Nets fans disappointed about 2010-11 Finals loss

BROOKLYN, NY — With a handful of draft-day maneuvers that added youth and unloaded big contracts, the New Jersey Nets – soon to be the Brooklyn Nets – appear to be positioning themselves for a run at LeBron James, when he becomes a free agent in the summer of 2010.

Surprisingly, Nets fans are responding to that apparent plan with frustration and disappointment.

“Yeah I’m pissed,” said lifelong Nets follower T.J. Matterson, a 19-year-old Williamsburg, Brooklyn resident. “When I committed to buying season tickets at the new Brooklyn stadium, I was under the impression that this team was going to be aiming for a championship – an NBA Championship; not an Atlantic Division Championship, not even an Eastern Conference Championship. LeBron? Well, the evidence says he’s just good enough to lose you a Finals series.”

After moving Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks down the stretch of last season and trading Richard Jefferson to the Milwaukee Bucks in the offseason, the Nets remain committed to only one big money player – Vince Carter – who is expected to be unloaded some time in the next year. According to GM Rod Thorn, however, this does not guarantee that LeBron is a target.

“I’m not going to name any names, but just because someone may or may not be friends with a part-owner of this team who also happens to be a rapper doesn’t mean he’s a part of our future plans,” Thorn explained to SSNN. “At this point we’re just looking for flexibility in general, not to specifically go after someone whose endorsement contracts might have incentives that cause them to balloon in size if he plays in New York.

“I will say, though, that if we were going to go after a player like that, it would be prudent for our fans to consider the fact that losing in the NBA Finals – or even the Eastern Conference Finals – would be a large step up from what they’ve been dealing with for the last five or six years.”

But that is exactly the kind of thinking that is upsetting his fan base.

“I don’t want to seem spoiled, but it’s just really hard to know we’re blowing our shot at the NBA Championship in 2011,” said Evan Sandinsky, a 64-year-old Nets fan from Jersey City, New Jersey. “I’m pumped to see LeBron and everything, but I just wish this franchise would return to its’ ABA roots, you know? I remember when this was a championship caliber franchise, when we were a threat to win it every year.

“But I guess now we’ll just have to accept playing for second or third place. Fucking LeBron, man.”

It’s going to be tough for this sport to sweep any nations, but it’s still pretty frickin’ cool!