August 1, 2024 • 42 mins
The the last episode of Basketball's Borough, we explore the journey of Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets. From moving state to state, to building an arena from the ground up, join us as we dive into the stories and experiences of those who have been a part of this remarkable transformation.
- 05:01 - 12:30: Howard Beck discusses the design and initial reactions to the Barclays Center.
- 12:31 - 18:30: The evolution of the arena's role in Brooklyn's culture and community.
- 18:31 - 27:00: The impact of the arena on Brooklyn’s identity and the anticipation of the Nets' move.
- 27:01 - 40:00: Personal anecdotes from Shaka King, Claude Johnson, and Chris Mullin about their experiences with the Barclays Center.
- 40:01 - 50:00: Reflections on the arena's influence on local businesses and the neighborhood.
- 50:01 - 58:25: Claude Johnson's contributions and the significance of the Black Fives Foundation murals.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Sixty years before they opened the doors to Balclay Center
and brought the NBA to Brooklyn. Walter O'Malley knew that
the intersection of Flatbush in Atlantic was the perfect spot
to build an incredible new sports palace. The Brooklyn Dodgers
owner was ahead of his time with visions for a
domed stadium more than a decade before Houston built the
Astro Dome. But Robert Moses had a different vision, a
(00:26):
modern multi purpose stadium out by the world's fear sight
they were planning in Queens. Moses got his way and
Shay Stadium opened in nineteen sixty four as the home
of the Mets and the Jets. By that time, the
Dodgers were long gone, building a new legacy in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
My dad grew up in Brooklyn, you know, he had
a big family and his brothers and went to rads Manson.
So I heard the stories of the Dodgers and when
they laughed, the negative impact that had on you know,
just fans and the city itself. But I think that
exact property that Barkley Center is built on is where
the Dodgers want to build their stadium.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
That's exact where they.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Want to build their stadium, but that had already had
started with the World's Fair, but chased it so that
got overruled, and then LA came in and gave them
that lab for free. So it's kind of ironic. Probably
what fifty years later that the exact same property that
where it kept the Dodgers there is where the Barkley
Senters Bilt.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
That's Hoops Hall of Famer Chris Mullen, who was part
of the first generation of Brooklyn kids to grow up
in the borough after the Dodgers left. His history is
almost on point. It was actually the property across the
street where the Atlantic Terminal Mall is today that O'Malley
was eyeing for the Dodgers. When he couldn't get it,
(01:46):
he took his team to California and left the void
in the Borough of Brooklyn that took nearly six decades
to fill. I'm mitchi Darko from the Flat for Zombies,
and we're closing out our Basketball's Borough series this week
with the look back at twenty twelve when Bulkeley Center
opened and the nets said Hello Brooklyn. Lenny Wilkins and
(02:20):
Larry Brown were born three years apart in Brooklyn, New York.
They built Hall of Fame careers in the game of basketball.
But growing up in Brooklyn in the nineteen forties and fifties,
they were, like any of the kids of their generation,
obsessed with Dodgers baseball. Here's Lenny Wilkins.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
It was a wonderful time growing up, and I was
a huge Dodger fan. I could name you all the
players on that team right now, and I knew the
top six baseball teams in the National League. I knew
what the batting averages were. I could go to Ebbottsfield
and sit in the bleacher seats for fifty cents, and
(03:00):
you know. So it was wonderful. And they had the
Dodger not whole gang. A guy named Happy Felton ran it.
I loved going to the games. The Dodgers were very
popular in Brooklyn. I mean everybody was a Dodger fan
and everybody supported them. It was an easy subway ride
(03:21):
to Embottsfield. Like I said, it only cost fifty cents
to sit in the bleachers. It was a wonderful time
for us.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Wilkins attended the city's great high school basketball powerhouse for
the day boys high would joined the team for only
a brief time. He was busy after school with the
job that brought him together with one of his Dodger idols.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I got to meet Jackie Robinson, who was one of
my first role models. He lived on the street was
Hancock Street, and I worked at a vegetable market and
they would deliver for the patrons, and so his wife
would order stuff and and I was the guy because
I knew the neighborhood would deliver it. Just an incredible man,
(04:06):
fierce competitor, a guy who competed every time he stepped
on the field, no matter what the circumstances, what or
what he went through. But he used to tell me
all the time because I delivered groceries to his home,
he said that they could never get into his psyche.
So that was huge as a youngster growing up for
(04:28):
me that he still competed, but he also without smart.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Then Larry Brown briefly moved to Pittsburgh when he was
in grammar school, but soon returned and grew up just
outside the city's borders in Long Beach. My hero was
Jackie Robinson.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
You know, when I was young, before I left to
go to Pittsburgh, my dad would take me to the
Dodger games, Elvisfield, and I remember in that whole gang
and I can name you every player that played for
the Dodgers that batting averages, probably where they were from.
I tried to wore forty two, but usually the smallest
uniform was eleven, so I didn't always get to get that.
(05:09):
But I was pigeon told I walked pigeon toad because
that's how Jackie walked. So when they left to leave
Brooklyn to go to LA I was crushed. Yeah, it
was important for me to see the Nets come back
to Brooklyn because the best basketball fans in the world,
I think are pro fans are from Brooklyn and New York.
(05:31):
Maybe college fans might be in Lawrence or Bloomington or
Chapel Hill.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
You know other places.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
But the best pro fans of my bot and the
most knowledgeable fans are from that era in area, and
coming back to Brooklyn I thought was really significant.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Toronto Raptors broadcast that Jack Armstrong was born the same
year as Chris Mullen and grew up playing against him
in the Cyo leagues. Hearing the same stories.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
You know, it was a heartbreak growing up in Brooklyn.
Every bar ever went to had a picture of the
nineteen fifty five Brooklyn Dodgers World champions. So for me,
you know, all the old time is all they ever
talked about is the Brooklyn Dodgers. And I wasn't born
at the time they were in Brooklyn, but I've heard
all the stories of its field, you name it. If
(06:21):
Brooklyn in and of itself was its own city, it
would be, you know, top five in the United States,
you know. So it's a huge place, and why not.
It's a place with such a distinct identity. So to me,
I was so thrilled ten years ago when the Nets
moved from New Jersey over to Brooklyn. And I think
(06:44):
it's a great, great thing, and I think it's great
for the borough, and it's all part of the resurgence
and the renaissance of the Borough of Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
From the beginning, there was a vagueness about who the
Nets belonged to or where they was supposed to play
in New York City, but couldn't lock down a venue
for the ABA's inaugural season in nineteen sixty seven, so
they spent a year in t Neeck as the New
Jersey Americans. Then it was nine years on Long Island
as the New York Nets, opening up a new arena
(07:16):
at Nassau Coliseum in nineteen seventy two, breaking out those
classic stars and striped jerseys and winning two championships with
Doctor j. In nineteen seventy six, it was off to
the NBA and a year later off to New Jersey.
Four years at Rutgers and then another new building in
(07:37):
the Meadowlands, but the early excitement in the Garden State
faded in two thousand and one, the start of a
season that will end with the Nets in the NBA Finals.
Less than nine thousand people showed up for the season opener.
You couldn't blame the owners at the time to start
thinking of alternatives. Chris Carino has been working on Nets
(07:57):
radio broadcast since nineteen ninety two and been the franchise
lead play by play voice since two thousand and one.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
At the time when it furred the idea first hatched,
you got to remember leading up to that, it was
a push to go to Newark and they were gonna lead.
It was always where they were going to leave the
metal ends, that group that had bought them, Rate Chambers,
Lewis Katz. They were going to get an arena done
in Newark. I remember we had done mock ups and
(08:27):
I had this full scale model in the office of
what Newark was going to look like with the new
arena in it. Eventually, it never gets done and they
sell the team to Bruce Ratner and his group, and that's.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
The first time we heard of Brooklyn.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Part of it was, Okay, that is really interesting. Can
they get that arena done? With Newark not being able
to get done, you feared for the team's future. So
this was almost a lifeline to staying in the New
York area. And then when you started to see the
plans come together, it was like, all right, well, now
this could be really cool. This could be a professional
(09:06):
sports team again in Brooklyn and it's the Nets and
it's basketball, It's the NBA in the middle of downtown Brooklyn. Like,
this could be really really cool.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
After seven years covering the Los Angeles Lakers, Shack and
Kobe dynasty for the LA Daily News, Howard Bett came
to New York to cover the Knicks and the NBA
for the New York Times in two thousand and four.
Speaker 7 (09:28):
There was a several year span there where it was
clear that the Nets were going to move from New
Jersey to Brooklyn. The date was seemingly always in flux
because of you know, construction or financing or you know,
political obstacles, but you knew it was coming. You knew
that at some point in the near future. If you
(09:48):
were in New York and if you lived in Brooklyn,
as I do, during the mid two thousands, it was
an assumed it was. It was assumed the Nets we're
going to be in Brooklyn sooner than later. There was
intrigue because there hadn't been two teams in New York
City proper in a very long time, and just the
(10:08):
idea that anybody was going to come into the Knicks
market more formally by planting themselves in Brooklyn was fascinating
on its face, not just from a business standpoint, but
absolutely from a basketball standpoint and a fandom standpoint. And
of course then there was just the simple kind of
romantic allure of Brooklyn hasn't had a team since the
Dodgers left a half century ago, and wow, if this happens,
(10:32):
what a moment that will be.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
On a basketball level.
