MrDollarBills wrote:NyCeEvO wrote:vincecarter4pres wrote:And trashed the jerseys too lol.
I thought the exact same as Mr DB, after the Nets took the Pacers out that first year of the A Kidd era, he hated the Nets for life. On one hand he's a bitter hater and annoying as hell, on the other it's almost refreshing, he's one of the last of that old school mentality, hate thine enemy.
I was at that Game 5 playoff game where we stayed off Reggie and the Pacers. Best game I've been to in my life!
When the Pacers were at the free throw line, fans were stomping their feet and the entire CAA was shaking.
After we won, fans were walking through the tunnel to get the parking lot, loudly and repeatedly shouting in chorus "Reggie sucks". It was epic...
I was at that same game. That's why when I hear people talk about how NJ didn't support the Nets during that time, i think they're crazy. that playoff crowd was rocking and the majority of the crowd actually cheered for the Nets. compare this to Barclays now where the home team barely gets cheered.
Agreed.
No matter what one may think about Kidd as a person, I don't think anyone can deny how he (re-)invigorated Jersey support for the team.
Prokhorov talked about turning Knicks fans into Nets fans in Brooklyn, but Kidd was literally did that in the early-mid 2000s. I knew younger Knick fans at the time who gravitated toward the Nets because 1) the Nets were close enough to NYC and Newark to garner urban support and 2) the Nets had the superstar who routinely destroyed the Knicks.
Nothing puts fans in seats and creates loyalty than having and sustaining a winning franchise. If we actually had ownership that was interested in maintaining a contender, there's no doubt that the Nets could've thrived, especially in Newark. I went to several Nets games in Newark while living in Upper Manhattan and took mass transportation to get there. It was very easy and cheap.
Imagine if Shareef Abdur-Rahim wasn't injured when we got him or even if KMart accepted our offer to retain him. If those Nets teams could've added a piece to make them an even greater championship threat or sustain 50 win seasons for at least 5 seasons in Newark, the legacy of the Nets would have been much stronger and the team probably could've stayed.
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He's a great under appreciated player.
