Official let's kick Bruce Ratner away from the Nets thread

[Rusty]

...all i have to compare it to is the sixers', wizards' and cavs' joints. i guess i'd have to agree with you- the nets' place is the worst among those four. maybe. the biggest thing that's a PITA for me is the long annoying walk from the parking area to the stadium.

In fairness, I've never actually been to IZOD Center so I'm just going by what I've been told by buddies and colleagues and what I've read in various articles.

I suppose if we were to look on the positive side - if Yi's fan-club is anywhere near as big as Yao's - well that's bound to help the atmosphere somewhat, right?

[Kiddlovesnets]

Bump! I can't stand Bruce Idiot Ratner anymore! Let's get him out of our Nets!

[Kiddlovesnets]

Bump!!

[gigantes]

"Ratner Ranked Second Worst Owner in Sports":
http://www.netsdaily.com/?p=8291

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although to be fair, it's very difficult to be ranked otherwise unless the brooklyn thing gets finished. with one of the worst stadiums in sports, one of the worst fan bases in basketball, no superstars likely to come to the izod center in 2010 or any other year (no superstar FA has ever signed with the nets) and the team leaking money in a recession, you're pretty-much doomed as the nets owner as far as public opinion goes unless you're someone like mark cuban or jerry buss... guys who are filthy rich, have autonomy, are willing to spend way above the cap, and who aren't total head cases like james dolan or al davis.

of course, the positives for you ratner-haters are rumblings in the area press that if the last few objectors to the barkleys center (16 left, is it?) aren't dealt with by december then the team will go up for sale.

although really, i'm not sure how much that helps us area fans. any new owner, having recognised the points in the first paragraph, will have some very strong reasons to move the team out of the area. and despite the recession, they may still be able to pull the same slimey manuevers that sports owners typically pull, which is to elicit bidding from suitor cities halfway across the country and then stiff their taxpayers for the bulk of the new stadium construction costs.

[mamba24]

"Ratner Ranked Second Worst Owner in Sports":
http://www.netsdaily.com/?p=8291

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although to be fair, it's very difficult to be ranked otherwise unless the brooklyn thing gets finished. with one of the worst stadiums in sports, one of the worst fan bases in basketball, no superstars likely to come to the izod center in 2010 or any other year (no superstar FA has ever signed with the nets) and the team leaking money in a recession, you're pretty-much doomed as the nets owner as far as public opinion goes unless you're someone like mark cuban or jerry buss... guys who are filthy rich, have autonomy, are willing to spend way above the cap, and who aren't total head cases like james dolan or al davis.

of course, the positives for you ratner-haters are rumblings in the area press that if the last few objectors to the barkleys center (16 left, is it?) aren't dealt with by december then the team will go up for sale.

although really, i'm not sure how much that helps us area fans. any new owner, having recognised the points in the first paragraph, will have some very strong reasons to move the team out of the area. and despite the recession, they may still be able to pull the same slimey manuevers that sports owners typically pull, which is to elicit bidding from suitor cities halfway across the country and then stiff their taxpayers for the bulk of the new stadium construction costs.

Whats not to like about the net?

They have gotten out of VC's Contract...building a contender the right way...with Harris at the PG, Lee a starting SG, Lopez at C...all thats missing is a Starting SF and PF...

Expiring contracts to sign FA like Carlos Boozer or Bosh or Stoudamire in 2010...the bench squad is set as the...and it gives time to evaluate Yi...as a good player to start at SF or not give him a qualifying offer...

I dont know why you guys are complaining...when the situation is much better compared to the suns or knicks

[gigantes]

first half of that is common knowledge and has no bearing on the things i mentioned. in addition, every young, rebuilding team has pieces that are exciting and that people hope will work out. that's why they're young, rebuilding teams and not playoff teams.

second half just shows how little you understand about the nets. to repeat myself (which you'll probably ignore like the first time), no superstar FA has ever signed with the nets and the nets are very possibly dumping salary in preparation for a sale... as we've know about for some weeks now. ie, that's why the chances of getting boozer are so remote, not to mention that it's almost pointless to trade for him anyway.

[wang4three]

Ratner needs to go, he's slowly making me disdain the team I grew up loving! Don't get me wrong, I love our young guys and to be in a good position to rebuild, but slowly the soul of our team is rotting away.

