Did You Know...

The New Jersey Nets ended the 2007-08 season in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and missed the playoffs. For a team that hasn’t won the division since 2006, and has never won an NBA Championship, rebuilding is clearly in order, and to that end so many trades were made that only three starting players from last season remain with the team: Josh Boone, Vince Carter and Sean Williams. The Nets traded Jason Kidd, Antoine Wright and Malik Allen to the Dallas Mavericks for cash considerations, 2 draft picks, Keith van Horn’s contract, Trenton Hassell, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager and most importantly Devin Harris. Richard Jefferson was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Bobby Simmons and Yi Jianlian and Chris Douglas-Roberts, Brook Lopez, and Ryan Anderson were picked up in the draft. With an almost entirely new roster, will the 2008-09 season finally be the one to bring the Nets success? Get your tickets to Izod Center and see for yourself!

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.