Glory Days Is New York City big enough for two professional basketball l b k b ll l teams In 1967 Arthur Brown decided to find out He bought a team in the American Basketball Association ABA and looked for an arena in Manhattan He wanted to go head-to-head with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association NBA When the NBA prevented him from renting an arena Brown moved his team to Teaneck New Jersey and named it the Americans hf kC b f Like most ABA teams the Americans were made up of overlooked or unwanted players Their best player Tony Jackson had actually been banned from the NBA Many years earlier his name had come up in a gambling scandal Although Jackson was never charged with a crime the NBA still outlawed him By contrast the ABA gave second chances to many talented players In 1968 69 the Americans moved to Long Island New York and changed their name to the Nets By the early 1970s the Nets 6
had a very good team Forward Rick Barry guard Bill Melchionni and center Billy Paultz formed the core They led the Nets to the ABA Finals in the spring of 1972 Julius Erving joined the Nets for the 1973 74 season Dr J was a spectacular player who captured the imagination of basketball fans everywhere With the help of three young stars John Williamson Larry Kenon and Brian Taylor Erving led the Nets to the ABA championship Two years later New York won a second title The 1976 ABA Finals turned out to be the last games the league played The following season the Nets and three other ABA teams were invited to join the NBA The ABA went out of business Hoping to make a splash in their first NBA season the Nets traded for point guard Nate Tiny Archibald When he teamed up with Erving the Nets instantly became championship contenders Unfortunately this plan fell apart Short on cash the Nets had no choice but to sell Erving and then Archibald injured his ankle and was lost for the year New York finished in last place and few fans came to watch the team play LEFT Julius Erving liked to have fun with his nickname ABOVE Bill Melchionni was one of the team’s early stars 7
The Nets moved to New Jersey prior to the 1977 78 season They hoped more fans would come to see them in their new home By the early 1980s the Nets had a number of good players including Buck Williams Otis Birdsong Albert King Darryl Dawkins Mike Gminski and Micheal Ray Richardson Starting in 1981 82 they made it to the playoffs five years in a row In the 1990s the Nets found new stars in Derrick Coleman Jayson Williams Sam Bowie Mookie Blaylock Drazen Petrovic and Kenny Anderson New Jersey went to the playoffs four times but never advanced beyond the first round Tragedy struck when Petrovic died in a car crash The team struggled to recover from this devastating blow In 2001 02 the Nets were ready again to challenge for the NBA championship Things turned around when Jason Kidd joined the team The All-Star point guard helped mold talented players Kenyon Martin Kerry Kittles Lucious Harris Richard Jefferson and Keith Van Horn into an excellent team The Nets improved to 52 wins and made it all the way to the NBA Finals The following year they returned to the NBA Finals Unfortunately New Jersey lost both times LEFT Jason Kidd drives to the hoop for a layup ABOVE Jayson Williams starred for the team in the 1990s 9