Speaker 7 (10:36):
I know that I looked at it as somebody who's
covered the league a long time, as this is a
new selling point for the next franchise. It's one thing
to be able to say, well, we're in New Jersey
and we're near the biggest media market in the world,
and we're technically part of it as far as you know,
maybe the Nielsen ratings and stuff, but being able to
claim New York City or Brooklyn specifically on your banner
(10:58):
on your jersey is different, and I think it holds
a different appeal for players and probably coaches and staff
members and others, especially if you like the idea of
living in New York City and all the advantages that
it brings, and being in New Jersey while you're not
that far, I think some of those advantages are a
little bit harder to grasp or attain because it's now
(11:19):
requiring a commute and you're not literally in the city.
You're not connected by the New York City subways. So
I always thought of it as they were contemplating the move,
planning the move, getting close to the move, as I
don't know for sure, but I gotta believe that at
some point it's going to be a huge advantage for
the Nets relative to where they had been to now
be in Brooklyn where they can sell New York City
(11:40):
officially and they can sell Brooklyn, which you know, even
at that time, of course, the evolution of Brooklyn and
in the allure of Brooklyn as a desirable place to
live and work was growing in the early two thousands,
That to me meant that there was going to be
a new selling point to try to draw top talent
to the franchise.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Before Brooklyn, there was a two year stop over at
the Newark Arena that had finally been built, this time
for the New Jersey Devils. Brook Lopez was drafted by
the Nets in the first round in two thousand and eight,
and Balcley Center became his third home arena in his
first five years in the league. He became the franchise's
(12:20):
career points leader in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 8 (12:24):
Every year in Jersey, it'd always give us a little
like PowerPoint presentation, even though it wasn't actually like happening
happening right away, and it give us a PowerPoint presentation
about all things about like Brooklyn, you know, like I
for city, it'd be like the fourth biggest city of
the US or whatever it was, and this stat and
that stat like just just prepping us and getting this
ready for it. It was a little weird just because, uh,
(12:46):
you know, we were still playing in Newark at the time,
and we played in Newark for two years, kind of
bridging from New Jersey to Brooklyn, and it was it
was a weird situation just because you know, even though
you're still in New Jersey or in New Jersey Nets,
that wasn't where the Nets and band you know, for
the past thirty years or whatever it was. And it
was an odd situation. You know, we still felt like
(13:08):
visitors a little, you know, playing at the Rock that's
where the Devil's play. That was their whole arena, I
think Seton Hall was there, and it was like a weird,
weird situation, but it was very exciting, you know, having
Brooklyn coming up, you know, breaking ground you can get
the groundbreaking for this arena, touring the site when it
was just a pitager, you know, having hard hats and
(13:28):
everything going through it was very very exciting, you know,
and something we all definitely look forward to.
Speaker 9 (13:33):
Us.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
PJ. Carlissimo joined the team as an assistant coach on
Avery Johnson's staff in twenty eleven, before the final season
in New Jersey and became head coach during the first
season in Brooklyn.
Speaker 9 (13:44):
Once every couple of weeks, Avery, let's go over and
look at Barkley's. The year we're in Jersey and they're
finishing it up. We'd take the subway over. We'd be
in the city and we'd go out and just walk
around the belting and look at it. Avery used to
love every couple of weeks to go over and just
check out in the Pride rest see how things were going.
And you know, he knew the blueprints better than the
It walked with me, go this is where the locker
(14:06):
room is gonna be, this is where the video room,
this is where the whirlpools are going to be. It
was he had it covered. It was great to say
we were looking forward to Brooklyn was a major under statement.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
As construction went on, the organization began to acclimate his staff.
Ahead of the move to Brooklyn, Chris Carrino took the
tour of the in progress arena.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
I did get my hard hat and I did put
it on, and I got to see go to the
building a couple of times while it was being constructed.
It was exciting. My wife was in Brooklyn, from that,
you know, not too far from there. So I remember
one time bringing my whole family to go see getting
a tour of the arena. We were excited. We were
excited about what it could become. It was definitely something
(14:49):
that we were building for towards as an organization. Once
I saw that shovel go in the ground and I
started taking tours of that building, I knew, this is
absolutely the thing that's to take this franchise to the
next level.
Speaker 10 (15:02):
I didn't get one of those privileged tours. I don't
think I wore a hard hat, you know what I mean.
A lot of guys were getting posing with hard ads.
I didn't make the hard at team. I was on
the outside crew, just checking it out, seeing it evolved.
I think I saw you and I followed all the pictures,
but again I didn't I would allow you to. I
was ready to be a I was waiting with my
art at it. Just I just never got the call.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
No. That's Corrino's radio broadcast partner analyst Tim Kapstro. The
last season in New Jersey was his tenth with the team, so,
like Corrino, there was an established routine in rhythm that
would have to be changed.
Speaker 10 (15:39):
I can remember the breakdown of how ware you know,
Like for broadcasters, the biggest thing they ever talked about
is never the game. Travel is everything to a broadcaster.
If you asked I an eagle how his day was,
he would not say, oh, the game was great. He
would say fantastic. I was able to I caught all
the green lights. I got to the airport, and I
(16:01):
got home by ten. So for broadcasters and Chris Carino
and we're doing in myself, we spent a lot of
time because we live in New Jersey, talking about the commute.
All right, how a we're gonna get there? What's gonna
be the breakdown? Are we going to go through the
Aland Tunnel? I guess we're going on Allen Tunnel? But
what did you do this time? What are you going
to do that time?
Speaker 11 (16:21):
How are you going to be?
Speaker 10 (16:21):
Is it manageable? It seemed like we were going to
Alaska for every game. It was twenty miles from our house,
and we turned it into like being you know, an
Lewis and Clark. That was a big part of our conversations.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
All the uncertainty, the curiosity, the doubts and wonder will
put to rest in twenty twelve. PJ. Carlissimo and head
coach Avery Johnson has spent the previous year making random
road trips to check out the construction. Their anticipation building
along the way. It lived up to Callissimo's expectations.
Speaker 9 (17:00):
The building itself was beautiful. It was a beautiful building,
the locker rooms, everything else that was part of it.
I mean, you know, we threw it so many times,
and I've been back broadcasting in it so many times.
But I mean the concourse were beautiful. There were so
many Brooklyn themed restaurants. There are big wide concourses with
all these TVs and the restaurants. I thought they did
(17:21):
a fantastic job on the building. I still love to
fly in the city with that one route that comes in.
You fly right over and you see Barkleys on top
of the building. There were times that I took the
subway at all the trains and the subways underneath you.
There were so many spectacular things about Barkleys that I
really enjoyed.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Here's brook Lopez.
Speaker 8 (17:41):
And I just remember being so impressed. You know, I
still love this arena. I think it's got such a
great setup. The way the lighting is is set up
for games. How you know, it's sunk down into the ground,
so when you're out there at the concourse, you can
look in and see the court and the scoreboard and
everything like that. I feel like for games, there's not
(18:02):
many setups that are better than what's her Tim Capstroll.
Speaker 10 (18:07):
I think it's an incredibly special venue. We're privileged to
go around the country. I think the Berkley Center venue
is the coolest in the league. The whole setup, how
it appears out of kind of a little bit out
of nowhere, how the building was built, the color of
the brick, how it kind of fits into the Brooklyn landscape,
(18:27):
and you go in there. Everything's just Brooklyn's got a
cool vibe about it in general, and boy does a
Barkley Center certainly go right with that.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
NBA rider Howard Bet has been living in Brooklyn since
two thousand and five and had a regular view of
the arena's progress from the ceremonial groundbreaking right up to
the opening.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
I watched the arena kind of grow from the ground
up over time, just as somebody in the neighborhood. You know,
I'm not that close to Barkley Center, but I was
close enough that if I'm passing through that flatbush in
Atlantic Court or you know, I'm seeing it go up
over time, and so it was kind of interesting to
see that. I also recall what that area looked like
before they even first, you know, turned over their first
(19:11):
shovel full of dirt, you know. I remember, you know,
going to a you know, a bar in that area beforehand,
and what it looked like before. I remember thinking, initially,
like a lot of people, like what exactly is this
kind of like copper look that they're creating here? This
is kind of interesting, It's different. I wasn't sure how
to feel about it initially. I'm no architecture critic, but
(19:33):
it was definitely distinctive. I mean, I've been to every
NBA arena and some that don't even exist anymore over
the last quarter century, and it didn't look like any
of them. I thought it was kind of cool that
it had a completely distinctive and unique look. I also
like the fact that it wasn't towering right, like I
know people in that neighborhood would feel, people who are
very close to that to the arena site would feel
(19:53):
a little diferently because anything of that size is going
to feel rather large compared to what used to be there.
