subject: The New Jersey Nets Tickets : One Of The Best Teams In Nba [print this page] The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association that plays in the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division. The team will play in the Prudential Center in Newark starting in the 2010/11 season,[1] but are planning to relocate to the borough of Brooklyn in New York City once a new arena there is completed in 2012.
On September 24, 2009, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's 2nd richest man according to Forbes, confirmed his intention to become majority owner of the Nets. Prokhorov sent an offer to the team owners requesting that the control shareholding of the basketball club be sold to his company, Onexim, for a symbolic price. In return, Prokhorov would fund a loan for the construction of a $700 million arena in Brooklyn and attract additional funds from Western banks. Prokhorov stated that he initiated the deal to push Russian basketball to a new level of development.
After a 16th straight loss (against the Sacramento Kings) to start the 2009/2010 NBA season, the Nets fired head coach Lawrence Frank.Assistant coach Tom Barrise stepped in as a temporary replacement. He lost his first two games heading the team, an away game against the Los Angeles Lakers and then to the Dallas Mavericks at home, to set the mark for worst start to a season in NBA history at 0/18 (one more than the previous record holder, the 1988/89 Miami Heat).
Kiki Vandeweghe replaced him as head coach on December 4, with Del Harris hired as his new assistant. The duo won their first game at home against the Charlotte Bobcats, 97/91, to break the Nets arduous 19/game losing streak stretching from the final game of the 2008/09 season, and to keep the record for worst start to a season at 18 straight.
On February 18, 2010, the Nets finalized a deal that would move them to the Prudential Center in Newark until the Barclays Center opens in Brooklyn.
On March 29, 2010, the Nets beat the San Antonio Spurs for the first time since the 2003 NBA Finals. The win was their 10th of the season, keeping them out of the record books for the worst season of all time, a distinction held by the 1972/73 Philadelphia 76ers season. Still, the Nets finished with a 12/70 record, only the fifth team to lose 70 games in a season, shared by the 1972/73 Philadelphia 76ers (9/73), 1986/87 Los Angeles Clippers (12/70), 1992/93 Dallas Mavericks (11/71) and 1997/98 Denver Nuggets (11/71).
On May 18, 2010, the Nets received the 3rd overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft; they selected Derrick Favors out of Georgia Tech, a power forward.On June 10, 2010, Avery Johnson was named the new head coach of the Nets. Sam Mitchell was named assistant coach shortly thereafter.On July 14, 2010, Billy King was named the new general manager of the Nets.
In 2004, after failing to secure a deal for a new arena in Newark, New Jersey (eventually a new arena, the Prudential Center, was built in Newark), YankeeNets sold the franchise to a group headed by real estate developer Bruce Ratner for $300 million, beating out a group led by Charles Kushner and Jon Corzine. While Kushner and Corzine wanted to keep the Nets in New Jersey, Ratner planned to move the team back to New York.
In 2005 the Nets announced plans to locate the team in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. One of the members of the ownership group is rap mogul and Brooklyn native Jay/Z. The team would be renamed "Brooklyn Nets" (current working title), "New York Nets," or have a new name attached to its Brooklyn location.
The Barclays Center is the center of an extensive redevelopment project called the Atlantic Yards being built by Ratner's real estate development company. The site of the arena is nearby to the site that Walter O'Malley wanted to use for a new stadium for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the early 1950s. The plan was rejected and resulted in the team's relocation to Los Angeles in 1958. The Nets would be the first major professional sports team to play their games in Brooklyn since the departure of the Dodgers.
On September 23, 2009, Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov agreed to a $200 million deal to become a principal owner of the Nets and a key investor in the team's proposed home in Brooklyn.
In October 2009, the Nets played two preseason games at the Prudential Center.The two preseason games were successful, and a deal that would have the Nets play at the Prudential Center for the 2010/12 NBA seasons became more likely. After nearly falling apart, after the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority refused to release the Nets from their lease at Izod, negotiations resumed, and on February 18, 2010, the Nets finalized a deal that would move them to the Prudential Center in Newark, until Barclays Center opens.
After the dismissal of major pending lawsuits, groundbreaking for Barclays Center finally occurred on March 11, 2010.
