The Nets Lose Their 1st-Round Pick to Portland as Draft Lottery Goes (Almost) Chalk

Bleh, this team makes me sick

Last night's much-hyped Draft Lottery was yet another fit of incredible misfortune for the Nets as their lottery balls came up short, landing them in the 6th-spot and giving the Portland Trail Blazers the draft pick as part of the much-scrutinized Gerald Wallace deadline deal. Like the Nets pick, most of the 14 lottery selections went the teams with the corresponding record, such as the Nets having the 6th-worst record and getting the 6th pick. However, this didn't happen at the top of the draft board as the Hornets, who had the 4th-worst record in the NBA last year, ended up getting the #1 pick, presumably to take Anthony Davis. As a result, the league-worst Bobcats got the 2nd-pick while the Wizards landed in the 3rd-slot.

Congrats to those afor-mentioned teams and their fan bases but that doesn't cover the Nets, and us, their beaten-down fans. This news is absolutely terrible for the newly-minted Brooklyn Nets, whose future was greatly leveraged by the Wallace trade while the proverbial knife was dug in deeper with tonight's complete loss of the pick that could have been used as a trade asset for Dwight Howard. Now, Deron Williams has much more incentive to not re-sign with the Nets, a team that only has a 2012 2nd-round pick (57th overall) and four players under contract currently as potential trade bait. Of course, I will have more on this unnerving situation in the days to come but I leave all you readers a final statement: Give us a damn break for once!

The NBA Draft Lottery is Tonight, While The Nets' Future Lies in the Balance

Tonight, at 8pm, in MSG, the Nets' franchise will set out on a road to success....or one of bitter despair

The 2012 NBA Draft Lottery is tonight at 8pm on ESPN and it is obviously one of great importance for the New Jersey Brooklyn Nets. Even though the site has been super-quiet lately (You can blame my teachers), it shouldn't be understated just how crucial tonight is for the short-term and long-term scope of this team.

You know the drill, the top-three protected 1st-round pick the Nets flipped to the Portland Trailblazers could wind up in a very good rookie for the Nets (and potential trade chip for Dwight Howard) or a very good rookie for Portland. There is even some chatter that the results of tonight's lottery will be the deciding factor in whether D-Will will return to the Nets this offseason or sign elsewhere (let it be noted that I don't completely believe in Woj's report, but I must acknowledge its existence.)

Anyway, the consequences of the Nets losing their potentially very-high 1st-round pick in this year's loaded draft would be severe and could lead to another period of extended futility with a team and a fan base that has experienced way too much of that in recent years. The specifics are grim: the Nets only have around a 25% chance of keeping their pick and a 75% chance of losing it.

You don't have to be a math major to know that those are awful, terrible, no-good odds and according to said odds, the Nets and their fans will probably go to sleep tonight without a 1st-round pick and a great chance that their franchise player will be playing elsewhere this offseason.

I'm not trying to scare you, fellow Nets fans, I'm trying to be honest and truthful. Being hopeful that the lottery balls will fall in our favor is the way to go for right now, just keep it in check with the knowledge that that hope will most likely spoil and turn into pessimism in about an hour. The only positive with this grim knowledge is that the Nets are no stranger to terrible luck and us fans are used to it by now. Let's hold on to the chance our luck will turn tonight.

Season-In-Review: DeShawn Stevenson

This post, along with the other posts I will do in the Season-In-Review series, will take a deeper look at how all the Nets did last season on the court and possibly off of it. We start off with the enigma that is DeShawn Stevenson.


The Nets signed Stevenson to a 1-year, $2.5 million contract on December 23rd, 2011, just three days before the Nets played their first game of the season. Of course, Stevenson was a key part of the 2011 NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks but had to look for work elsewhere after the season due to Dallas' cap-cutting measures. The Nets were excited to sneak in and sign the guy who shut down LeBron in the Finals for only the veteran's minimum. However, the Nets didn't get the Stevenson that seemed to want to play defense, they got the Stevenson that played it when he felt like it.

I guess we shouldn't really have expected much from the 31 year-old coming into the season but what we got from him was a significant drop-off from anything anyone thought he would produce. Stevenson shot a dreadful 28.5% from the field, 28% from three, and just 56% from the free-throw line. All of the these numbers were near the worst of his career and that could probably be blamed on motivation alone. When a less-than-stable player like Stevenson goes from the NBA Champion Mavericks to the lottery-bound Nets, there is bound to be disappointment and possibly a reduction in level of play. Actually, just reduction in performance wouldn't do Stevenson's season justice; it would be best characterized as the performance falling off of a cliff.