But I'm saying just compared to other arenas. You know,
Staples Center just towered over you, and United Center in
Chicago just towers over you. And I was used to,
especially the newer arenas, felt you know, often cavernous and
just massive and imposing. And I thought, based on that
(20:16):
comparison point, Barkley Center felt a little subtler and was
clearly kind of contoured to fit in that weird triangular
space at Flatbush in Atlantic, and I kind of liked that.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Beck was also a fan of the arena's singular feature,
the extension of the facade over the plaza with an
embedded video screen, the oculus.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
As anybody who was following me on Twitter knows at
the time, I was quite taken with the oculus. First
of all, just as a word person. The word oculus
is just great on its own. Guy, I don't even
care what it applies to, well, what he would even mean.
The word oculus just sounds cool. But the oculus was
this unique architectural feature that, again not on any other
NBA arena or any arena period that I'd ever been to.
(21:00):
And I just thought it was kind of cool. It
was kind of fun to just like go walk under it,
stand under there and look at the sky through it.
There's obviously the video display that goes around it as well,
but I just liked more of the idea of kind
of like this this skylight over the plaza. And again,
I just liked saying and typing the word oculus.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Frankly. Film directors Shaka King grew up a basketball obsessed
Brooklyn Night and Bad Star Oscar nominated in twenty twenty
one for producing and writing Judas in The Black Messiah.
Speaker 12 (21:31):
It was interesting because where the stadium was being built.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I was not a fan.
Speaker 13 (21:37):
Because, like goall, it's fifteen minutes from Hey ruin traffic.
I knew people who had businesses over there that would
stay alive, and I just thought it was gonna like
look it was. It was unquestionably have last of you know,
it was key. I think sort of the.
Speaker 12 (21:52):
Lasting gentrification that made its way to where I lived
that star, which I have very complex feelings about what
that experience is like living today's bedstar. I remember going first.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I didn't.
Speaker 12 (22:06):
I was like, I'm not going to stadium. I remember
my friend got tickets to see Bernard Hopkins fight. It
was one of the first. It was a failure earlier
than I think, maybe at the stadium like a big one.
I said, I'm gonnao I ended up being a boxing match.
And I went there and it wasn't like I thought
it was gonna be like a bunch of like this
like white yuppies. Ever, it was like it wasn't that.
(22:28):
It was the whole book that was in there.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Everybody was everybody.
Speaker 12 (22:33):
I saw people from I know years, I saw people
from like every you know. I was like, this is okay.
I was like, this is kind of I was like,
this is kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
It was eight straight jay Z shows that opened the arena,
beginning on September twenty eight, twenty twelve. Chris Carino was
there all night one.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
I went to the first jay Z show I was there,
and that was I was amazing. It was just so
excited to be in that building. To have been there.
It was the first time I've ever been in a
building that had, you know, while it was during construction,
and then to be there when it's just in full
working mode now and it's filled with eighteen thousand people
(23:16):
and one of the biggest artists in the world is
performing there. It was just an amazing event, an incredible time,
and while I was there, I was just getting excited
to know, like I was picturing what the basketball court
was going to look like, and what all these people
were going to be, what it would look like with
all these people and the nets playing, and where I
(23:37):
was in my vantage point for the game. I was
getting pumped up for that. Not long after Jay Z.
I don't know if this is before the nets or
after the nets started, but my wife and I went
to see Barbara Streisan was there around the first when
it first started to open, I think it was, and
I just couldn't believe, like, here was this great, brand
(23:57):
new snanking building. Barbara Streisan, you know, the daughter of
Brooklyn who does, like you know, does a show like
Haley's comment, I mean, it doesn't come around very often.
Here she was, and I knew how much that meant
to Laura, my wife, to be there for that, so already,
you know, this thing just opened. I already saw Jay
Z and Barber Streisan and NBA basketball.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
It was just an incredible time.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
After eight years covering the Knicks, Howard Beck moved over
to cover the Nets for the inaugural season in Brooklyn,
as The New York Times went all in on covering
the team's arrival not just as a sports story, but
a community, cultural, and entertainment one.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
The Times viewed this too as a historic moment. The
first professional sports team at that level to play in
Brooklyn since the Dodgers left, that was a big deal.
I kind of fell for the romantic version of this
too that my editors had, which is, that's kind of
cool to cover the first team, the first pro sports
team to play in Brooklyn in a half century. This
(24:55):
will be fun, and so yeah, I was eager to
make that leap at the time and see what it
was about and see how Brooklyn would respond to the Nets.
Would there be a bond between the fans and this
almost like a new team from the start. Would it
have to grow over time?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
What will that be like?
Speaker 7 (25:13):
As somebody who reports and writes for a living, it
was a new story to tell, and that again that
held a lot of appeal for me. There was definitely
a buzz at the beginning, and I think it was,
you know, similar to the way I saw it, which
was an intrigue and a curiosity, you know, what will
it look like to see an NBA team in Brooklyn.
(25:33):
There was obviously a lot of buzz, even just about
the uniforms, the black and white scheme. Immediately people gravitated
to that. Even if you didn't care about the nets
or like the nets, or care about the NBA or whatever.
Everybody me was like, oh, those uniforms are sharp, that's nice.
So that created its own element. Jay Z being the
one to introduce that created a different level of buzz.
(25:54):
When it's a team to call your own with the
borough that you live in on the chest of the Jersey,
that's a different thing. And people who live in Brooklyn,
and especially people who come from Brooklyn, don't identify first
and foremost as New Yorkers, even.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Though they are.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
The first thing they tell you where you're from. They say,
I'm from Brooklyn, and then New York comes after that,
if they have to clarify at all, which is not
usually the case. But there's a distinction of being from Brooklyn.
There's a distinction of being from the Bronx, and that's
how New York identifies, right. So I thought to the
extent that Brooklyn has this very strong identity individually and
a very stronghold. If you live or worked there or
(26:30):
grew up there, that's going to have some meaning.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
That pride resonated with generations of Brooklyn ballplayers like Charles Jones.
Jones was a street ball legend who graduated Bishop Ford
and returned to the borough to play at Long Island University,
where he led college hoops and scoring for two straight
years on his way to the NBA.
Speaker 14 (26:51):
Having that Brooklyn means so a big Brooklyn in the
chapter it was New York, that's instill it would be
nice because Jim was still being brook Brookland by saying
that Brooklyn, there's not bigger than that.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Chris Carino knew that Brooklyn mindset through his wife's family,
and that's what he saw the first season at Barclay Center.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
People in Brooklyn just have a lot of great pride
for Brooklyn. They're not really caught up in the celebrity
stuff or the big names. It's like, if you're from Brooklyn,
you're with us. If your name is on the Brooklyn's
on the chest, you're one of us. And if it's
just a team that shows up and plays hard, we're
gonna love you. To me the year one, the star
(27:31):
was the building and the uniforms and the burrow connecting
with NBA basketball.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
They were obstacles and challenges. The onslaught of Hurricane Sandy
in the week before the schedule season opened to force
the postponement of that game against the Knicks, pushing back
the debut to the Brooklyn Nets to November three against
the Toronto Raptors.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
Hurricane Sandy hits and that first game, the opener was
going to be against the Knicks. I mean, think about that.
That was unbelievable, and then it has to be postpones.
And then it's kind of a little bit anti climatic
when you know, Toronto Raptors come in and it's delayed
opening kind of thing, and you know, you were dealing
(28:14):
with all the heartache that was going on in the
city at the time because of Hurricane Sandy, So it
sort of muted the excitement of the Nets starting out there.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Here's PJ. Carlissimo.
Speaker 9 (28:26):
The place got turned upside down. We couldn't practice in
our practice facility, which was still at the Metal Lands
in East Rutherfor not far from the Metal Lands. It's
a beautiful practice facility that they had built was underwater,
so we couldn't practice there. Fortunately, when they built Barkley's
they put a small I say small it was there
wasn't a lot of room around it, but it was
a full sized court with baskets by shooting area practice area.
(28:49):
That's where we had a practice and we couldn't. It
was a nightmare every night. Both lived in Jersey City.
The Holland Tunnel was clased. You had to go up
to the Lincoln Tunnel. I think you had to have
X amount of people in the car. You couldn't go through.
And I'm not making light of it, but I mean
it was a nightmare. Things finally settled out in Brooklyn
after the start. It was just such a difficult start.
I mean, we were living in hotels. They were trying
(29:11):
to decide cancel in New York Marathon or Avid.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
It was.
Speaker 9 (29:14):
I mean, it was nuts for a month or so.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Carlossimo replaced Avery Johnson after the team got off to
a fourteen to fourteenth start and led the team to
a forty nine to thirty three finish, still tied for
the second most wins in the franchise's NBA history. The
Nets had added guard Joe Johnson before the season to
pay with Deron Williams in the backcourt, and brook Lopez
(29:38):
made the All Star Game on the way to leading
the team with nineteen point four points per game. The
Nets made their first playoff appearance since two thousand and seven,
but lost to the Chicago Bulls in their first round
in seven games.
Speaker 9 (29:52):
Those guys really did a hell of a job. Was
Brooks first and maybe only All Star appearance. Wallace played
so hard, g Evans, Joe Johnson and Darren was a
great backboard. Was really a good basketball team. Those guys
that were on that team in twelve thirteen that Avery
had put together with Billy King for a couple of years,
(30:12):
never got credit for the things they accomplished that season.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Here's brook Lopez.
