NBA History the best of: Brooklyn Nets

Greetings and Salutations to all to start this blog off I will be doing a series where I go through every team in the NBA and make a ‘Dream Team’ of sorts. What this encompasses is the best: 5 players (positional), Coach, Emblem and Uniform. I will be going alphabetically hope we all enjoy this!

Brooklyn Nets

In the Brooklyn Nets we come across our first former ABA franchise, led by the legendary Julius “Dr. J” Erving, they won 2 ABA championships in 1974 and 1976. However since moving to the NBA they have been on the wrong end of lady luck, going from having to trade Dr. J due to paying the Knicks $3.2 million for ‘invading’ New York, to paying the Knicks another $4 million in order to move to New Jersey. The Nets would not taste any real success till 2001 when they traded for future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd and proceed to make the 2002 and 2003 NBA finals. After years of competitiveness the Nets moved to Brooklyn in 2012 and have proceeded to do not too much.

All time starting 5

PG – Jason Kidd

Playing seven years with the Nets Jason averaged: 14.6 Points, 9.1 Assists, 7.2 Rebounds and 1.9 Steals per game. He led them to two straight finals in 2002-2003 losing to the Lakers 4-0 and San Antonio 4-2 respectively. His accomplishments as a Net include:

·      5x NBA All-Star (2002-2004,2007,2008)

·      2x All-NBA First Team (2002, 2004)

·      1x All-NBA Second Team (2003)

·      2× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2002, 2006)

·      4× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2003–2005, 2007)

·      2× NBA assists leader (2003, 2004)

 Kidd is the Franchise leader in Assists (4,620) and Steals (950), whilst ranking 2^nd in minutes played (18,733) and 5^th in Points (7,373)

Honourable Mentions: Bill Melchionni, John Williamson, Deron Williams, Stephon Marbury

SG – Vince Carter

Although Vince only played five seasons for the Nets he was extremely relevant during those years averaging: 23.6 Points, 4.7 Assists, 5.8 Rebounds and 1.2 Steals per game. Carter played some of his best basketball for the Nets as it was during his prime and he made sure each season was filled to the brim with highlights. However success on the court was hard to come by, only making the playoffs three times and getting to the second round just once. His accomplishments as a Net is

·      3x NBA All-Star (2005-2007)

Vince ranks as the 3^rd highest scorer in franchise history with 8,834 points.

Honourable mention: Kerry Kittles, Otis Birdsong

SF – Dražen Petrović

Arguably the best European Basketball player to ever hit the hardwood Dražen remains one of the biggest what if’s in NBA history, his life was tragically cut short due to car accident in the middle of his prime. One of the best shooters of all time Dražen averaged 19.5 Points, 2.9 Assists, 2.8 Rebounds and 1.2 Blocks per game for the Nets. His accomplishments as a Net includes:

·      1x All-NBA Third Team

Honourable Mentions: Richard Jefferson

PF - Julius “Dr. J” Irving

Dr. J only played three seasons for the then New York Nets but is widely regarded by many to be the best player to ever don the uniform. Averaging 28.2 points, 5.2 Assists, 10.9 Rebounds, 2.3 Steals and 2.1 Blocks he lead the Nets to two ABA Championships in three years. Nonetheless as mentioned at the beginning the Nets were forced to sell Dr. J’s contract in order to pay the Knicks so they could join the NBA and continue to play in the state of New York. His accomplishments as a Net includes:

·      2x ABA Champion (1974, 1976)

·      2× ABA Playoffs MVP (1974, 1976)

·      3× ABA Most Valuable Player (1974–1976)

·      3× All-ABA First Team (1974–1976)

·      1x ABA All-Defensive First Team (1976)

Dr. J ranks as the 7^th highest scorer in franchise history with 7,104 Points. He was also named to the ABA All-Time team, NBA 35^th Anniversary team and the NBA 50^th Anniversary team.

Honourable Mentions: Buck Williams

C – Brook Lopez

 The longest tenured Net on this list in terms of years played, Brook spent nine years of consistent turn out for New Jersey/Brooklyn averaging 18.6 Points, 1.5 Assists, 7.1 Rebounds and 1.7 Blocks. Sadly enough though Brook only managed to play in the playoffs twice, now playing for the Lakers Brook will always be remembered for being the face of the Nets for numerous years. His accomplishments as a Net includes:

·      1x NBA All-Star (2013)

·      1x NBA All-Rookie First Team (2009)

Among Franchise leaders Brook ranks as the top scorer with 10,444 Points, and also first in blocks with 972. Along with third in Minutes played (18,118) and Rebounds (4,004).

Honourable Mentions:  Derrick Coleman

Coach – Byron Scott

Even if he was coaching the Nets through their most talented roster to date, credit is given where credit is due. Byron may be remembered more for his later failings as a coach with Cleveland and the Lakers, but he managed to steer the Nets to two straight NBA finals. With a winning percentage of 51.7% during the regular season and 62.5% for the playoffs he stands as one of the most successful coaches in Nets history. In 2002 he was named as the Eastern conference All-Star coach.  

Honourable Mentions: Kevin Loughery, Larry Brown, and Chuck Daly

Jerseys

This was a tough throw up between the Dražen era jerseys or the Dr. J Jerseys, ultimately the ABA jerseys always had a bit more life in them and that’s why I like this New York Jersey.

Next up is the Charlotte Hornets