Brooklyn Nets: 5 Reasons to Expect Greatness in New Era

It is as official as anything can get. 

The Nets are trading the tanning beds of New Jersey for the bright lights of Brooklyn. 

But this team will achieve greatness in this new era of basketball. 

The Brooklyn Nets are opening a new page in the history of the game and are prepared to write a great classic. 

They have the talent to do so. They have the backing to do so. 

"The Curse of Dr. J” has been lifted. 

The page is blank and waiting to be scribbled on. 

Those scribbles will soon come together and morph into the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Here is why. 

A Fresh Start

A fresh start means a lot. 

It is a chance to wipe the slate clean, a chance to forget the demons of your past and peer into the increasingly bright future. 

When the Brooklyn Nets first drain a basketball through the mighty hoop in the Barclays Center they will erase countless losing years. 

No player will have to live up to the expectations of Dr. J or Jason Kidd. This franchise won’t be held down by the bonds of countless squandered seasons. 

This is a chance for Jay-Z and company to write a new history. 

The NBA is handing this organization a wide open future and begging them to run free. One may not think that a different name and location can change much in the dynamic of a team. 

That person would be wrong. 

Just take the Oklahoma City Thunder as an example. They left Seattle after the 2007-2008 season. In their second season since the move, this team improved from the 20-62 record they had as the SuperSonics to a 50-32 playoff clinching record. 

A few years later and they are chasing a title. 

A clean slate can do wonders for a team. 

A Franchise Player

Chris Chambers/Getty Images

This slide is here, of course, with the assumption that Deron Williams will stay with the Nets franchise. If he does it will be a great boon for said player and for the team. 

He is the selling point for the Nets in the Big Apple. 

You can’t walk through a block in Brooklyn without seeing his image plastered against the side of a building, on a taxi or smiling at you in the New York Times. 

He has become the face of this franchise. Many NBA teams will go for years trying to find a franchise player. The Nets already have one. 

The stud point guard will get potential fans excited for the Brooklyn Nets. 

Williams will sell jerseys and put people in seats. His star power will radiate, like the call of the wild, throughout the concrete jungle. 

He won’t only dominate in games but also in the business aspect of a franchise. 

Talent

This team has a chance to win by adding talent to an already decent roster. According to general manager Billy King (via ESPN), the Brooklyn Nets are "not gonna build slowly." 

If the squad can start winning games the rest will fall in place. The fans will flock to watch this crew achieve greatness. 

They can do that with a great set of players.

This roster already contains Deron Williams, MarShon Brooks, Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Brook Lopez and the electrifying Gerald Green. 

This collection of individuals can morph into a team over the offseason and come out swinging in 2012. But the rumor mill is always stirring and there are many top-notch free agents for the Nets to swoop up. 

Adding players such as Eric Gordon, Roy Hibbert, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, Andrei Kirilenko, Dwight Howard or Kevin Garnett will put this bunch over the top and in playoff mode. 

Big-name free agents will put points on the scoreboard and fill up stadiums. 

The talent pool is high and the Nets have a chance to dive in and make a big splash. 

Competition

The main goal for any franchise is to win a ring. That will come with a playoff-tested squad. A playoff-tested squad can only become playoff-tested by making the playoffs. 

It is quite simple and making the playoffs isn’t a challenge for the Brooklyn Nets. That goal is actually very attainable. 

The Atlantic Division isn’t easy by any standards but it isn’t hard to excel in. Boston will be hungry, but they will also be old. The Big Three might be broken up and teams can attack the Celtics’ weaknesses.

The future is bright for the Knicks but their in-city rivals can put a clamp on New York with a youth explosion and solid play from their bigs. 

Philadelphia was great this season, but they are always a question and games against Toronto are usually winnable. 

The Eastern Conference is the weaker of the two siblings, and sliding in a few games past .500 would put the Nets in the playoffs.

Chicago and Miami will always be locks at the top of the Conference but there are discrepancies toward the middle of the rung. 

Brooklyn could sneak in and then make some noise at the big dance. 

Fans

A move to Brooklyn doesn’t exactly save the Nets, but it will give them a new reason to win. That reason will be a whole new crowd of supporters. Fans do help a team but that means that the Nets need good fans. 

New Jersey has to get on Brooklyn’s good side. 

Having living legend Jay-Z on board helps, but it is not the end-all be-all for getting fans. 

The famous "Develop, Don't Destroy Brooklyn” movement hindered the Nets' move to the city and might hinder their quest for supporters. 

But the future is incredibly bright. 

The Nets have pulled out all the stops for an extensive marketing campaign that launched early this year and focused upon the city of Brooklyn. More importantly it features an aspect called Brooklyn Taste that highlights local food and restaurants. 

GQ magazine recently named Brooklyn as the coolest city on the planet. It doesn’t get much better than that. Brooklyn is a market full of possibilities. The Nets have an impeccable opportunity knocking at their door.

If they can find the best possible way to take advantage of everything this city has to offer, the move to Brooklyn will save the New Jersey Nets. 

They have a chance to do something big there. The fans are there. The food is there. The coolness is there. Jay-Z is there. A whole new experience is there. 

Bandwagon New York Knicks fans will convert if the Nets start winning. Local fans will flock to Barclays Center next year and regular people will start paying attention if Deron Williams puts on a show. 

This team could become a source of neighborhood pride. How cool would that be? 

Personally, I am excited for next season. As a lifelong Nets fan this move shakes things up, but this franchise can expect greatness in a new era of basketball.