Speaker 8 (30:18):
It was a great experience. You know, we went through
ups and downs, but I think most teams do. And
we liked the group we had. You know, we had
a group that real really I think we found ourselves
as the season went on, you know, and you know,
going into playoffs, we definitely liked who we were. I
remember taking the Bulls to seven games, unfortunately didn't win
(30:38):
that game seven, but we had a solid group a
lot of a lot of hard workers, you know, Darren, Joe,
Gerald Wallace, h a lot of good guys on that team.
I liked that group and it was a really, really
special time.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
By the time the nets Arrov basketball had been at
the heart of Brooklyn for decades, from the CYO programs,
ass Whalt Playgrounds and high school Hallwood. It was entrenching
the culture and community. The list of legends was long.
Lenny Wilkins, Connie Hawkins, Billy Cunningham, Roger Brown, World, b Free,
(31:15):
Chris Mullin, Pearl Washington, Stephen Maulbury. That's just the tip
of the pyramid. The Brooklyn pipeline filled NBA rosters and
lifted the college game. The only thing missing was a
team at the top, a team of their own. The
County of Kings is home to more than two and
(31:36):
a half million people. On its own, it would be
the third or fourth largest city in the country. Why
shouldn't it have its own pro team. Back in nineteen
seventy four, when Brooklyn was still feeling the loss of
the Dodgers, writer Rick Tallingder spent the summer in Flatbush
working on a legendary basketball book, Heaven Is a playground,
(31:57):
he met a fifteen year old fena out Albert King,
who went on to star at Maryland and play six
years with the Nets in New Jersey. Telling to return
to Brooklyn many times over the years, reconnecting with the
friends he made. That summer when Balkeley Center opened, he
visited with Albert King.
Speaker 15 (32:16):
My first all was, it's about damn time. No, I've
been waiting, you know, fifty years for it. When they came.
I'm there with Albert King and he's walking along with
me and he just starts screaming, Brooklyn.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
You know.
Speaker 15 (32:30):
We're looking at the big clock on the tower and
Brooklyn is. I remember going to see that sign outside
the Mayor's office and I think it's a Brooklyn, third
largest city in the United States. It deserved this. I've
talked with Jerry rehinstore At, the owner of the Bulls
and the White Sox, and he's from Brooklyn and he lookounced.
(32:54):
He says, all end of the day the Dodgers moved,
and he remembers it. And also a newspaper called The
Eagle for Brooklyn Eagle. I think Brooklyn is always losing things.
What's the deal, you know, get made the brunt of jokes.
It's like, okay, so bout time you got a basketball
team right there. Yeah, what a great place.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
I gotta tell you.
Speaker 15 (33:11):
Pop up out of the subway or the train. You
can come in from Florida or China and just be
right there at the Berkley Center. I thought that was
absolutely fabulous, Just a joyful moment completely for Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
That clock tower, the old Williamsburg Savings Bank building, sits
just blocks away from Barcley Center. For years, it was
the tallest building in the borough. Albert King lived on
the other side of it in the Fort Green Projects
with his brother Bernard, who also played for the Nets
in his Hall of Fame career. Wherever Albert was playing
ball in Brooklyn, when he was making his way home,
(33:46):
he just looked for that tower, taking him right towards
the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic.
Speaker 11 (33:51):
Have you never told me when I was in high
school that one day there would be an NBA team
in Brooklyn?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I would have said, no way.
Speaker 11 (33:59):
And on flat Bush Avenue and Brooklyn there would be
the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
I would never have believed it.
Speaker 11 (34:06):
But to see it happen, and to see ten years
later now they just celebrated ten years in Brooklyn. It's incredible.
It's been a boom for the basketball, it's been a
boom for real estate, it's been a boom for the
businesses throughout the area. I see nothing but positive from
that standpoint. The only negative I would say is that
(34:29):
I would love to have played with the Nets when
they're in Brooklyn. I could just envision growing up five
minutes away from the Berkley Center and saying I'm going
to play on Flatbush Avenue. It would have been incredible.
And if Bernard and Albert was playing with the Nets,
and they're both from Fort Green, it would have been amazing.
So that's the only negative they came to late.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Mike Boynton grew up in Bedsty and played at one
of the city's top high school programs, Brooklyn's Bishop Lockland.
After playing at South Caro Rolanta, he got right into
coaching and was on the bench when the NCAA Tournament
came to Balcley Center for the first time in twenty sixteen.
He was an assistant or a fourteen seeded Stephen F.
Austin team that brought some March madness to Brooklyn with
(35:14):
an upset of third seeded West Virginia. A year later,
he became the head coach of Oklahoma State and brought
the Cowboys to Brooklyn several times.
Speaker 16 (35:24):
Obviously it's turned out well for Brooklyn, so obviously added
to the economic prosperity of that area in particular and
to the economics of the borough in general. So obviously
it's not been great even for those people probably don't
look back at us as being a great thing. But
I think all in all, it's worked out well. I
don't recognize downtown Brooklyn the way I remembered it growing up.
(35:47):
I think that year, which would have been November of
twenty seventeen, it was the first time that I had
really been through downtown, like walk just kind of walking
around and think of like, wow, this place has really changed.
Places that I would frequent just don't exist anymore. And
the buildings that are there, I just couldn't imagine havn't
been there before, you know, looking around, like there's an aeropostel.
Speaker 12 (36:09):
Who where's aeropostelle in Brooklyn?
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Like what got it? John Sally grew up in the
Brooklyn of Heaven is a playground, watching legends like World
Be Free and Fly Williams go head to head and
then playing with and against Pearl Washington and Chris Mullen.
He played eleven seasons in the NBA and won four championships.
Speaker 17 (36:32):
I was at the Barcley Center when I think the
first draft and one it looked like a spaceship had
landed in. It was one of the most amazing looking
buildings ever. Walking around it and seeing the Barclay c
I was amazed and seeing downtown Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
NBA rider Howard Beck has been living in Brooklyn since
two thousand and five. Barcley Center arrived within a period
of dramatic change in the borough. The Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower,
that was once the borough's tallest, is now dwarfed by
the skyscrapers that John Sally talked about lining the Flatbush
Avenue corridor from Balcley Center down to the Manhattan Bridge.
Speaker 7 (37:13):
The change was rapid and look within each neighborhood. The
neighborhoods feel the same, right the historic Brownstone neighborhoods where
these buildings are obviously protected by you know, historical standards,
historical status. That didn't change, but the number of restaurants
and nicer restaurants and shops and everything else. You could
just feel it changing around you during that time. And
(37:36):
you know, obviously a lot of neighborhoods within Brooklyn were
going through that kind of evolution during that period of time,
so it was already happening. You know, the evolution of
certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn was already happening. And then Barklay
Center opens and now that's a whole new landmark and
lynchpin for a lot more growth.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
But absolutely the number of.
Speaker 7 (37:57):
Food options and entertainment options and everything thing changed pretty
rapidly during those years. When we moved to Brooklyn, the
tallest building was the Williamsburg Savings Bank building, this historic
landmark near downtown, and now there are multiple skyscrapers lighting
Flatbush and in the downtown area. And when people may
(38:17):
differ on whether that's for the better or the worse,
but that is part of the boom that was taking
place in Brooklyn at that time. So you know, look,
if we're just talking about the arena for a moment,
it did arrive with some controversy, as all major construction
projects and all major changes to an area come with,
but it seems like over time, like anything people just
(38:40):
kind of settled into like this is something in our
backyard that brings concerts and sporting events, not just the nets,
but I'll obviously college tournaments. I think Barclay Center, you know,
has just become part of the woodwork in Brownstone, Brooklyn
at this stage. And you know, speaking of somebody who
(39:00):
lives close enough to be able to attend concerts and
stuff there, you know, obviously I enjoy having it there.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
To wrap up an episode in our series, we're going
back to one of the true legends of Basketball's borough,
the state champion from Zaveri, the national play of the
Year from Saint John's, the Olympic champion, and Hall of
Famer Flat Bushes, Chris Moman. I think it's a miracle.
It really is.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Growing up what I did in Brooklyn, you know, late seventies,
early eighties, that immediate area was one of the toughest
areas in the city. I had a good friend of
mine lived in Bushwack, and I had friends from all
them from the Bronx, and I'm not coming out to Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
I'm not coming out there.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
So to see that beautiful arena, it truly is a miracle.
It's funny because one of my sons lives in Manhattan,
but he did live in Brooklyn for a few years,
and I just remember, you know, helping him look for
a place. I'm like, I think he was living in
green Point for att while, Like.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
These is this rand? Are you serious?
Speaker 2 (40:03):
These rants in Greenpoint Brooklyn?
