget next year, they are changing their name to the Brooklyn __________s!”)!

(1) 2002 New Jersey Nets (52-30)

The first Finals team of the 2000s gets a bye. This team is basically just J-Kidd (15-7-10)…Impressive year, but you can’t do it all alone (unless you are in the Nets tourney….). But wait, there’s more! J-Kidd isn’t the only annoying moniker on this team! We can’t forget K-Mart (15-5)! That’s right, he’s your leading scorer, along with J-Kidd, and K-Horn (that doesn’t work….), Keith Van Horn (15-8)….RJ (Richard Jefferson…really what is with all these nicknames?), had 9-4 to debut…Maybe a 30 win team without Kidd?

(2) 1983 New Jersey Nets (49-33) vs. (35) 2010 New Jersey Nets (12-70)

This is year two of the Larry-Brown-as-Nets-Coach era…You may remember that because he forced them to change out of their iconic uniforms…you know, these:

  and wear these: 

for two years! Why change? They switched back after the year (after Brown had left…he accepted a deal to leave after the year, but he was fired before he could go)…but still…Anyway, this year, Buck Williams had 17-13. Michael Ray Richardson comes back to the New Jersey/New York area after he came over from Golden State (who got him after the previous year for…..Bernard King!), and averages 13-5-6, and 2.6 steals in 31 games in Jersey. Albert King had 17-6-4, and Otis Birdsong had 15-2-4.

Yep, the 12 win team…They started 0-18 (and went through 2 coaches) before they won one (the first game after Kiki Vandeweghe was hired…). Brook Lopez had 19-9, and Devin Harris had 17-3-7.

(3) 2003 New Jersey Nets (49-33) vs. (34) 1990 New Jersey Nets (17-65)

Jason Kidd had a really good year (not as good as the previous), but his teammates definitely picked up the slack. Kidd had 19-6-9, Kenyon Martin had 17-8, Richard Jefferson had 16-6, and Kerry Kittles had 13-4-3…not exactly something to be desired…but it isn’t COMPLETE crap…Imagine if Alonzo Mourning had played….he missed the entire year…

This is close to complete crap…Dennis Hopson had 16-4, Chris Morris had 15-5, Sam Bowie had 15-10, and Purvis Short had 13-3…Fear not (or maybe fear more…) Derrick Coleman is coming next year! 

(4) 2006 New Jersey Nets (49-33) vs. (33) 1988 New Jersey Nets (19-63)

As you can see, the Jason Kidd era is the only really good (or really decent..). Vince plays his first full season in Jersey, after giving up and not trying in Toronto. He had 24-6-4 this year (I hate Vince Carter…I’m sure about three fourths of NBA fans do to…It seems so dramatic to just stop trying to force a trade, which amazingly enough (Carter, if you are reading this, this may be news…), forced down his trade value! I’m glad he did, because then  Boston might have done something stupid and traded him for Pierce…or Kobe for Carter…Wow…let’s be happy Carter went were he did ((even if he should have just been benched…))), and had his first full pairing with Kidd (13-7-8…he may be getting less assists, but his boards are still great for a point guard…He doesn’t need to score like he did in the early 2000s, now that Mr. Wuss is here). Richard Jefferson had 20-7-4, while Nenad Krstic had 14-7…That’s right! Pretty good for Krstic…bet you didn’t see that coming…

Buck Williams had 18-12, and Roy Hinson came over in a trade to average 18-7. John Bagley had 12-3-6…Mike Gminski, and Orlando Woolridge both played less than 35 games, and had 16-17 point averages…

(5) 2004 New Jersey Nets (47-35) vs. (32) 1977 New York Nets (22-60)

Kidd had a pretty good year (16-6-9), and Richard Jefferson upped his game to 19-6-4, while Kenyon Martin added 17-10. We also have an Alonzo Mourning sighting! He played 12 games this year, and was sent to Toronto, where he refused to report, then was released and he signed in Miami…

