The Brooklyn Nets continued to take the neccisary steps in building not only a championship team, but a great franchise similar to the Boston Celtics or San Antonio Spurs, who reload after winning championships.
That after management unveiled the logo and uniform for the team’s new NBA Development League (D-League) franchise, the Long Island Nets before their 104-95 shocking win over the Cleveland Cavaliers last night at Barclays Center.
The team will play its home games during the 2016-17 inaugural season at Barclays Center and hold practices at the recently opened HSS Training Center in Brooklyn. Then, it will move to the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island.
“There are many ways to construct a team, and having the ability to build from within with our D-League team is very important,” said Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks about the importance of building a farm team. “We must be strategic and systematic, and utilizing the Long Island Nets for player development is a big key to our overall plan.”
Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark stressed the importance of establishing the connection with Long Island, which has previously served as a hotbed for New York basketball.
“We are proud to bring the Nets brand back to Long Island, and to establish synergy between the team’s storied roots at Nassau Coliseum and its contemporary history in Brooklyn,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. For many New Yorkers, this brings back memories of Doctor J, the Long Island native who led the Nets ABA franchise to some very successful playoff runs back in the mid 70’s.
In terms of comparisons, the uniforms of the old ABA team and the new D-Leaugue team are very similar. The Nets franchise has shown a lot of effort in restoring the connection to Long Island. The logo is red, white and blue, the colors of the American Basketball Association’s New York Nets, who played at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island from 1972-76, winning two championships in 1974 and 1976. Following the completion of its extensive renovation, the new Nassau Coliseum will become the permanent home of the Long Island Nets starting with the 2017-18 season.
For the upcoming season, the D-league Nets will play at Barclays Center, but the longterm plan is to get the team out on Long Island and playing at the Nassau Coliseum. Yormark dismissed talk that the new and renovated coliseum will not be ready in the near future.
“Oh, it’ll be ready,” said Yormark. “It’ll have a similar look, feel and flavor to the Barclays Center. It’s going to not only host the D-League team, but obviously world-class events, no different than Barclays Center.”