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Like when I was a.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Kid, no offense, but not many people moving to Greenpoint
in Williamsburg. And now it's more expensive than Manhattan. So
what that arena has done is incredible. It's it's a
min America.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Really.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
You know. One time I was doing ESPN radio. This
is probably almost ten years ago, soon right after they
had got the arena built and and the Nets moved
to Brooklyn, I was doing a Lakers game. I was
doing radio, and then jay Z walked behind at because
he was part of that group right at the time,
I told him, I just took my heads out and
go do That's amazing. What that's a miracle, you guys
(40:40):
got to be done to Brooklyn. Whoever think Brooklyn Nets
(41:00):
the
Speaker 16 (41:39):
Proph
Sixty years before they opened the doors to Balclay Center
and brought the NBA to Brooklyn. Walter O'Malley knew that
the intersection of Flatbush in Atlantic was the perfect spot
to build an incredible new sports palace. The Brooklyn Dodgers
owner was ahead of his time with visions for a
domed stadium more than a decade before Houston built the
Astro Dome. But Robert Moses had a different vision, a
(00:26):
modern multi purpose stadium out by the world's fear sight
they were planning in Queens. Moses got his way and
Shay Stadium opened in nineteen sixty four as the home
of the Mets and the Jets. By that time, the
Dodgers were long gone, building a new legacy in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
My dad grew up in Brooklyn, you know, he had
a big family and his brothers and went to rads Manson.
So I heard the stories of the Dodgers and when
they laughed, the negative impact that had on you know,
just fans and the city itself. But I think that
exact property that Barkley Center is built on is where
the Dodgers want to build their stadium.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
That's exact where they.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Want to build their stadium, but that had already had
started with the World's Fair, but chased it so that
got overruled, and then LA came in and gave them
that lab for free. So it's kind of ironic. Probably
what fifty years later that the exact same property that
where it kept the Dodgers there is where the Barkley
Senters Bilt.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
That's Hoops Hall of Famer Chris Mullen, who was part
of the first generation of Brooklyn kids to grow up
in the borough after the Dodgers left. His history is
almost on point. It was actually the property across the
street where the Atlantic Terminal Mall is today that O'Malley
was eyeing for the Dodgers. When he couldn't get it,
(01:46):
he took his team to California and left the void
in the Borough of Brooklyn that took nearly six decades
to fill. I'm mitchi Darko from the Flat for Zombies,
and we're closing out our Basketball's Borough series this week
with the look back at twenty twelve when Bulkeley Center
opened and the nets said Hello Brooklyn. Lenny Wilkins and
(02:20):
Larry Brown were born three years apart in Brooklyn, New York.
They built Hall of Fame careers in the game of basketball.
But growing up in Brooklyn in the nineteen forties and fifties,
they were, like any of the kids of their generation,
obsessed with Dodgers baseball. Here's Lenny Wilkins.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
It was a wonderful time growing up, and I was
a huge Dodger fan. I could name you all the
players on that team right now, and I knew the
top six baseball teams in the National League. I knew
what the batting averages were. I could go to Ebbottsfield
and sit in the bleacher seats for fifty cents, and
(03:00):
you know. So it was wonderful. And they had the
Dodger not whole gang. A guy named Happy Felton ran it.
I loved going to the games. The Dodgers were very
popular in Brooklyn. I mean everybody was a Dodger fan
and everybody supported them. It was an easy subway ride
(03:21):
to Embottsfield. Like I said, it only cost fifty cents
to sit in the bleachers. It was a wonderful time
for us.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Wilkins attended the city's great high school basketball powerhouse for
the day boys high would joined the team for only
a brief time. He was busy after school with the
job that brought him together with one of his Dodger idols.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I got to meet Jackie Robinson, who was one of
my first role models. He lived on the street was
Hancock Street, and I worked at a vegetable market and
they would deliver for the patrons, and so his wife
would order stuff and and I was the guy because
I knew the neighborhood would deliver it. Just an incredible man,
(04:06):
fierce competitor, a guy who competed every time he stepped
on the field, no matter what the circumstances, what or
what he went through. But he used to tell me
all the time because I delivered groceries to his home,
he said that they could never get into his psyche.
So that was huge as a youngster growing up for
(04:28):
me that he still competed, but he also without smart.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Then Larry Brown briefly moved to Pittsburgh when he was
in grammar school, but soon returned and grew up just
outside the city's borders in Long Beach. My hero was
Jackie Robinson.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
You know, when I was young, before I left to
go to Pittsburgh, my dad would take me to the
Dodger games, Elvisfield, and I remember in that whole gang
and I can name you every player that played for
the Dodgers that batting averages, probably where they were from.
I tried to wore forty two, but usually the smallest
uniform was eleven, so I didn't always get to get that.
(05:09):
But I was pigeon told I walked pigeon toad because
that's how Jackie walked. So when they left to leave
Brooklyn to go to LA I was crushed. Yeah, it
was important for me to see the Nets come back
to Brooklyn because the best basketball fans in the world,
I think are pro fans are from Brooklyn and New York.
(05:31):
Maybe college fans might be in Lawrence or Bloomington or
Chapel Hill.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
You know other places.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
But the best pro fans of my bot and the
most knowledgeable fans are from that era in area, and
coming back to Brooklyn I thought was really significant.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Toronto Raptors broadcast that Jack Armstrong was born the same
year as Chris Mullen and grew up playing against him
in the Cyo leagues. Hearing the same stories.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
You know, it was a heartbreak growing up in Brooklyn.
Every bar ever went to had a picture of the
nineteen fifty five Brooklyn Dodgers World champions. So for me,
you know, all the old time is all they ever
talked about is the Brooklyn Dodgers. And I wasn't born
at the time they were in Brooklyn, but I've heard
all the stories of its field, you name it. If
(06:21):
Brooklyn in and of itself was its own city, it
would be, you know, top five in the United States,
you know. So it's a huge place, and why not.
It's a place with such a distinct identity. So to me,
I was so thrilled ten years ago when the Nets
moved from New Jersey over to Brooklyn. And I think
(06:44):
it's a great, great thing, and I think it's great
for the borough, and it's all part of the resurgence
and the renaissance of the Borough of Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
From the beginning, there was a vagueness about who the
Nets belonged to or where they was supposed to play
in New York City, but couldn't lock down a venue
for the ABA's inaugural season in nineteen sixty seven, so
they spent a year in t Neeck as the New
Jersey Americans. Then it was nine years on Long Island
as the New York Nets, opening up a new arena
(07:16):
at Nassau Coliseum in nineteen seventy two, breaking out those
classic stars and striped jerseys and winning two championships with
Doctor j. In nineteen seventy six, it was off to
the NBA and a year later off to New Jersey.
Four years at Rutgers and then another new building in
(07:37):
the Meadowlands, but the early excitement in the Garden State
faded in two thousand and one, the start of a
season that will end with the Nets in the NBA Finals.
Less than nine thousand people showed up for the season opener.
You couldn't blame the owners at the time to start
thinking of alternatives. Chris Carino has been working on Nets
(07:57):
radio broadcast since nineteen ninety two and been the franchise
lead play by play voice since two thousand and one.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
At the time when it furred the idea first hatched,
you got to remember leading up to that, it was
a push to go to Newark and they were gonna lead.
It was always where they were going to leave the
metal ends, that group that had bought them, Rate Chambers,
Lewis Katz. They were going to get an arena done
in Newark. I remember we had done mock ups and
(08:27):
I had this full scale model in the office of
what Newark was going to look like with the new
arena in it. Eventually, it never gets done and they
sell the team to Bruce Ratner and his group, and that's.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
The first time we heard of Brooklyn.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Part of it was, Okay, that is really interesting. Can
they get that arena done? With Newark not being able
to get done, you feared for the team's future. So
this was almost a lifeline to staying in the New
York area. And then when you started to see the
plans come together, it was like, all right, well, now
this could be really cool. This could be a professional
(09:06):
sports team again in Brooklyn and it's the Nets and
it's basketball, It's the NBA in the middle of downtown Brooklyn. Like,
this could be really really cool.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
After seven years covering the Los Angeles Lakers, Shack and
Kobe dynasty for the LA Daily News, Howard Bett came
to New York to cover the Knicks and the NBA
for the New York Times in two thousand and four.
Speaker 7 (09:28):
There was a several year span there where it was
clear that the Nets were going to move from New
Jersey to Brooklyn. The date was seemingly always in flux
because of you know, construction or financing or you know,
political obstacles, but you knew it was coming. You knew
that at some point in the near future. If you
(09:48):
were in New York and if you lived in Brooklyn,
as I do, during the mid two thousands, it was
an assumed it was. It was assumed the Nets we're
going to be in Brooklyn sooner than later. There was
intrigue because there hadn't been two teams in New York
City proper in a very long time, and just the
(10:08):
idea that anybody was going to come into the Knicks
market more formally by planting themselves in Brooklyn was fascinating
on its face, not just from a business standpoint, but
absolutely from a basketball standpoint and a fandom standpoint. And
of course then there was just the simple kind of
romantic allure of Brooklyn hasn't had a team since the
Dodgers left a half century ago, and wow, if this happens,
(10:32):
what a moment that will be.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
On a basketball level.
