Brooklyn Nets fans had it all played out in their heads, even months in advance. Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and the rest of the crew would step out onto the hardwood floor of the Barclays Center for their first ever regular season game in New York City’s latest breathtaking sporting venue, and no one would be able to detract from the dominating support of the home team.

Unless of course, the now cross-town rival New York Knicks were to make the short trip from Broadway to Brooklyn to crash the party. But the NBA would never allow that to happen. Never. Right?

Wrong.

The league released the upcoming regular season schedule yesterday, and one of – if not the most – surprising dates that was revealed was November 1^st, when Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and the remainder of New York’s original NBA franchise will assist the Nets in opening their brand new home and the 2012-2013 campaign in a battle to see who owns The Big Apple for at least this one night.

Needless to say, Nets fans are absolutely miffed. If you’re close to any and feel like having a hearty chuckle, just ask them what they think of this decision by the schedule-makers. You probably won’t be disappointed with their wild rant of a response. Just make sure to buy them a bottle of water afterwards.

This was supposed to be the next step for their organization. This was supposed to be the moment where they would completely pack the house donning their newly purchased black and white Brooklyn Nets apparel, cheering their heroes on so profusely that there’d be no possible way for them to lose this game. And the country would wonder how the borough of Brooklyn could have possibly been deprived of a major professional sports franchise for more than a half century following the Dodgers taking their act to sunny Los Angeles many moons ago.

Obviously this will not be the case with the Knicks in the building. Knicks fans will make their way from anywhere and everywhere in the city, Long Island, nearby upstate and – as ironic as this may sound – even the state the state of New Jersey in certain cases, which the Nets used to represent, in order to watch the team that was previously the only pro basketball team New Yorkers could feel either proud or ashamed of.

Throw in the fact that they’ve always appreciated an opportunity to witness history as well, and you know they’ll be there in full force. The moment Spike Lee is spotted sitting courtside in a Knicks jersey and hat, playfully harassing Nets players from a seat that would appear very similar to the one he’s always had at Madison Square Garden, you’ll know that this matchup is more than just one game. From now on every meeting will be about reserving bragging rights.

The fact that the Nets long-awaited Brooklyn debut is coming against the Knicks is a pity for both the team and their fans. There’s no question about it. But, for once, the NBA can actually get a pass.

It’s been stated a countless number of times – the NBA is a business. All professional sports leagues are just that, and the NBA is no different. In all likelihood ticket sales would not have been an issue in the Nets home opener in a brand new arena in New York City even if the Knicks weren’t the opponent. The Nets appear to have put together a very competitive core by re-signing Williams, Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Brook Lopez, and trading for Johnson. Their fans have been dreaming of the day when they would look this good on paper. The Nets would have certainly sold out their first home game no matter what, as their fans would want to see if the team could indeed live up to their expectations once they got between the lines.

So the league realized that there would still be a way to make even more of a profit off of the first regular season game in the history of the Barclays Center. Television. They knew that if they could create a storyline that would attract even more nationwide viewers than they’d originally expected, this would be it. Knicks-Nets in an all New York showdown with massive star-power all over the floor? Yup, that’s the sound of a ratings explosion.

This right here is also a chance for the NBA to have their version of Major League Baseball’s Subway Series. When the New York Mets and New York Yankees meet for those six games every year the behavior of the crowd is something uniquely fascinating. Regardless of whether the game is in the Bronx or Queens, every time something important happens there’s a significantly loud reaction that is a mixture of both joy and frustration. The NBA finally has a shot to do the same now that it has two New York teams, so they figure there’s no point in waiting around. Not a terrible call on their part.

And let’s be honest, the Nets are not the type of franchise that deserves the best treatment when it comes to scheduling. Only the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics are in that class, and even they get the seriously short end of the stick sometimes.

The NBA schedule-makers may have gotten the question on this test wrong, but they should still receive partial credit for their reasoning.

