Information about the Nets
Therefore, owner Arthur Brown fled across the state lines to New Jersey, where he settled in Teaneck, naming his new team the Americans. The new Americans had an amusing opening season, where their final game with the Kentucky Colonels saw a seemingly destroyed stadium waiting for them. Upon refusing to play in a stadium with missing floorboards and padding, the Colonels forfeited to the Americans.
The team returned to Long Island, and adopted the name Nets, so that it could rhyme with the New York Mets and Jets, though found that it was having a difficult time both performing and generating a fan base. For example, in their second season, they could only generate 1108 fans per game.
During the 1976 merger between the ABA and NBA, the Nets were acquired into the National Basketball Association. This was fortuitous considering the Nets had already applied in 1975 to join the NBA.
Once more, the Nicks-Nets rivalry showed itself when the team was forced to pay $4 million for 'intruding' on Nicks NBA territory, in addition to the league entrance fee, which was another $3 million. With a relatively disastrous opening year, the team again retreated back to New Jersey, hoping to recuperate from their 22-60 season.
Although they have no current NBA titles, the Nets do hold 2 ABA titles and is potentially, with newly filled ranks, they hope to break their long standing, 41 year malaise.