Speaker 7 (10:36):
I know that I looked at it as somebody who's
covered the league a long time, as this is a
new selling point for the next franchise. It's one thing
to be able to say, well, we're in New Jersey
and we're near the biggest media market in the world,
and we're technically part of it as far as you know,
maybe the Nielsen ratings and stuff, but being able to
claim New York City or Brooklyn specifically on your banner
(10:58):
on your jersey is different, and I think it holds
a different appeal for players and probably coaches and staff
members and others, especially if you like the idea of
living in New York City and all the advantages that
it brings, and being in New Jersey while you're not
that far, I think some of those advantages are a
little bit harder to grasp or attain because it's now
(11:19):
requiring a commute and you're not literally in the city.
You're not connected by the New York City subways. So
I always thought of it as they were contemplating the move,
planning the move, getting close to the move, as I
don't know for sure, but I gotta believe that at
some point it's going to be a huge advantage for
the Nets relative to where they had been to now
be in Brooklyn where they can sell New York City
(11:40):
officially and they can sell Brooklyn, which you know, even
at that time, of course, the evolution of Brooklyn and
in the allure of Brooklyn as a desirable place to
live and work was growing in the early two thousands,
That to me meant that there was going to be
a new selling point to try to draw top talent
to the franchise.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Before Brooklyn, there was a two year stop over at
the Newark Arena that had finally been built, this time
for the New Jersey Devils. Brook Lopez was drafted by
the Nets in the first round in two thousand and eight,
and Balcley Center became his third home arena in his
first five years in the league. He became the franchise's
(12:20):
career points leader in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 8 (12:24):
Every year in Jersey, it'd always give us a little
like PowerPoint presentation, even though it wasn't actually like happening
happening right away, and it give us a PowerPoint presentation
about all things about like Brooklyn, you know, like I
for city, it'd be like the fourth biggest city of
the US or whatever it was, and this stat and
that stat like just just prepping us and getting this
ready for it. It was a little weird just because, uh,
(12:46):
you know, we were still playing in Newark at the time,
and we played in Newark for two years, kind of
bridging from New Jersey to Brooklyn, and it was it
was a weird situation just because you know, even though
you're still in New Jersey or in New Jersey Nets,
that wasn't where the Nets and band you know, for
the past thirty years or whatever it was. And it
was an odd situation. You know, we still felt like
(13:08):
visitors a little, you know, playing at the Rock that's
where the Devil's play. That was their whole arena, I
think Seton Hall was there, and it was like a weird,
weird situation, but it was very exciting, you know, having
Brooklyn coming up, you know, breaking ground you can get
the groundbreaking for this arena, touring the site when it
was just a pitager, you know, having hard hats and
(13:28):
everything going through it was very very exciting, you know,
and something we all definitely look forward to.
Speaker 9 (13:33):
Us.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
PJ. Carlissimo joined the team as an assistant coach on
Avery Johnson's staff in twenty eleven, before the final season
in New Jersey and became head coach during the first
season in Brooklyn.
Speaker 9 (13:44):
Once every couple of weeks, Avery, let's go over and
look at Barkley's. The year we're in Jersey and they're
finishing it up. We'd take the subway over. We'd be
in the city and we'd go out and just walk
around the belting and look at it. Avery used to
love every couple of weeks to go over and just
check out in the Pride rest see how things were going.
And you know, he knew the blueprints better than the
It walked with me, go this is where the locker
(14:06):
room is gonna be, this is where the video room,
this is where the whirlpools are going to be. It
was he had it covered. It was great to say
we were looking forward to Brooklyn was a major under statement.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
As construction went on, the organization began to acclimate his staff.
Ahead of the move to Brooklyn, Chris Carrino took the
tour of the in progress arena.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
I did get my hard hat and I did put
it on, and I got to see go to the
building a couple of times while it was being constructed.
It was exciting. My wife was in Brooklyn, from that,
you know, not too far from there. So I remember
one time bringing my whole family to go see getting
a tour of the arena. We were excited. We were
excited about what it could become. It was definitely something
(14:49):
that we were building for towards as an organization. Once
I saw that shovel go in the ground and I
started taking tours of that building, I knew, this is
absolutely the thing that's to take this franchise to the
next level.
Speaker 10 (15:02):
I didn't get one of those privileged tours. I don't
think I wore a hard hat, you know what I mean.
A lot of guys were getting posing with hard ads.
I didn't make the hard at team. I was on
the outside crew, just checking it out, seeing it evolved.
I think I saw you and I followed all the pictures,
but again I didn't I would allow you to. I
was ready to be a I was waiting with my
art at it. Just I just never got the call.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
No. That's Corrino's radio broadcast partner analyst Tim Kapstro. The
last season in New Jersey was his tenth with the team, so,
like Corrino, there was an established routine in rhythm that
would have to be changed.
Speaker 10 (15:39):
I can remember the breakdown of how ware you know,
Like for broadcasters, the biggest thing they ever talked about
is never the game. Travel is everything to a broadcaster.
If you asked I an eagle how his day was,
he would not say, oh, the game was great. He
would say fantastic. I was able to I caught all
the green lights. I got to the airport, and I
(16:01):
got home by ten. So for broadcasters and Chris Carino
and we're doing in myself, we spent a lot of
time because we live in New Jersey, talking about the commute.
All right, how a we're gonna get there? What's gonna
be the breakdown? Are we going to go through the
Aland Tunnel? I guess we're going on Allen Tunnel? But
what did you do this time? What are you going
to do that time?
Speaker 11 (16:21):
How are you going to be?
Speaker 10 (16:21):
Is it manageable? It seemed like we were going to
Alaska for every game. It was twenty miles from our house,
and we turned it into like being you know, an
Lewis and Clark. That was a big part of our conversations.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
All the uncertainty, the curiosity, the doubts and wonder will
put to rest in twenty twelve. PJ. Carlissimo and head
coach Avery Johnson has spent the previous year making random
road trips to check out the construction. Their anticipation building
along the way. It lived up to Callissimo's expectations.
Speaker 9 (17:00):
The building itself was beautiful. It was a beautiful building,
the locker rooms, everything else that was part of it.
I mean, you know, we threw it so many times,
and I've been back broadcasting in it so many times.
But I mean the concourse were beautiful. There were so
many Brooklyn themed restaurants. There are big wide concourses with
all these TVs and the restaurants. I thought they did
(17:21):
a fantastic job on the building. I still love to
fly in the city with that one route that comes in.
You fly right over and you see Barkleys on top
of the building. There were times that I took the
subway at all the trains and the subways underneath you.
There were so many spectacular things about Barkleys that I
really enjoyed.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Here's brook Lopez.
Speaker 8 (17:41):
And I just remember being so impressed. You know, I
still love this arena. I think it's got such a
great setup. The way the lighting is is set up
for games. How you know, it's sunk down into the ground,
so when you're out there at the concourse, you can
look in and see the court and the scoreboard and
everything like that. I feel like for games, there's not
(18:02):
many setups that are better than what's her Tim Capstroll.
Speaker 10 (18:07):
I think it's an incredibly special venue. We're privileged to
go around the country. I think the Berkley Center venue
is the coolest in the league. The whole setup, how
it appears out of kind of a little bit out
of nowhere, how the building was built, the color of
the brick, how it kind of fits into the Brooklyn landscape,
(18:27):
and you go in there. Everything's just Brooklyn's got a
cool vibe about it in general, and boy does a
Barkley Center certainly go right with that.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
NBA rider Howard Bet has been living in Brooklyn since
two thousand and five and had a regular view of
the arena's progress from the ceremonial groundbreaking right up to
the opening.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
I watched the arena kind of grow from the ground
up over time, just as somebody in the neighborhood. You know,
I'm not that close to Barkley Center, but I was
close enough that if I'm passing through that flatbush in
Atlantic Court or you know, I'm seeing it go up
over time, and so it was kind of interesting to
see that. I also recall what that area looked like
before they even first, you know, turned over their first
(19:11):
shovel full of dirt, you know. I remember, you know,
going to a you know, a bar in that area beforehand,
and what it looked like before. I remember thinking, initially,
like a lot of people, like what exactly is this
kind of like copper look that they're creating here? This
is kind of interesting, It's different. I wasn't sure how
to feel about it initially. I'm no architecture critic, but
(19:33):
it was definitely distinctive. I mean, I've been to every
NBA arena and some that don't even exist anymore over
the last quarter century, and it didn't look like any
of them. I thought it was kind of cool that
it had a completely distinctive and unique look. I also
like the fact that it wasn't towering right, like I
know people in that neighborhood would feel, people who are
very close to that to the arena site would feel
(19:53):
a little diferently because anything of that size is going
to feel rather large compared to what used to be there.
But I'm saying just compared to other arenas. You know,
Staples Center just towered over you, and United Center in
Chicago just towers over you. And I was used to,
especially the newer arenas, felt you know, often cavernous and
just massive and imposing. And I thought, based on that
(20:16):
comparison point, Barkley Center felt a little subtler and was
clearly kind of contoured to fit in that weird triangular
space at Flatbush in Atlantic, and I kind of liked that.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Beck was also a fan of the arena's singular feature,
the extension of the facade over the plaza with an
embedded video screen, the oculus.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
As anybody who was following me on Twitter knows at
the time, I was quite taken with the oculus. First
of all, just as a word person. The word oculus
is just great on its own. Guy, I don't even
care what it applies to, well, what he would even mean.