Image Courtesy of   Brooklyn Nets

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It’s been 35 years since the Nets departed the media giant that is New York and bolted next door for little brother New Jersey. However, even after a three and a half decade-long absence from the Empire State, they still understand good and well upon their return that the people of Brooklyn won’t tolerate the losing that infamously defined the franchise for the majority of their time across the Hudson.

The ensuing result is what we’ve witnessed over the past week – an organization that gave Deron Williams, its perennial All Star point guard, virtually no other choice than to agree to re-sign long-term after first convincing Gerald Wallace to do exactly the same, and then used basically all of its young assets to acquire Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Joe Johnson.

In fact, Williams confirmed last Friday that the transaction that landed Johnson in Brooklyn was the final deciding factor that persuaded him to ultimately agree to a five year, $98 million deal with the Nets at the last minute, as opposed to signing with his hometown Dallas Mavericks, who were his only other option.

“I was really close to going to Dallas,” said Williams. “I actually thought that’s where I was going to go. I had the meetings and it kind of changed my mind because once I got out of the meeting with Dallas and saw the way they were going and the team they were putting out there and I saw that we just made a trade for Joe Johnson and I felt like that team for a longer time would be the better team.

“Joe got me over the hump. I’ve never played with anybody like him, a guy on the wing that can get his own shot and also get me involved and is a great defender. We could be one of the top backcourts in the NBA for sure.”

This is exactly what owner Mikhail Prokhorov envisioned when he bought majority stake in the Nets back in September of 2009 and provided nearly half of the funds for the Barclays Center project that would make Brooklyn their new home.

While many of their diehard fans initially refused to look at the purchase as anything more than another investment for a Russian billionaire who only aspired to become even wealthier in the long run, Prokhorov has continued to open his wallet in hopes of building a championship-contending team for years to come.

“For us, it’s very important they [Nets fans] trust in us,” he told reporters back in April at the Barclays Center construction site. “And I’ll do my best. I’m very committed.”

When asked later about the job statuses of both Nets general manager Billy King and head coach Avery Johnson, Prokhorov continued to express a great deal of support for them despite the team’s atrocious 46-102 overall record over the past two seasons since the two joined the organization back in 2010.

“I think Billy and Avery, they are doing great job,” Prokhorov said. “We have a common view, not only on the day-to-day routine but on our strategic goal. Just to have a championship team we need to be global view, strategic view and you need to have the common knowledge of how to reach this.”

“So from my point of view, we have a great team spirit and we need a little bit of luck, because the team is very professional, and I hope next season we’ll be much, much better than the previous two,” he added.

A severe lack of talent more than plagued King and Johnson during their time in Newark. Now that the franchise enters a new era in its history and will spend an exorbitant sum of money to bring in a trio that has combined for a total of nine All Star appearances in Williams, Johnson and Wallace, King and Johnson suddenly believe that if they’re able to add a few solid complementary pieces – or possibly even Dwight Howard – they can make their way back to the Finals.

With King as G.M., the 2000-2001 Philadelphia 76ers made it as far as the NBA Finals before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers and their all-time great duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. His tenure in Philly lasted almost nine seasons.

Meanwhile, the climax of Johnson’s nearly four-year run as Mavericks coach was the 2005-2006 season, when he led them to the Finals before losing four straight to the Miami Heat after winning the first two games of the series.

Johnson did win a title in 1999 during his playing days with the San Antonio Spurs, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t just as hungry as Williams, Johnson and Wallace, who are still ring-less.

It appears as though when you mix a couple of years of patience by Prokhorov, King and Johnson, the formulation of what will inevitably be referred to as a ‘Big Three,’ and a relocation to the enormous market that is New York City, this is what you get: the Nets with a realistic ambition of reaching the Finals for the first time since their glory years of 2002 and 2003.

To the Nets fans and the borough of Brooklyn – which has been wrongfully deprived of a major sports franchise since the Dodgers flew 3,000 miles to Los Angeles 55 years ago – welcome back.

Image Courtesy of   Brooklyn Nets

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