The Brooklyn Nets finally have management that cares. General manager Sean Marks has been making smart moves in the draft, while head coach Kenny Atkinson brings in a system that has a ton of potential. The Nets just need someone that cares on a representative level. Who better than the man that brought them to Brooklyn in the first place: Sean Carter.
For a brief period in 2011, the then-New Jersey Nets were the coolest team in the NBA. While the Nets did not have star power of the the Big Three in Miami or the championship-winning ways of the Los Angeles Lakers, they had Jay-Z.
He was someone that regularly rubbed elbows with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Hova promised to move the team to Brooklyn. Most importantly, he made the Nets relevant again.
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Let’s flashback to the season prior to Jay-Z’s minority ownership in April 2005. The Nets were coming off of a season that was somewhat disappointing. Despite acquiring the much-hyped Vince Carter and assembling a big three in him, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, the trio only played 33 games together. Richardson spent most of the year injured, leaving Kidd and Carter to carry the burden.
Though the duo could not reach win the division as the Nets had the previous two seasons, they still led the team to a 42-20 record, good enough for the eighth seed. The Heat swept them in the first round.
This was the beginning of the end for the New Jersey Nets. Soon afterwards, they fell into a cycle of mediocrity that ended with Mikhail Prokhorov taking ownership of the team, Billy King replacing Rod Thorn as team president and of course, the team announcing that it would move to Brooklyn.
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The biggest advocate for the move was Jay-Z. He bragged about the move in songs. The Brooklyn-born rapper even invested in the Barclays Center. He made it clear that the move was a new era for Nets fans.
In accordance, the team traded for Joe Johnson and Deron Williams. The duo, along with Brook Lopez, represented the new New York team, one that was built to win. However, as we know, that ideal didn’t last long. Poor management decisions stripped the team until now.
Currently, Brooklyn has a new core. Jeremy Lin and the recently-added D’Angelo Russell are the faces of the new-look Nets. Their goal is to win and make the team relevant again. Who better than to help them with that goal than Jay-Z?
Now, I’m not saying that Jay-Z should become a minority owner again. He definitely would not do so, seeing as he owns an agency, nor does he need to. Prokhorov is allowing Marks to take control of the roster and should not introduce anybody in the management that could potentially interfere.
Jay-Z’s role with the Nets should be one of a team ambassador. Think Drake for the Toronto Raptors. Essentially Jay-Z would do what he basically used to do, show up to Nets’ games and sit front row. They could even dedicate a night to him, much like the team’s Biggie Smalls Night. They could even just let Jay-Z be the master of ceremony for Biggie Night.
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Not only would this give the Nets a superfan, but it’s a nod to the outside community. No one in the hip-hop community has done as much as Jay-Z has for Brooklyn. I’m not even talking about references to the borough in his songs. He contributes to charities that help the area and invests in the community.
Right before their move to Brooklyn, the Nets were on the cusp of NBA coolness thanks to Jay-Z. Now entering a new era, the Nets could use Jay-Z to reach relevance again.