We have a story that is genuinely interesting simply because it nearly happened, and as I was reading the story by ESPN’s Zach Lowe, I was shaking my head. I mean, why the hell would you go for this?
I was scrolling down and looking at the potential designs and I wanted to claw my eyes out! Why was this nearly a thing!? Have a look for yourself because the photos I’ve gotten are just scratching the surface.
So let me set the scene. It’s the 90’s and the New Jersey Nets are looking for a redesign. They clearly wanted to move away from the “Nets” moniker and wanted to really catch eyes. They certainly had it in place.
JON SPOELSTRA, FORMER NETS PRESIDENT: The Dragon came up right away, but we needed something to identify it locally. I was sitting in my office with Jim Lampariello, our vice president, and I just said, “Every time I look out the window here, I see this swamp. And every time I think of swamps, I think of swamp rats. What about that?”
He just said, “I don’t think that’s very nice. What about Swamp Dragons?” I loved it. Dragons are mythical, and fun.
BILLY PAIGE, FORMER NETS DIRECTOR OF MERCHANDISE AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: Everybody likes dragons. Dragons are cool. They always will be.
They’re basically saying “Dragons! Flames! Cooooool!”. It’s like 10 year olds have the reigns. But David Stern had the adult opinion.
SPOELSTRA: David told me, “This is the stupidest f—ing idea I’ve ever heard.”
Tom O’Grady, NBA’s former creative director: He did say that. It wasn’t the first time he said something like that. I had an open-door policy on dumb ideas.
STERN: If they say I said that, I’m sure I did.
But they went along with it. It came down to voting by the other owners. And it went very well, with only one team saying no. But there was a problem with that one.
The Board of Governors voted by fax, 26-1, to approve the name change.
SPOELSTRA: David called me screaming, “What the f— is going on?” I asked what he was screaming about. He told me the vote came in, 26-1, in our favor. Well, that’s terrific. What’s the problem? He told me: “No, that isn’t terrific, because the one dissenting team was you — the Nets.”
We voted against our own name change. I thought he was kidding. If your own team votes no, you can’t go ahead with something like this.
STERN: I knew if we just let it move along, it would stop under its own weight.
So the Nets tripped themselves up, moving along to the end they ended up sticking with the Nets and you know the rest.
It’s an interesting but absolutely crazy story. I urge you to read it and especially look at the designs. When it came to the court designs, I wanted to hurl. So many clashing colours!