The word oculus just sounds cool. But the oculus was
this unique architectural feature that, again not on any other
NBA arena or any arena period that I'd ever been to.
(21:00):
And I just thought it was kind of cool. It
was kind of fun to just like go walk under it,
stand under there and look at the sky through it.
There's obviously the video display that goes around it as well,
but I just liked more of the idea of kind
of like this this skylight over the plaza. And again,
I just liked saying and typing the word oculus.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Frankly. Film directors Shaka King grew up a basketball obsessed
Brooklyn Night and Bad Star Oscar nominated in twenty twenty
one for producing and writing Judas in The Black Messiah.
Speaker 12 (21:31):
It was interesting because where the stadium was being built.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I was not a fan.
Speaker 13 (21:37):
Because, like goall, it's fifteen minutes from Hey ruin traffic.
I knew people who had businesses over there that would
stay alive, and I just thought it was gonna like
look it was. It was unquestionably have last of you know,
it was key. I think sort of the.
Speaker 12 (21:52):
Lasting gentrification that made its way to where I lived
that star, which I have very complex feelings about what
that experience is like living today's bedstar. I remember going first.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I didn't.
Speaker 12 (22:06):
I was like, I'm not going to stadium. I remember
my friend got tickets to see Bernard Hopkins fight. It
was one of the first. It was a failure earlier
than I think, maybe at the stadium like a big one.
I said, I'm gonnao I ended up being a boxing match.
And I went there and it wasn't like I thought
it was gonna be like a bunch of like this
like white yuppies. Ever, it was like it wasn't that.
(22:28):
It was the whole book that was in there.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Everybody was everybody.
Speaker 12 (22:33):
I saw people from I know years, I saw people
from like every you know. I was like, this is okay.
I was like, this is kind of I was like,
this is kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
It was eight straight jay Z shows that opened the arena,
beginning on September twenty eight, twenty twelve. Chris Carino was
there all night one.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
I went to the first jay Z show I was there,
and that was I was amazing. It was just so
excited to be in that building. To have been there.
It was the first time I've ever been in a
building that had, you know, while it was during construction,
and then to be there when it's just in full
working mode now and it's filled with eighteen thousand people
(23:16):
and one of the biggest artists in the world is
performing there. It was just an amazing event, an incredible time,
and while I was there, I was just getting excited
to know, like I was picturing what the basketball court
was going to look like, and what all these people
were going to be, what it would look like with
all these people and the nets playing, and where I
(23:37):
was in my vantage point for the game. I was
getting pumped up for that. Not long after Jay Z.
I don't know if this is before the nets or
after the nets started, but my wife and I went
to see Barbara Streisan was there around the first when
it first started to open, I think it was, and
I just couldn't believe, like, here was this great, brand
(23:57):
new snanking building. Barbara Streisan, you know, the daughter of
Brooklyn who does, like you know, does a show like
Haley's comment, I mean, it doesn't come around very often.
Here she was, and I knew how much that meant
to Laura, my wife, to be there for that, so already,
you know, this thing just opened. I already saw Jay
Z and Barber Streisan and NBA basketball.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
It was just an incredible time.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
After eight years covering the Knicks, Howard Beck moved over
to cover the Nets for the inaugural season in Brooklyn,
as The New York Times went all in on covering
the team's arrival not just as a sports story, but
a community, cultural, and entertainment one.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
The Times viewed this too as a historic moment. The
first professional sports team at that level to play in
Brooklyn since the Dodgers left, that was a big deal.
I kind of fell for the romantic version of this
too that my editors had, which is, that's kind of
cool to cover the first team, the first pro sports
team to play in Brooklyn in a half century. This
(24:55):
will be fun, and so yeah, I was eager to
make that leap at the time and see what it
was about and see how Brooklyn would respond to the Nets.
Would there be a bond between the fans and this
almost like a new team from the start. Would it
have to grow over time?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
What will that be like?
Speaker 7 (25:13):
As somebody who reports and writes for a living, it
was a new story to tell, and that again that
held a lot of appeal for me. There was definitely
a buzz at the beginning, and I think it was,
you know, similar to the way I saw it, which
was an intrigue and a curiosity, you know, what will
it look like to see an NBA team in Brooklyn.
(25:33):
There was obviously a lot of buzz, even just about
the uniforms, the black and white scheme. Immediately people gravitated
to that. Even if you didn't care about the nets
or like the nets, or care about the NBA or whatever.
Everybody me was like, oh, those uniforms are sharp, that's nice.
So that created its own element. Jay Z being the
one to introduce that created a different level of buzz.
(25:54):
When it's a team to call your own with the
borough that you live in on the chest of the Jersey,
that's a different thing. And people who live in Brooklyn,
and especially people who come from Brooklyn, don't identify first
and foremost as New Yorkers, even.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Though they are.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
The first thing they tell you where you're from. They say,
I'm from Brooklyn, and then New York comes after that,
if they have to clarify at all, which is not
usually the case. But there's a distinction of being from Brooklyn.
There's a distinction of being from the Bronx, and that's
how New York identifies, right. So I thought to the
extent that Brooklyn has this very strong identity individually and
a very stronghold. If you live or worked there or
(26:30):
grew up there, that's going to have some meaning.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
That pride resonated with generations of Brooklyn ballplayers like Charles Jones.
Jones was a street ball legend who graduated Bishop Ford
and returned to the borough to play at Long Island University,
where he led college hoops and scoring for two straight
years on his way to the NBA.
Speaker 14 (26:51):
Having that Brooklyn means so a big Brooklyn in the
chapter it was New York, that's instill it would be
nice because Jim was still being brook Brookland by saying
that Brooklyn, there's not bigger than that.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Chris Carino knew that Brooklyn mindset through his wife's family,
and that's what he saw the first season at Barclay Center.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
People in Brooklyn just have a lot of great pride
for Brooklyn. They're not really caught up in the celebrity
stuff or the big names. It's like, if you're from Brooklyn,
you're with us. If your name is on the Brooklyn's
on the chest, you're one of us. And if it's
just a team that shows up and plays hard, we're
gonna love you. To me the year one, the star
(27:31):
was the building and the uniforms and the burrow connecting
with NBA basketball.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
They were obstacles and challenges. The onslaught of Hurricane Sandy
in the week before the schedule season opened to force
the postponement of that game against the Knicks, pushing back
the debut to the Brooklyn Nets to November three against
the Toronto Raptors.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
Hurricane Sandy hits and that first game, the opener was
going to be against the Knicks. I mean, think about that.
That was unbelievable, and then it has to be postpones.
And then it's kind of a little bit anti climatic
when you know, Toronto Raptors come in and it's delayed
opening kind of thing, and you know, you were dealing
(28:14):
with all the heartache that was going on in the
city at the time because of Hurricane Sandy, So it
sort of muted the excitement of the Nets starting out there.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Here's PJ. Carlissimo.
Speaker 9 (28:26):
The place got turned upside down. We couldn't practice in
our practice facility, which was still at the Metal Lands
in East Rutherfor not far from the Metal Lands. It's
a beautiful practice facility that they had built was underwater,
so we couldn't practice there. Fortunately, when they built Barkley's
they put a small I say small it was there
wasn't a lot of room around it, but it was
a full sized court with baskets by shooting area practice area.
(28:49):
That's where we had a practice and we couldn't. It
was a nightmare every night. Both lived in Jersey City.
The Holland Tunnel was clased. You had to go up
to the Lincoln Tunnel. I think you had to have
X amount of people in the car. You couldn't go through.
And I'm not making light of it, but I mean
it was a nightmare. Things finally settled out in Brooklyn
after the start. It was just such a difficult start.
I mean, we were living in hotels. They were trying
(29:11):
to decide cancel in New York Marathon or Avid.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
It was.
Speaker 9 (29:14):
I mean, it was nuts for a month or so.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Carlossimo replaced Avery Johnson after the team got off to
a fourteen to fourteenth start and led the team to
a forty nine to thirty three finish, still tied for
the second most wins in the franchise's NBA history. The
Nets had added guard Joe Johnson before the season to
pay with Deron Williams in the backcourt, and brook Lopez
(29:38):
made the All Star Game on the way to leading
the team with nineteen point four points per game. The
Nets made their first playoff appearance since two thousand and seven,
but lost to the Chicago Bulls in their first round
in seven games.
Speaker 9 (29:52):
Those guys really did a hell of a job. Was
Brooks first and maybe only All Star appearance. Wallace played
so hard, g Evans, Joe Johnson and Darren was a
great backboard. Was really a good basketball team. Those guys
that were on that team in twelve thirteen that Avery
had put together with Billy King for a couple of years,
(30:12):
never got credit for the things they accomplished that season.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Here's brook Lopez.
Speaker 8 (30:18):
It was a great experience. You know, we went through
ups and downs, but I think most teams do. And
we liked the group we had. You know, we had
a group that real really I think we found ourselves
as the season went on, you know, and you know,
going into playoffs, we definitely liked who we were. I
remember taking the Bulls to seven games, unfortunately didn't win
(30:38):
that game seven, but we had a solid group a
lot of a lot of hard workers, you know, Darren, Joe,
Gerald Wallace, h a lot of good guys on that team.
