Nets, Not the Knicks? Yes, Go Nets!

Hopefully the current Nets are even more excitable as the Jason Kidd days. 

It's the opening night of the NBA season. You're writing about the NBA, you say. Well, for the first time in a long time, I'm actually somewhat excited about it. 

Being a Nets fan, there hasn't been a lot to cheer about since since the early to mid 2000's when they went deep in the playoffs a couple years, including going to the NBA Finals in 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. Well, tonight begins the long-overdue debut of Kevin Durant, as he teams with Kyrie Irving and the rest of the Nets. I'm also interested to see what DeAndre Jordan does for them. He's a inside presence that can work well with Jarrett Allen. 

People think it's crazy when I tell them I'm a Nets fan, and that I was a Nets fan when they were in New Jersey with Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson. I'm not sure why or how I became a Nets fan because they are the one team I started cheering for when they were not great in the mid-late 2000's, after the Finals appearances. There were some ups and plenty of downs with many coaching changes. I liked Lawrence Frank and he had some success early on, but when went through a really bad stretch and untimely got let go during the 12-70 2009-2010 season. Since then, they are on their 10th coach (including interim). That is not a recipe for success. Or should I say, that is due to the lack of success. 

The first game I went to was 2006 (I believe) at the Izod Center, then Continental Airlines Arena in *East Rutherford, NJ. I know they weren't good, but I miss the days of them in NJ. They will always be the NJ Nets to me, but I've continued to be a fan, once they moved to Brooklyn. I know some people said they would no longer be fans. To me, it's the same franchise, they just moved location.  

*I initially had written Newark. Thanks to Brian Koonz for pointing it out. I should know better, as it's part of the Meadowlands sports complex which includes Metlife Stadium and it's always said "From East Rutherford, New Jersey."

Now, back to present day. Having the stars is awesome, now as fans, we need to hope the work well together and bring the team success. This also allows players who had to be the go-to-guys before, like Joe Harris, fit in well as role players. A team with a lot of stars is helpful, but you need other guys to fill in the pieces in order to have a great team. 

It's a long season so it may take some time for the everything to mesh and for people like Durant, who is coming off an injury, to shake off some rust. It's a unique season but it can also hopefully we a fun season. It will be interesting to see what happens but I'm intrigued.