Since the Nets' June 27 trade to acquire F Kevin Garnett and Gs Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Celtics, they have sold over $3M in "season tickets for next season," according to Tim Bontemps of the N.Y. POST. The Nets have also signed F Andrei Kirilenko, and a source said that the team is "less than 1,000 tickets short of reaching its cap of 13,000 season tickets sold for the season." Bontemps noted the Nets have "unveiled their latest marketing campaign: 'Hello Brooklyn. We're In.'" The campaign "plays off of last year’s 'Hello Brooklyn' campaign, and will feature all four players in Nets jerseys to introduce them to their new borough." Each of the players will be "officially unveiled at a press conference at Barclays Center on Thursday" (NYPOST.com, 7/15).
HEAT CHECK: In Miami, Joseph Goodman wrote in Nets Owner Mikhail Prokhorov's "bid to 'capture' the NBA championship" from the Heat, he is "playing the game by his own set of rules." Goodman: "Rule 1: Laugh at the gentlemen’s agreement, otherwise known as the CBA, set in place by the NBA’s rich-guy club to de-tooth its league." Prokhorov is "trying to buy an NBA championship." While Heat President Pat Riley and Owner Micky Arison are "trying to figure out ways to somehow save money in the months before their team’s bid for a three-peat, the Nets are working with a blank check to overthrow the back-to-back defending champions." The Nets' estimated luxury tax bill "is more than" $80M. Goodman: "Forget basketball. That’s approaching the kind of sum the Yankees spend on payroll." This has some NBA execs already "crying foul." But Riley said, "I think he’s playing within the rules. He’s taking on contracts and star players and, so, obviously they’re doing a job and they’re committed to winning" (MIAMI HERALD, 7/14).
