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New Jersey Nets will temporarily move to Prudential Center in Newark

The New Jersey Nets have needed a new home, whether in Newark or Brooklyn or your backyard, and good news that’s been expected for a while is finally materializing: The team will, temporarily at least, play in what InsideHoops.com considers a terrific basketball arena in Newark, New Jersey.

The Newark Star-Ledger reports:

The Nets are making a fast break to Newark.

After months of speculation over whether the struggling NBA team would leave Izod Center in the Meadowlands for a two-year stay at the new Prudential Center in Newark, a deal was struck today to allow the Nets to break their lease for $4 million and move to Newark, according to officials involved in the negotiations.

The early termination fees could be offset in part by advertising, suite revenue and other credits.

The agreement came after the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority voted in secret to approve the deal at a special meeting this morning. A formal announcement is expected later today by Gov. Chris Christie.

The plan will have the Nets and Devils playing together in the state’s largest city. The move is temporary, with the Nets still planning to move to a new arena in Brooklyn by the start of the 2012 basketball season.

We consider this fantastic news, for the Nets and all basketball fans around the area. Both New Yorkers and New Jersey residents will find it easier to get to the arena. InsideHoops.com attended a Nets preseason game in the Prudential Center, and we loved the building. It’s clean, a great basketball arena, and very easy to get to by public transportation.

UPDATE: NETS CONFIRM TEAM WILL MOVE TO NEWARK

Brett Yormark, the Nets President and CEO, released the following statement regarding the Nets’ upcoming interim relocation to Newark’s Prudential Center, which will begin with the upcoming 2010-11 NBA season. This precedes the team’s permanent move to Brooklyn, planned for 2012.

“Our planned interim relocation to the Prudential Center in Newark represents one of the many positive steps to take place for Nets Basketball during the next few months. This temporary move not only gives our fans a state-of-the-art arena with the first-class amenities common in most NBA buildings, but also provides our players with a great atmosphere in which to play.

“Additionally, before we make our permanent move to Brooklyn, this interim relocation to Newark enables us to continue our goal to further regionalize the team, not only in Essex and Union Counties, but also in New York City due to the direct mass transit access available between Manhattan and the Prudential Center. We are confident that the NBA family will see this as a positive move, as we do. We look forward to being part of the community in Newark and will continue our extensive community outreach in the area.

“I would like to sincerely thank Governor Christie for his support and leadership in making our interim relocation to the Prudential Center a reality. I would also like to express my appreciation to Mayor Booker and Jeff Vanderbeek for their steadfast efforts throughout this process.”

Rafer Alston happy Nets let him go

Howard Kussoy of the New York Post reports:

A member of the Heat since being signed on Jan. 7, after clearing waivers, Alston suffered with the Nets as they opened the season with an NBA-record 18 straight losses. Less than a year removed from playing in the NBA Finals for the Orlando Magic, Alston remained with the Nets as their record hit 3-30.

The indignity would soon end, as Alston escaped NBA’s Shawshank, crawling through a river of losses and coming out clean on the other side, finding serenity on the beach.

“The one common question I always get [from other players] is ‘How tough was it? or ‘It must’ve been tough.’ It was,” Alston said. “I don’t think any player in this league wants to go through setting the record for the most consecutive losses and then being where they’re at now. You played as hard as you can and you did everything to stay in the game and then you’d still lose the game. That was the hard part.”

Nets beat Bobcats for 5th win of season

Tuesday night in Charlotte, the New Jersey Nets stepped up on the league’s first night of games since the weekend’s NBA All-Star events and beat the Bobcats 103-94.

The Nets were led by Courtney Lee (7-of-11) with 21 points and five rebounds. Devin Harris (7-of-16) had 17 points, six rebounds and nine assists. And Brook Lopez (8-of-11) contributed 16 points and three blocks, though he grabbed just three boards.

New Jersey received solid big-man help off the bench, with Kris Humphries (6-of-11) adding 13 points and eight rebounds. Josh Boone made the most of his 16 minutes with seven points and eight rebounds.

For the Bobcats, who as a team shot just 42.0% from the field and 5-of-19 (26.3% from three-point range), 2010 All-Star Gerald Wallace (7-of-14) had 21 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Boris Diaw (6-of-18) scored 19 with 10 rebounds. Raymond Felton (7-of-9) scored 18. Stephen Jackson (just 7-of-20) had 15 with five assists.

Trying to make his way back from injury, Bobcats center Tyson Chandler came off the bench to contribute two points, five rebounds and two blocks (though also four turnovers) in 18 minutes.

Rod Thorn meeting with future Nets owner

Dave D’Alessandro of the Newark Star-Ledger reports:

Rod Thorn’s demise has been greatly exaggerated — if not invented entirely, by some NBA executives with vivid imaginations and agendas that remain hard to discern.

That much was made clear by the Nets president’s meeting in Dallas on Sunday with two Onexim executives, who represented the only obstacle between Thorn heading north to Vancouver to meet with Mikhail Prokhorov for a series of appointments Monday and Tuesday.

And the Russian businessman, whose purchase of the Nets is pending league approval, “is not bringing the guy all the way to British Columbia just to fire him,” according to one person familiar with content and tone of the meeting, who required anonymity to speak candidly. “They love Rod.”

The meeting was held by Onexim CEO Dmitry Razumov and deputy CEO Christophe Charlier, who spoke enthusiastically with Thorn and Nets CEO Brett Yormark at length about the team’s future.

Only 1,016 fans attend Bucks at Nets game during big snowstorm

Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News reports:

Even by Nets standards, the Meadowlands was e-m-p-t-y on Wednesday night.

You could find bigger crowds in ghost towns.