[gigantes]

NI / ric bucher are talking about new owners wanting to keep the team in the area. that's a relief, although it does beg the question, "why?"

another big question would be- would the new owners A) pick up the brooklyn plan, B) stay at izod, C) rent the other stadium from the hockey team or C) something else? personally i don't understand why you would stay at izod...

http://www.netsdaily.com/?p=8307

[wang4three]

Yes, they need to move stadiums. It's bad that the Seton Hall Pirates basketball team is playing at the Prudential Center and the Nets aren't. A college team has better accommodations than a NBA team!

[Nets fan 93]

Ratner needs to go, he's slowly making me disdain the team I grew up loving! Don't get me wrong, I love our young guys and to be in a good position to rebuild, but slowly the soul of our team is rotting away.

I love the rebuilding process... I have never experienced one before so..IDK..

[wang4three]

I love the rebuilding process... I have never experienced one before so..IDK..

For the greater part of my life we were always rebuilding in one way or another. I'm not hating on being a rebuilding team--I think Rod is a fantastic GM.

But the reports coming out doesn't label it as a "rebuilding team". We see far more news reports about being a "cost-cutting team" than a "rebuilding team." It only makes me question whether or not we're actually committed to rebuilding or it's just a smoke screen to divert the fact that we're actually cost cutting and nothing more.

Come next summer, will Ratner really allow the team to shell out money for big free agents? Or will he continue with his cost cutting? I think we're quick to assume that he'll allow Rod to break out the checkbook, but from what it seems like, it may not be case..

The team is quickly losing its identity and soul because building a competitive team doesn't seem to be important to anyone but the fans. We have to really give credit to Rod cause he's doing a good job playing within Ratner's guidelines, but I fear the worst come next summer if Ratner is still at the helm.

[mamba24]

NI / ric bucher are talking about new owners wanting to keep the team in the area. that's a relief, although it does beg the question, "why?"

another big question would be- would the new owners A) pick up the brooklyn plan, B) stay at izod, C) rent the other stadium from the hockey team or C) something else? personally i don't understand why you would stay at izod...

http://www.netsdaily.com/?p=8307

I am aware he is trying to sell the team...but VC was the salary he needed to dump...everyone else earns a modest salary for nba scale...and alot of contracts expire next year...even if they are small contracts...the point is if there is new ownership...atleast the team will be the same...

i really dont care who owns the team...all i care about is the team on the floor...if you think ratner is bad think sterling and sarver....you guys got it good...made it to the finals and had Hall of famers playing in the past....its not as bad as you make it seem.

[gigantes]

I am aware he is trying to sell the team...but VC was the salary he needed to dump...everyone else earns a modest salary for nba scale...and alot of contracts expire next year...even if they are small contracts...the point is if there is new ownership...atleast the team will be the same...

i really dont care who owns the team...all i care about is the team on the floor...if you think ratner is bad think sterling and sarver....you guys got it good...made it to the finals and had Hall of famers playing in the past....its not as bad as you make it seem.

- ratner's group is not trying to sell the team. he's putting out feelers and lining up options in case the last legal challenge or further unforseen economics kills the last ditch effort. all of these new potential owners would have to wait and see what happens in the next 6-9 months before making an official offer.

- you make a good point about sterling since he's a real headcase and keeps repeating the same broken pattern over and over. sarver not so much, since, like ratner and many others, he's been forced to jettison talent and contracts in order to stay near the cap-- ratner did the same thing with kmart, kittles and IIRC korver when he got here. and thorn is on a short leash each summer, rarely having more than the midlevel exception to throw at FA's, and often not even that. SAR is maybe the one and only exception to that, and we saw how well that worked out.

- the finals years happened in 2002 and 2003, so are mostly pointless to talk about in 2009. keep in mind this is a NYC area team here, so patience is always going to be low. the negative things i talked about before are still huge logistical issues and the nets are not going to get back to thriving until they're fixed, so when you keep saying stuff like "you guys should be grateful" it's meaningless since it doesn't solve anything. to pick one example, it's very hard to thrive when you're in a market / arena / fanbase that forces you to overpay for your large contracts- it's like having a permanently lower salary cap than the desirable teams like the knicks, lakers, bulls, celtics, etc. we saw this with the contracts of kmart, RJ, kidd, VC and others...

[wang4three]

Can't really explain what life is like for a Net fan to a Laker fan. It's like They don't understand the complexities of corporate interest versus fan interest. For a Laker fan, the two are one in the same. For Nets' fans, they often go different directions.

They'll never understand what it is like to have your fandom tested, to know what failure is, or to be let down, to have owners that don't give a **** about team performance, and to have overall incompetence run a franchise.

All they think is that every team is trying to win; which is not the case for every franchise.

[gigantes]

wang smart.

end sentence.