N.J. Nets continue to be local team building for the future

BY JOE FAVORITO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

ON N.J. SPORTS MARKETING

Thursday's NBA Draft came and went, with teams like the Washington Wizards loading up on young players and hoping that an ownership change will lift a cloud and move the team back to respectability.

Similarly the Nets are hoping for their new owner, along with their much publicized checklist — new temporary home (The Pru), new home in the distance (Brooklyn), new coach (Avery Johnson), new players (the first being Georgia Tech big man Derrick Favors) — will bring new results.

Now the next challenge, a free agency market hyped like none other, begins July 1. While teams like the Bulls and Knicks and Heat jockey for position with loud noise, lots of hype and big-time pitches for LeBron James, the Nets basketball side quietly plots ahead, tweaks their approach to sell everything off the court and looks to find ways to attach to both its short-term and long-term fan bases.

Will it work? Thursday night the team held its draft party with Mayor Corey Booker and alums like Kerry Kittles and Derrick Coleman in attendance, and welcomed their two first round picks.

The Knicks, with no first round pick, were below the waterline, MSG Network did not even have a draft show this year, and looked to putting all their eggs into the free agency market.

The Nets hope and message to fans is the future. Not just a future that begins on July 1, one that will develop as a process over time.

The Knicks future is now, all has been set to sign big free agents and get things righted as soon as the clock strikes midnight for July.

Which approach will work with fans and help the brand? Well the expectations for the Nets for the short term are much lower than for the Knicks. The Nets continue to generate steady buzz while the Knicks will go for the loud bang. In past years the Nets approach from the hoops standpoint seems to have worked. Case in point was Vince Carter. The Knicks actively and loudly campaigned for the then-Toronto star, while Rod Thorn quietly worked the back rooms. The result? Carter to the Nets. Now while things may be different now with Donnie Walsh at the helm, the perception remains the same. The Knicks bright lights and big free agent room should be able to clear any hurdle and finally get the team righted. The perception is the Knicks are positioned just for this day.

The problem with that positioning is that the ultimate decision is still not in their hands. When you build for the future like the Nets are doing now, the control of destiny is usually governed by those who can pull the strings. When you are in competition for free agents, the players themselves have much more of an upper hand, along with those around them.

So on Thursday the Nets took a step to the future, the latest in several strong moves, and followed it up with the right message to fans. We are building and come and watch us build. The Knicks held ground and put everything toward a future TBD in the next few weeks.

Will the Nets strategy of hope work more than the Knicks of hype? We will find out very shortly.

Joe Favorito has over 23 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. Visit him at JoeFavorito.com.