The New Jersey Nets were expected to be bad, but no one in the Garden State was envisioning this: an 0-17 start to the 2009-10 season and a historic place among the worst of the NBA's worst teams.
Conventional wisdom said that the Nets' slide would end on Friday night in Sacramento. The Kings had lost four of their last five heading into the contest, and they were without their leading scorer, shooting guard Kevin Martin. But falling into a 22-point first-half deficit quickly erased any hope of New Jersey putting one in the win column, and a visit to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday sent the Nets to 0-17.
That 17th loss ties the mark for the worst start in NBA history, held by the expansion Miami Heat in 1988-89 and the 1999 Los Angeles Clippers. Though the Nets were an unlikely playoff contender, their start is still hard to believe. Coach Lawrence Frank became the first to get the axe yesterday, failing to last through the team's four-game road trip. So how did things spiral out of control for New Jersey?
When the season began, there was some reason for optimism. Though the trade of Vince Carter to the Orlando Magic signaled that New Jersey was rebuilding, the Nets still could build around one of the better young point guards in the game in All-Star Devin Harris, as well as talented second-year big man Brook Lopez and the emerging Yi Jianlian. And the trade didn't exactly leave the cupboard totally bare: New Jersey did get another second-year standout in guard Courtney Lee.
But thanks to injuries and offensive issues, the Nets have the worst record in the league as the calendar rolls into December. The team's best player, Harris, has played in just seven games due to a nagging groin injury, while a similar ailment has kept Lee, who averaged 8.4 points per game for the Eastern Conference champion Magic last season, from taking a significant step forward.
Additionally, a knee sprain to Yi has kept him out of commission since Nov. 2 and has played a large part in the team's offensive struggles. While Lopez has looked even better this year than in his rookie campaign, upping his averages to almost 18 points and nine rebounds a game, the Nets are woefully thin in the frontcourt after him. Trenton Hassell, who was merely a serviceable bench player a few years back, is not only starting, but leading the team in minutes. Neither he nor Josh Boone, who has been getting most of the playing time alongside Lopez, can help shoulder the offensive load.
The Nets have received contributions from their guards, particularly Chris Douglas-Roberts, who has become a reliable scorer and is averaging over 17 points in his second NBA season. Still, New Jersey is the lowest-scoring and worst-shooting team in the league. The Nets have cracked the 100-point barrier exactly once — a game that they lost by 19 points to the 5-10 Washington Wizards.
The Nets have had their chances to get that elusive first victory. They lost their opener after blowing a 19-point lead at the Target Center against the Minnesota Timberwolves on a last-second layup by Damien Wilkins, and they had the Heat on the ropes on Nov. 14 before Dwyane Wade nailed a three just before the buzzer to give his team an 81-80 win.
The Nets failed to reach the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, and this year's start proved to be the nail in the coffin for Frank. Team president Rod Thorn and general manager Kiki Vandeweghe are in the last year of their contracts, and New Jersey could clean house by the end of this year and truly start over.
While things are not bright at the moment, Nets fans have a few reasons to be hopeful for the future. A proposed move to Brooklyn could pay dividends, as could the sale of the team to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. With over $20 million in cap room next summer and rapper Jay-Z as a part-owner, the Nets could possibly entice a prominent free agent to join the likes of Harris and Lopez to build a talented, young nucleus.
But for the present, things in New Jersey are bleak. With the Dallas Mavericks coming to the Meadowlands on Wednesday, the Nets might be standing alone atop an infamous ladder as the team with the worst start in the history of the league.