The Brooklyn Nets Are Officially Born

This recently leaked logo may be the Brooklyn Nets official one, but we won't be sure until Monday morning

As of right now (12:00 am EST on Monday, April 30th), the Brooklyn Nets are officially a member of the NBA and the New Jersey Nets are gone. This moment is a landmark for the Nets franchise as the much-excited move to Brooklyn has been in the works for years now and is sure to help the Nets be more successful than during their 35 years in New Jersey. This also means that Brooklyn Balling is now a Brooklyn Nets blog as opposed to a New Jersey Nets one. It also means that in a few hours (at roughly 6:50 am on CNBC) the Nets' new jerseys, logo, and team identity will be revealed by Nets CEO Brett Yormark. Congratulations fellow Nets fans, we have been waiting for this day and time to come for years now and its finally here. Now, as the blog has stated since January, the Nets are "Brooklyn Balling".

Game 66 Recap: Toronto Raptors 98, Nets 67

Goodbye New Jersey Nets, and hello Brooklyn Nets. In the last game ever of the new Jersey Nets franchise, an oddly-mixed collection of NBA and D-League players took the floor for both the Raptors and Nets, both teams decimated by injury. I guess the Toronto collection of guys, led by former Net Ben Uzoh and his first career triple-double, just wanted the meaningless win more than the people (not good enough to be a team) they faced at the Air Canada Center.

Other than the official farewell to the New Jersey Nets--which kinda sounds weird now---this game didn't hold much intrigue. However, the loss did help the Nets leapfrog the Raptors in the lottery standings, giving New Jersey/Brooklyn a slightly better chance of landing in the 3-spot and enabling it to keep its pick from the Trail Blazers. Tanking at its best! Plus, I know I kept tonight's recap short but don't worry as Brooklyn Balling will have more analysis and commentary on this past Nets season and what is ahead. Also, the next time we will see a team resembling the Nets will be in October of 2012, in a preseason game possibly at the Barclays Center. See you then Johan Petro!

Game 66 Preview: Nets (22-43) at Toronto Raptors (22-43)

Goodbye, see you guys in Brooklyn

That's all folks. In the last game of another much-maligned Nets season, the team takes on the Toronto Raptors, another lottery team, in what is officially the last game ever of the New Jersey Nets. Tonight will be bittersweet for anyone that is a Nets fan because we have to wait until October of next year for basketball in Brooklyn in addition to the fact that the last time that Deron Williams is on the Nets could be tonight as he might leave the team this offseason as a free agent. However, the biggest feeling that Nets fans should be feeling is excitement because, as mentioned above, the next Nets game after tonight will not include the New Jersey Nets but instead it will be the Brooklyn Nets.


Oh yeah, the actual game. In terms of playoff chances, this game means nothing for both teams but it has incredibly coincidental lottery implications. The Nets and Raptors have exactly the same record right now so the winner's lottery chances will be worse than the other. Honestly, that's why I don't necessarily want the Nets to win because I would rather take the slight increase to our chance of getting our 1st-round pick this year than a meaningless April win. Sorry for all the people who want the Nets to get that elusive 23rd win of this condensed season. 


Background on Toronto

Toronto, like the Nets, is missing a ton of their good players due to injury so there really isn't much healthy talent to talk about on this Toronto team right now other than  DeMar DeRozan, James Johnson, and possibly Ed Davis. Another thing to note; former Net Ben Uzoh is on Toronto and might even start tonight. If you don't remember Uzoh's relatively short tenure with the Nets, then you didn't miss much. In 42 games last season, the Tulsa graduate scored just 3.8 points per game in around 10.4 minutes per. Not exactly lighting up the scoreboard, huh?

Brooklyn Nets Logo Leaked?

Yep, it looks like it. Deadspin, along with other sites, is reporting that this image above will be the new logo for the Brooklyn Nets. Supposedly, some guy on Twitter that is working IT at the Barclays Center site snapped this photo of an office wall at the facility. Maybe this is some sort of publicity stunt by the Nets but I think it might be the real thing and I kind of like it, other than the fact that it is missing red, which is one of my favorite jersey colors. 

I would love to see the jerseys for this logo which will probably be announced on April 30th which is the date that Nets' management set for the official release of the team's new logo. If this isn't the real thing, than we can hope that the real thing is nearly as good as this. If this is indeed the real thing, then the Nets got it right and the Brooklyn Nets' inaugural jerseys will be awesome. #HelloBrooklyn