(no word from Brett Yormark on the Eric Floyd statue….and yes, I could do this all fucking day)
How exactly does the Nets’ Meadowlands history measure in the hearts and minds of the team’s new Brooklyn fans? To judge by the New York Post’s Tim Bontemps’ coverage of last night’s Jason Kidd jersey retirement ceremonies at the Barclays Center, the answer could well be, “not at all”. Pretty crummy news for anyone hoping to score a Mike Gminski bobblehead in the near future.
The Nets did a very nice job with Jason Kidd’s jersey retirement ceremony before the game. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s right-hand man, Dmitry Razumov, and Rod Thorn – the man who pulled off the trade that brought Kidd to the Nets in 2001 – gave speeches. Then Kidd stepped to the podium and said a few words before his jersey was raised.
But the responses to the ceremony offered further proof of the reset button the Nets hit when they moved to Brooklyn last year. Important franchise figures such as Kerry Kittles — Kidd’s running mate on a pair of NBA Finals teams — retired-number forward Buck Williams and former Nets assistant Eddie Jordan were on hand to support Kidd. At one point, they all were shown on the jumbotron inside Prokhorov’s massive suite above center court, and nobody in the sellout crowd inside Barclays Center really reacted.
Perhaps there will be another jersey retirement ceremony down the road with players who spent much of their careers with the Nets in Brooklyn and the reactions will be much different.