OK, that’s a stretch, right along with the official attendance listed as 12,873 in the Bucks’ 97-77 rout of the Nets. That number referred to tickets sold.

In terms of actual bodies filling actual seats, the Nets announced that 1,016 hearty souls braved the mega-snowstorm in North Jersey and congregated at the 18,974-seat Izod Center, giving it the feel of a high school game between Clifton and Passaic.

The Nets are famous for having some of the worst crowds in the NBA, but nothing comes close to this one. On this night, with entire lower tiers of the arena empty and not a single person sitting in the upper deck, fans were able to easily hear Bucks coach Scott Skiles yell at the officials. Conversely, when the Nets’ Courtney Lee misfired on a jumper, he clearly heard a fan say in not much louder than a conversational voice, “Hey, follow your shot.”

Del Harris leaving Nets

Dave D’Alessandro of the Newark Star-Ledger reports:

Take a long look at the silver-haired gent sitting next to Kiki Vandeweghe on the Nets’ bench when the game against the Pistons gets underway: You may never see him on an NBA sideline again.

Del Harris, one of the game’s seminal thinkers, has decided to leave the team before the road trip that opens Wednesday in Toronto, according to a friend of the coach.

Harris, who was brought in to be Vandeweghe’s gray eminence on Dec. 4 after the latter moved into the head coaching position, has several reasons for making his exit now – all of them professional issues – but these should not be disclosed by anyone but Harris himself, his friend said.

Chris Douglas-Roberts moved to bench

Al Iannazzone of the Bergen Record reports (via blog):

Chris Douglas-Roberts saw it coming and so did everyone else.

Douglas-Roberts’ playing time has been cut lately and his production has dropped off markedly – just one double-digit scoring night in his last nine games. So coach Kiki Vandeweghe is moving Douglas-Roberts to the bench starting tonight and replacing him with Jarvis Hayes in the starting lineup.

“He said I haven’t been myself in the past month or however long and he wants me to get back to that,” Douglas-Roberts said after shootaround. “He said he feels coming off the bench would be better suited.”

“I wasn’t surprised. I just…I wasn’t surprised.”

Vandeweghe informed Douglas-Roberts about his decision to make the change yesterday. The timing seems to coincide with Hayes’ shot and game coming around.

Stephon Marbury makes debut in China

Marc Berman of the New York post reports:

On the other side of the globe from Coney Island, former Knicks star Stephon Marbury made his debut in China yesterday and told The Post he was suffering from major jet lag.

Marbury scored 15 points and had eight assists as his new team, Shanxi lost 102-101 to Dongguan Marco Polo. He had four steals and four rebounds, but shot 0 for 6 from 3-point range, according to China Daily.

“The time difference is a big problem,” Marbury told The Post via Skype yesterday. “I wake up early, in the middle of the night, and stay up most of the day. It stinks. I have not played since the last game against the Magic [in the second round of the playoffs last May]. So I was tired. I played 28 minutes, all of the fourth quarter. Talk about being tired. Wow. It was fun being out there though.”

Marbury reportedly passed up a final shot with five seconds remaining, feeding to former Knicks teammate Maurice Taylor, who missed the potential game-winning jumper. Shanxi is one of the worst teams in the Chinese Basketball Association.

House of Jayson Williams robbed

The New York Post reports:

Trouble always seems to find Jayson Williams.

The former NBA star’s South Carolina estate was recently robbed of more $150,000 in sports memorabilia, electronics and jewelry, The Post has learned.

Among the stolen items were a pair of Tiger Woods’ shoes autographed by the sullied billionaire golfer, shorts signed by basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain, and a handwritten lyric sheet by rapper Tupac Shakur.

The burglar also scored four plasma-screen TVs and jewelry, including a diamond Breitling watch and a gold Rolex.

“I want my memorabilia back because they mean more to me than what they represent,” the ex-Net’s wife, Tanya Young-Williams, told The Post.

Nets beat Clippers for 4th win of season

Ladies and gentlemen, the New Jersey Nets have won a basketball game!

Behind 25 points from Kris Humphries, 19 from Brook Lopez and 18 from Keyon Dooling, the Nets shot 53.2 percent and played fantastic team basketball, beating the visiting Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night despite missing several key players

Playing without Devin Harris, Courtney Lee and Bobby Simmons, the Nets started Dooling and Chris Douglas-Roberts at guard, Trenton Hassell and Yi Jianlian at forward, and Lopez at center.

Yi and Hassell both played under 15 minutes. Which was a good thing, because they were terrible, and their court time paved the way for several reserves to step up and contribute big things.

Humphries, a very pleasant surprise since recently becoming a Net, shot 10-for-14 and 5-of-5 free throws for 25 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes.

Other reserves stepped up for the Nets: Jarvis Hayes scored nine, Chris Quinn (on just two FG attempts) had eight, and rookie Terrence Williams (3-of-8) seven points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

For the Clippers, Chris Kaman (9-of-18) had 24 points, 11 rebounds and three assists (but five turnovers). Craig Smith came off the bench to shoot 6-of-8 for 18 points and eight rebounds. But point guard Baron Davis shot a miserable 2-for-10, snatching three steals but not contributing much else. Eric Gordon managed just 12 points. Marcus Camby played just seven minutes and brought little. And that was about it.

As a team, L.A. shot 42.1 percent, and hit just 5-of-19 three-pointers.

The Nets dished 29 assists, the Clippers 20.

The only negative note for the Nets was the lack of fans in attendance to witness the rare victory. Officially, 9,220 were in the arena. But as horribly low as that number sounds, it’s quite likely on the high end.

Still, for a day, at least, the Nets can be proud of themselves. They are now 4-40 . And their next three games are at home against very beatable teams: Washington, Philadelphia and Detroit.