2005 New Jersey Nets

The 'other' New York team, the New Jersey Nets, did themselves proud in 2004-05, with a playoff slot and lots of exciting memories from such players as the two Jasons, Kidd and Collins, and midseason addition Vince Carter. The Nets are looking to improve on their eighth-seed entry into the playoffs this year, so you need to get your Nets tickets now before the other rabid fans snap them up.

One of the 11 original teams of the American Basketball Association (ABA), the New York Nets won two championships in the nine-year history of that league. During this time star forward Julius Erving led the team.

The team was founded in 1967 as an ABA franchise called the New Jersey Americans. Team owner Arthur Brown originally wanted the team to play in New York City, but after failing to secure a city arena, the team spent the 1967-68 season playing in Teaneck, New Jersey. The next season Brown renamed the squad the Nets and moved it to Long Island, New York, and in 1969 he sold the Nets to businessman Roy Boe. The Nets qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 1969-70. Before the next season the team signed high-scoring forward Rick Barry, and in 1972 the Nets advanced to the ABA Finals, where they lost to the Indiana Pacers four games to two.

Before the 1972-73 season Barry left the Nets, and the team won only 30 games that year. In 1973, however, the club replaced Barry with an acrobatic forward named Julius Erving. "Dr. J," as Erving was called, boosted the team's popularity and improved its play. The Nets recorded a 55-29 regular-season mark in 1973-74 and claimed the ABA title. Erving topped the league in scoring with 27.4 points per game and won the league's most valuable player (MVP) award.

After an early playoff loss in 1975, the Nets returned in the 1975-76 season with a 55-29 win-loss record. Led by Erving, who again won the league's MVP award, the Nets bested the Denver Nuggets in the ABA Finals to earn their second championship.

Before the 1976-77 season the ABA folded, and the Nets were one of four ABA teams that joined the NBA. Salary disputes with Erving forced the club to sell his contract to the Philadelphia 76ers, and without its star forward the team failed to post a winning record during its first five NBA seasons. After their first NBA season the team moved to New Jersey, and in 1978 Boe sold the team.

In 1983-84 the Nets fielded their strongest team since joining the NBA, featuring center Darryl Dawkins, forward Buck Williams, and guards Otis Birdsong and Michael Ray Richardson. The team posted a 45-37 record in the regular season and defeated the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

In the early 1990s the Nets fielded a young team that featured forward Derrick Coleman and guards Drazen Petrovic and Kenny Anderson. Guided by former Detroit Pistons head coach Chuck Daly, the trio led New Jersey to its first winning mark in seven years, a 43-39 record during the 1992-93 season. In the playoffs, however, the Nets fell in the first round. The team was stunned when Petrovic died in an automobile accident a month after the playoffs. Beginning in 1995-96 the Nets attempted to rebuild the franchise. The team traded both Coleman and Anderson, and over the next few years the Nets featured such players as Kendall Gill, Kerry Kittles, Stephon Marbury, Keith Van Horn, and Jayson Williams. After the 2000-01 season the Nets traded Marbury and several other players to the Phoenix Suns for guard Jason Kidd. In his first season with the team, Kidd led the Nets to their first NBA Finals appearance, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.