New York Nets

The New York Nets were a professional basketball team playing with the American Basketball Association from 1968 to 1975 and later with the National Basketball Association. The New York Nets are now known as the New Jersey Nets.

The Name New York Nets was chosen to rhyme with the New York Jets, a football team and the New York Mets who were a baseball team playing in the same city. The Nets also signified the basket in the game. The team logo was a blue shield with Nets written in white with a red outline above a grey basketball. The team colors were blue, grey and red. The team played their home games at the Island Garden Arena, Nassau Coliseum and the Long Island Arena.

The team was originally found in 1967 and was called the New Jersey Americans who were based in Teaneck, New Jersey. The Americans were an early team playing with the American Basketball Association. The ABA was a rival of the National Basketball Association. After a disappointing season in Teaneck, the Americans relocated to Long Island where they were christened as the New York Nets. The Nets were a struggling team going through transitions and finished with 17 wins and 61 losses in their first season in New York. In 1969, the Nets who were owned by Arthur Brown sold his team to Roe Boe. They also appointed the legendry coach Lou Carnesecca. The Nets finished with a 39 win 45 losses record qualifying for the playoffs, however they could not get past the playoffs. In 1971, they got past the playoffs with the help of Rick Barry who stood second in the top scorer charts with 31.5 points per game, however could not defeat the Indiana Pacers in the ABA Finals. In 1972 the Nets got a new coach in Kevin Loughery. In 1974 the Nets defeated the Utah Stars to win their first ABA Championship. In 1975, the Nets along with the Denver Nuggets expressed their willingness to move to the National Basketball Association. They also managed to win the 1975 ABA Championship Title one again defeating the Denver Nuggets just before they shifted to the NBA the following year. The American Basketball Association came to an end that year. In 1976, first year in the NBA, the Nets plunged from being ABA Champions to finishing last with a 22 win 60 losses record. The end of the 1976- 1977 season saw the Nets head back to New Jersey to become the New Jersey Nets.

In a total of 748 games the team played as the New York Nets, they won 360 games and lost 388 games.

Major Achievements

ABA Champions, 1974 and 1976.