Brooklyn Nets: Know Your Team #3 - Dr. J

From the desk of:   THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

 

BROOKLYN NETS

est.

April 30, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#1- Know Your Team; 1967-1968

#2 - Know Your Team; 1969-1972

 

 

 

Dr. J

 

 

 

1973-1976

 

THE JULIUS ERVING YEARS

 

The ABA/NBA Merger

 

1977:

The End Of Basketball On Long Island

 

 

In their fifth season under owner Roy Boe's care, and now playing their home games in the Nassau Coliseum, the franchise was much more settled, which in turn laid the foundations for success.  In fact, with one acquisition the Nets would begin their greatest period in franchise history.

 

 

Rick Barry's two seasons with the organization brought a measure of respect to the Nets, and for his part, some legitimacy to what the American Basketball Association was trying to accomplish.  But with the forward's departure back to the NBA, the Nets were left with another void to fill.

 

 

One poorly played season removed from Rick Barry, the Nets looked again to the organization from which they secured their former prized forward; the Virginia Squires.  From them, the Nets acquired Julius Erving.  The local kid was coming home to play in his own backyard.  After two seasons and a scoring title in Virginia, Erving made his New York debut with the start of the 1973-1974 season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the next three seasons, Julius Erving participated in every game the Nets played.  He led the league for three straight seasons in field goals made, and twice led the league in field goals attempted and total points.

 

 

In his first season with the Nets, Dr. J led the league, averaging twenty seven points per game.  He  was named the American Basketball Association MVP, and led the New York Nets to their first ever ABA championship.

 

 

The Nets were knocked out of the 1974-1975 playoffs rather early.  In the regular season however, Dr. J averaged almost twenty eight points per game, and earned his second MVP award.

 

 

During the 1975-1976 season, the Doctor led the league again with a twenty nine points per game average.  Julius Erving won his third consecutive MVP award.  And the Nets defeated the Denver Nuggets for their second ABA championship in three years.

 

 

That turned out to be the last American Basketball Association game ever played.  The ABA and NBA finally merged.  Four teams were absorbed into the NBA from the ABA.  The San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, and the New York Nets were taken into the National Basketball Association.

 

 

This situation put the Nets into a financial bind.  On top of paying the entrance fee for admittance into the NBA, the Nets were now also on the hook for territorial rights fees due the Knicks for entering their turf.  The debate still rages today as to whether the measures taken by the Nets were necessary.  But the result of the Nets due bills caused them to sell Julius Erving; many say, in haste.

 

 

Just like that, the glory days out in Long Island; Dr. J's home; were over.  The aftermath of losing Julius Erving was too much for owner Roy Boe to withstand.  Major change was headed the organization's way yet again.  For the 1977-1978 season, Roy Boe moved the organization back to New Jersey, where they would eventually settle into the Meadowlands Arena.  Before 1978 expired, Roy Boe sold the team.  A great ten year run was over.

 

 

The New Jersey Nets era was about to begin.

 

 

 

 

 

Mike.BTB 

Brooklyn Nets: Know Your Team; 1969-1972

From the desk of:   THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

 

 BROOKLYN NETS

est.

2012

 

 

 

 

#1- Know Your Team; 1967-1968

 

1969 - 1972

 

ROY BOE PURCHASES TEAM FROM ARTHUR BROWN

 and

THE RICK BARRY ERA

 

 

Both at the gate and in the standings, the team's second year in the American Basketball Association, and their first complete season in Long Island playing as the New York Nets was an overwhelming failure.  So at the conclusion of the 1968 season, the team's first owner, Arthur Brown, sold the club to a gentleman named Roy Boe.


He moved the team from the Long Island Arena in Commack, to the Island Garden Arena in West Hempstead.  With a capacity of just over five thousand, the Nets called this home for the next four seasons until they moved into the newly built Nassau Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale.  They co-occupied the building with their fellow fledglings in some respects, the NHL's New York Islanders; whom Roy Boe would also come to own.
 

 

Mr. Boe stayed in possession of the team for the next decade.  Under him, the Nets rose to the pinnacle of the American Basketball Association.  He oversaw the team's entry into the National Basketball Association when the leagues merged.  And just prior to selling the team in 1978, he  relocated the Nets to New Jersey (yet again) and into a then, state of the art arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.  How that arena later came to be despised is an entirely different matter.  Between the Nets and the New Jersey Devils however, it has seen its fair share of good times.


The Nets made the playoffs in Roy Boe's first season.  Unlike in the 1967 inaugural season when they were made to forfeit due to ongoing arena dilemmas, in the summer of '69, they actually played their playoffs games.  Then in time for the 1970 season, the New York Nets obtained their first franchise star.  Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, forward Rick Barry was acquired in a trade with the Virginia Squires.


Rick Barry only played two seasons with the Nets.  Prior to the NBA/ABA merger, contractual legalities forced Barry back to his NBA team of origination; the Warriors; for the 1972-73 season.  But in those two seasons on Long Island, Rick Barry led the ABA in scoring with a 29-point per game average in an unjured 1970 season, and a 31-point per game average during a full 1971 season.


Rick Barry led the Nets to the 1971-1972 ABA Championship series against the Indiana Pacers.  The New York Nets lost four games to two.  The following season would be their first full campaign playing in the Nassau Coliseum.  But just like that, the Rick Barry era was over.





Mike.BTB