Brooklyn Nets: Realistic expectations for 2019-20 season

For the first time ever, the Nets have the chance to win over New York and that is exactly what they need to do.

Ever since pro basketball was brought to New York, when you thought of the Big Apple you thought of the Knicks and Madison Square Garden. For the first time in franchise history, the Nets have a chance to change that.

The Nets were introduced as a franchise ahead of the 1967-68 ABA season as the New Jersey Americans, only a year later they moved to Long Island and changed their name to the New York Nets.

This would mark the first time that New York would be home to two basketball teams. That union, however, lasted only nine seasons as the Nets would move back to New Jersey ahead of the 1977-78 season. At that point, it was made even more clear that New York was home to the Knicks and it has been that way ever since, but for the first time ever, the Nets have the chance to flip that script.

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The Nets moved back to New York ahead of the 2012-13 season after building the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Since then the Nets have fought to break the stranglehold over New York but even if they were playing better than the Knicks, it was still a Knicks town.

Recently, NYK has been the laughingstock of the NBA. After believing they would get Irving, Durant and Zion Williamson and then having Marcus Morris and Julius Randle be their premiere free agent signings, the Knicks are at their weakest, maybe ever.

If the Nets manage to put together a couple of big seasons with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant at the wheel, there is a legitimate chance that the Nets could become New York’s team.

This might not seem important to an outsider looking in, but it is more important than they might think. If the Nets become ‘that team’ in New York, they get more fans which creates a better home atmosphere, which then makes more players want to play there and all of a sudden the Nets are a powerhouse in the NBA.

Now that’s not saying that there is a direct correlation between owning New York and owning the NBA, because that is simply not true. The city hasn’t seen a championship since the Knicks won the 1973 Finals, but few New York teams have been close as this current Brooklyn Nets team.

It may seem like a rather non-important goal, but if the Nets want to become the best team in the NBA, they first have to win over the city.