That’s right, the ever defending ABA champs just came down to 22 wins…Well they DID lose Erving, Brian Taylor, Swen Nater, not so good anymore Bill Melchionni, AND John Williamson was traded mid-year…Pretty bad…John Williamson was averaging 21-3 this year two, and he was traded off to Indiana, in a trade which netted them Bernard King (as a draft pick…). Tiny Archibald was supposed to be the best player…and he was…when he was playing…He had 21-2-8 in 34 games. Robert Hawkins (52 games) and Mike Bantom (33) both didn’t play much, and they both had 19 points a game…Pretty bad. They would move to New Jersey after the year…

(6) 1984 New Jersey Nets (45-37) vs. (31) 2011 New Jersey Nets (24-58) 

Buck Williams had a great year, averaging 16-12, while Otis Birdsong had 20-3-4. Darryl Dawkins had 17-7, Albert King had 15-5, while Michael Ray Richardson played only 48 games (12-4-5…he’d play more next year….then he was kicked out a year later…

Brook Lopez had 20-6, and Devin Harris (15-2-8) was traded for 12 games of Deron Williams (15-5-13…remember 12 games…He had 20-4-10 with Utah/New Jersey combined…

(7) 1994 New Jersey Nets (45-37) vs. (30) 1987 New Jersey Nets (24-58)

Two young, victims of the overpaid 90s joined forces for another decent year. Derrick Coleman had 20-11 (and was an all-star) and Kenny Anderson had 19-4-10…They were both gone in a few years, and both of them bounced around…Jersey probably could have been pretty good especially with Petrovic, who died the year previous…Also on this team is Kevin Edwards (14-3-3).

Buck Williams had 19-13, Orlando Woolridge led scores with 21-5-4, and Mike Gminski had 16-9…

(8) 1982 New Jersey Nets (44-38) vs. (29) 1981 New Jersey Nets (24-58)

Ray Williams led scores with 20-4-6, after another 20 point season in New York last year…He was traded to the Kings after the year. Otis Birdsong (14-3-3 in 37 games) declined from his 20 point scoring year last year on the Kings, but he’d be back up to form in a few years. Buck Williams had 16-12 as a rookie.

Mike Newlin had 21-3-4, Cliff Robinson had 20-8, and Maurice Lucas had 15-9. Bob McAdoo played 10 games after being waived by Detroit. He sat the beginning of next year before he was dealed to LA.

(9) 1993 New Jersey Nets (43-39) vs. (28) 1978 New Jersey Nets (24-58)

What could have been….Drazen Petrovic was the leading scorer on this team, as he had 22-3-4, and Derrick Coleman had 21-11-4, while Kenny Anderson was the point guard, with 17-4-8. The bench has an odd assortment of famous players for one reason or another…There is Maurice Cheeks (in his last year…), Bernard King (in his last year…scoring 7 points…even after 28 in DC the year before…), Rick Mahorn (who is beginning a 6 year journey as washed up enforcer), there is Sam Bowie (9-7), and who can forget Jayson Williams, who shot his chauffeur...

Indiana decided midway through the year John Williamson wasn’t good enough, so they trade him right back to the Nets (in their first New Jersey season…at least since they were the NJ Americans in the ABA for one year…), where he would have 30-3-3 in 33 games. Meanwhile, Bernard King began his NBA career averaging 24-10, and he had Kevin Porter (16-3-11) feeding him the ball.

(10) 1998 New Jersey Nets (43-39) vs. (27) 2001 New Jersey Nets (26-56)

Keith Van Horn had 20-7, Sam Cassell had 20-3-8, Jayson Williams had 13-14, Kerry Kittles had 17-5, and Kendall Gill had 13-5-3…nothing special.

The year before Kidd…this is Marbury’s team (24-3-8), and he was traded to Phoenix the next year in the Kidd trade. Keith Van Horn had 17-7 in 49 games, and K-Mart had 12-7.