I liked that group and it was a really, really
special time.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
By the time the nets Arrov basketball had been at
the heart of Brooklyn for decades, from the CYO programs,
ass Whalt Playgrounds and high school Hallwood. It was entrenching
the culture and community. The list of legends was long.
Lenny Wilkins, Connie Hawkins, Billy Cunningham, Roger Brown, World, b Free,
(31:15):
Chris Mullin, Pearl Washington, Stephen Maulbury. That's just the tip
of the pyramid. The Brooklyn pipeline filled NBA rosters and
lifted the college game. The only thing missing was a
team at the top, a team of their own. The
County of Kings is home to more than two and
(31:36):
a half million people. On its own, it would be
the third or fourth largest city in the country. Why
shouldn't it have its own pro team. Back in nineteen
seventy four, when Brooklyn was still feeling the loss of
the Dodgers, writer Rick Tallingder spent the summer in Flatbush
working on a legendary basketball book, Heaven Is a playground,
(31:57):
he met a fifteen year old fena out Albert King,
who went on to star at Maryland and play six
years with the Nets in New Jersey. Telling to return
to Brooklyn many times over the years, reconnecting with the
friends he made. That summer when Balkeley Center opened, he
visited with Albert King.
Speaker 15 (32:16):
My first all was, it's about damn time. No, I've
been waiting, you know, fifty years for it. When they came.
I'm there with Albert King and he's walking along with
me and he just starts screaming, Brooklyn.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
You know.
Speaker 15 (32:30):
We're looking at the big clock on the tower and
Brooklyn is. I remember going to see that sign outside
the Mayor's office and I think it's a Brooklyn, third
largest city in the United States. It deserved this. I've
talked with Jerry rehinstore At, the owner of the Bulls
and the White Sox, and he's from Brooklyn and he lookounced.
(32:54):
He says, all end of the day the Dodgers moved,
and he remembers it. And also a newspaper called The
Eagle for Brooklyn Eagle. I think Brooklyn is always losing things.
What's the deal, you know, get made the brunt of jokes.
It's like, okay, so bout time you got a basketball
team right there. Yeah, what a great place.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
I gotta tell you.
Speaker 15 (33:11):
Pop up out of the subway or the train. You
can come in from Florida or China and just be
right there at the Berkley Center. I thought that was
absolutely fabulous, Just a joyful moment completely for Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
That clock tower, the old Williamsburg Savings Bank building, sits
just blocks away from Barcley Center. For years, it was
the tallest building in the borough. Albert King lived on
the other side of it in the Fort Green Projects
with his brother Bernard, who also played for the Nets
in his Hall of Fame career. Wherever Albert was playing
ball in Brooklyn, when he was making his way home,
(33:46):
he just looked for that tower, taking him right towards
the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic.
Speaker 11 (33:51):
Have you never told me when I was in high
school that one day there would be an NBA team
in Brooklyn?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I would have said, no way.
Speaker 11 (33:59):
And on flat Bush Avenue and Brooklyn there would be
the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
I would never have believed it.
Speaker 11 (34:06):
But to see it happen, and to see ten years
later now they just celebrated ten years in Brooklyn. It's incredible.
It's been a boom for the basketball, it's been a
boom for real estate, it's been a boom for the
businesses throughout the area. I see nothing but positive from
that standpoint. The only negative I would say is that
(34:29):
I would love to have played with the Nets when
they're in Brooklyn. I could just envision growing up five
minutes away from the Berkley Center and saying I'm going
to play on Flatbush Avenue. It would have been incredible.
And if Bernard and Albert was playing with the Nets,
and they're both from Fort Green, it would have been amazing.
So that's the only negative they came to late.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Mike Boynton grew up in Bedsty and played at one
of the city's top high school programs, Brooklyn's Bishop Lockland.
After playing at South Caro Rolanta, he got right into
coaching and was on the bench when the NCAA Tournament
came to Balcley Center for the first time in twenty sixteen.
He was an assistant or a fourteen seeded Stephen F.
Austin team that brought some March madness to Brooklyn with
(35:14):
an upset of third seeded West Virginia. A year later,
he became the head coach of Oklahoma State and brought
the Cowboys to Brooklyn several times.
Speaker 16 (35:24):
Obviously it's turned out well for Brooklyn, so obviously added
to the economic prosperity of that area in particular and
to the economics of the borough in general. So obviously
it's not been great even for those people probably don't
look back at us as being a great thing. But
I think all in all, it's worked out well. I
don't recognize downtown Brooklyn the way I remembered it growing up.
(35:47):
I think that year, which would have been November of
twenty seventeen, it was the first time that I had
really been through downtown, like walk just kind of walking
around and think of like, wow, this place has really changed.
Places that I would frequent just don't exist anymore. And
the buildings that are there, I just couldn't imagine havn't
been there before, you know, looking around, like there's an aeropostel.
Speaker 12 (36:09):
Who where's aeropostelle in Brooklyn?
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Like what got it? John Sally grew up in the
Brooklyn of Heaven is a playground, watching legends like World
Be Free and Fly Williams go head to head and
then playing with and against Pearl Washington and Chris Mullen.
He played eleven seasons in the NBA and won four championships.
Speaker 17 (36:32):
I was at the Barcley Center when I think the
first draft and one it looked like a spaceship had
landed in. It was one of the most amazing looking
buildings ever. Walking around it and seeing the Barclay c
I was amazed and seeing downtown Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
NBA rider Howard Beck has been living in Brooklyn since
two thousand and five. Barcley Center arrived within a period
of dramatic change in the borough. The Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower,
that was once the borough's tallest, is now dwarfed by
the skyscrapers that John Sally talked about lining the Flatbush
Avenue corridor from Balcley Center down to the Manhattan Bridge.
Speaker 7 (37:13):
The change was rapid and look within each neighborhood. The
neighborhoods feel the same, right the historic Brownstone neighborhoods where
these buildings are obviously protected by you know, historical standards,
historical status. That didn't change, but the number of restaurants
and nicer restaurants and shops and everything else. You could
just feel it changing around you during that time. And
(37:36):
you know, obviously a lot of neighborhoods within Brooklyn were
going through that kind of evolution during that period of time,
so it was already happening. You know, the evolution of
certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn was already happening. And then Barklay
Center opens and now that's a whole new landmark and
lynchpin for a lot more growth.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
But absolutely the number of.
Speaker 7 (37:57):
Food options and entertainment options and everything thing changed pretty
rapidly during those years. When we moved to Brooklyn, the
tallest building was the Williamsburg Savings Bank building, this historic
landmark near downtown, and now there are multiple skyscrapers lighting
Flatbush and in the downtown area. And when people may
(38:17):
differ on whether that's for the better or the worse,
but that is part of the boom that was taking
place in Brooklyn at that time. So you know, look,
if we're just talking about the arena for a moment,
it did arrive with some controversy, as all major construction
projects and all major changes to an area come with,
but it seems like over time, like anything people just
(38:40):
kind of settled into like this is something in our
backyard that brings concerts and sporting events, not just the nets,
but I'll obviously college tournaments. I think Barclay Center, you know,
has just become part of the woodwork in Brownstone, Brooklyn
at this stage. And you know, speaking of somebody who
(39:00):
lives close enough to be able to attend concerts and
stuff there, you know, obviously I enjoy having it there.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
To wrap up an episode in our series, we're going
back to one of the true legends of Basketball's borough,
the state champion from Zaveri, the national play of the
Year from Saint John's, the Olympic champion, and Hall of
Famer Flat Bushes, Chris Moman. I think it's a miracle.
It really is.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Growing up what I did in Brooklyn, you know, late seventies,
early eighties, that immediate area was one of the toughest
areas in the city. I had a good friend of
mine lived in Bushwack, and I had friends from all
them from the Bronx, and I'm not coming out to Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
I'm not coming out there.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
So to see that beautiful arena, it truly is a miracle.
It's funny because one of my sons lives in Manhattan,
but he did live in Brooklyn for a few years,
and I just remember, you know, helping him look for
a place. I'm like, I think he was living in
green Point for att while, Like.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
These is this rand? Are you serious?
Speaker 2 (40:03):
These rants in Greenpoint Brooklyn?
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Like when I was a.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Kid, no offense, but not many people moving to Greenpoint
in Williamsburg. And now it's more expensive than Manhattan. So
what that arena has done is incredible. It's it's a
min America.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Really.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
You know. One time I was doing ESPN radio. This
is probably almost ten years ago, soon right after they
had got the arena built and and the Nets moved
to Brooklyn, I was doing a Lakers game. I was
doing radio, and then jay Z walked behind at because
he was part of that group right at the time,
I told him, I just took my heads out and
go do That's amazing. What that's a miracle, you guys
(40:40):
got to be done to Brooklyn. Whoever think Brooklyn Nets
(41:00):
the
Speaker 16 (41:39):
Proph
Host
Meechy Darko
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