By Eddie Castro
The wait is over, and here comes another exciting season of basketball in the Borough of Brooklyn. Year one is in the books and with year two the buzz around the Brooklyn Nets is championship. Nets owner Mikhail Prokorov did some George Steinbrenner-like spending during the off-season after his team lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Chicago Bulls last year in a hard-fought seven-game series. When Prokorov acquired the team a few years ago, he said that his ultimate goal is to make the Brooklyn Nets world champions. This is now year four, and with the team expecting to pay nearly $85 million dollars in luxury tax, he (Prokorov) intends to keep his promise to Brooklyn fans.
The Nets made arguably the biggest blockbuster trade during the off-season acquiring longtime Celtic Paul Pierce, as well as Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry. Pierce and Garnett have gone on record stating the big reason why they came to Brooklyn is to win a championship. Pierce and Garnett alone creates one of the most talented lineups in the NBA today. With Brook Lopez at center, Deron Williams at point guard and Joe Johnson at shooting guard they form a formidable unit. All players have made one or more All-Star game appearances in their career. The team also bulked up their bench by re-signing Andray Blatche and Reggie Evans, while adding scorers like Andrei Kirilenko, Shaun Livingston and Alan Anderson. Those players alone can be a starting lineup for an NBA team and they will be a part of the Nets bench this year. There is also a new coach at the helm. After 19 years as a player in the NBA, former point guard Jason Kidd will trade his jersey and sneakers for a suit as he was named the Nets head coach shortly after announcing his retirement.
The Nets seem to have created more of a buzz of late in New York than their over-the-bridge rivals the Knicks. Paul Pierce, who has had his share of moments against the Knicks in his career, has never been shy about his feelings towards the Knicks. “I don’t like those guys and I’m pretty sure they don’t like me,” Pierce said upon his arrival in Brooklyn. He also may have added some fuel to the fire in the borough rivalry saying, “I think my hatred has grown and a little more for them now that I’m a Net, I think it’s time for this team to take over the city”. The two teams will hook up four times this year, two times each in the opposing teams’ home court. Before that happens, the Nets will be at their first home game this Saturday against the 2-time defending champion Miami Heat. Brooklyn will be one of many teams in the Eastern Conference this year that will try to prevent LeBron James and the Heat from 3-peating this year. This should be a very exciting season!
Sports Notes: (Football) Don’t look now but the Giants are on a 2-game winning streak after an 0-6 start (granted it was against two other horrible teams). With the Redskins and Cowboys both losing this past Sunday, amazingly the G-men are only 2 games back behind first place. The team has a bye week this Sunday and will rest up and welcome the Oakland Raiders to town on November 10. The Jets will try to shake off a 49-9 beatdown by the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday. It sure won’t get any easier for Gang Green as they host one of the best quarterbacks in football, Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. (Basketball) The Brooklyn Nets get their first crack at the Miami Heat at the Barclays Center on Saturday night. The Knicks head to Chicago to play Derrick Rose and the Bulls tonight. On behalf of myself and everyone here at Our Time Press, we want to wish everybody a safe and Happy Halloween.