Swamp things

Attendance remains shameful despite Net gains

The most remarkable number in the NBA is not .833 (the Mavericks' league-leading winning percentage) and it's not 30.1 (Tracy McGrady's league-leading scoring average) and it's not 39 (Michael Jordan's age). Try 13,497, the attendance that the Eastern Conference-leading New Jersey Nets generate on a typical night. How low is that? Well, it's next-to-last in the conference and 26th in the league. The average crowd is so sparse you almost expect a WTA event to break out.

It's so low that New Jersey forward Richard Jefferson says, "I damn near know everybody who shows up, personally, by name."

I'm telling you: Yoko Ono, a cappella, could draw a bigger crowd.

Consider the other night (Dec. 30), when the Nets won their 13th straight home game, setting a record for the longest such streak in team history. They trounced the Cavaliers, ran their home record to a majestic 18-1 and improved to 23-9 overall. For that, 14,491 fans turned out. Of the 10 NBA teams that hosted games that night, only the Nuggets drew fewer spectators. The Nuggets, might I mention, are 6-24.

"We're doing everything we can," said a weary Lou Lamoriello, the Nets' chief executive. "If someone has some suggestions, I'm open 100 percent."

Here's one: Slip some amnesia pills into people's drinks. Oh, the Nets have a lot of issues that hurt their attendance -- there's no train to their arena at New Jersey's Meadowlands and the roads to get to there are invariably clogged with New York traffic -- but the greatest albatross remains their past.

Last season's trip to the NBA Finals hasn't erased the many sad and lonely years, and not even story after story -- on TV, in magazines, everywhere -- that chronicles the redemption and rise of point guard Jason Kidd has shaken the Nets' enduring image.

The other day I was in Vermont, which admittedly is not the first place you'd go to check the NBA's pulse. Still, them hinterlands are just one NBA franchise removed from the Jersey Swamp. Think they know the Nets? "I'd like to get tickets to a Celtics game against a real good team," I was informed by a friend who works in Montpelier. "Like the Lakers or the 76ers or the Wizards. Maybe the Mavericks or Kings. The Magic even."

"How about the Nets?" I asked.

"The Knicks, well, sure but they're having a bad year and all ..."

"No," I said, "the Nets."

"The Nets? Oh, yeah. I guess they're coming on now, aren't they?"

"They went to the Finals last year."

"You know, all I can see when I think of the Nets is red, white and blue basketballs and Dr. J."

I tried to explain about Kidd on the ball fake, about Kidd with the no-look pass, about Kidd in the fourth quarter. I tried to explain that young Jefferson can fly -- actually fly -- through the air. I tried to explain that forward Kenyon Martin is one of those tough guys you can't help adoring; how he takes guff from no one, how he'll muscle anyone for the ball, how he can explode at any moment. I said the Nets had a player named Lucious [Harris], hoping that would sound cool. I said they had center Dikembe Mutombo, who's been hurt just about all year while his teammates keep winning and winning and winning, undaunted even without a big man to carry them.

I said the Nets are fast and exciting and that they nip and dart about and they can score and play D and make you clap with delight. I reminded my friend that on Christmas Day the Nets beat the Celtics 635-8. "Didn't Micheal Ray Richardson spell his name funny?" my friend asked.

It's no surprise. If New Jersey hoops fans scarcely notice the team, why should anyone else?

Lamoriello has been in this situation before. He led the Devils' turnaround from doormat to Cup winner, and watched the crowds barely trickle in. They couldn't sell out playoff games. In those days Sweet Lou wasn't much of a marketer, never allowed Devils stars Martin Brodeur or Scott Stevens to get much promotion.

Now Lou's changed. The Nets have billboards up flaunting players such as Kidd and Martin. These days Lamoriello wants whatever media attention he can get for the Nets. But it's all no use. And weary Lou knows it. Maybe another trip to the Finals would help. Maybe another MVP-caliber season from Kidd would turn the trick. Or maybe Lamoriello just needs to go door-to-door and give every New Jersey sports fan a good, cartoon-style bop on the head, to see if he can't make them forget.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy takes sides every Wednesday at CNNSI.com.

 

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