Turnpike Team: A History of the New Jersey Nets, 1977-2012

by Lukasz Muniowski

Overview

A sense of impending doom surrounded the New Jersey Nets. No matter how well things were going for the perennial underdogs, something would go wrong sooner or later--injuries, bad trades, inner conflicts. But if the Nets were never a stable organization, it made following them as entertaining as it was painful. The team's 2012 move to Brooklyn was supposed to make a clean break with their past.

That past was in fact rich and eventful, filled with heroes, often unfairly vilified or underappreciated. Shedding new light on the careers of such figures as Julius Erving, Buck Williams, Sam Bowie, Derrick Coleman, Stephon Marbury, Jason Kidd and Vince Carter, this book celebrates a team of strong-willed individuals whose best efforts always ended in heartbreak.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476647821
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	12/19/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	221
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Lukasz Muniowski (Ph.D., American literature, University of Warsaw) has written numerous academic articles on various topics, including gentrification, geek culture, American literature, video games and television series. He lives in Poland.
Lukasz Muniowski (Ph.D., American literature, University of Warsaw) has written numerous academic articles on various topics, including gentrification, geek culture, American literature, video games and television series. He lives in Poland.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction: Hello, Brooklyn
 1. ABA to NBA, Jersey to New York to Jersey
 2. Trading, Leaving, Winning
 3. Good Luck, Buck
 4. New Logo, New Problems
 5. Imagine Swamp Dragons
 6. Truth or Dare
 7. A New Hope
 8. All Alone
 9. What the Kidd Did
10. As Close as It Gets
11. The Beginning of the End
12. Two Carters
13. The Fall
14. Goodbye, Jersey
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

For much of their history, the Brooklyn/New Jersey Nets have been a forgettable NBA franchise, seemingly rightfully overshadowed in basketball culture by more glamorous franchises with star-studded, championship traditions. While the arrival of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the summer of 2019 vaulted the Brooklyn Nets into the relevancy the franchise long had sought, Łukasz Muniowski’s Turnpike Team suggests that the longer, often uninspiring history of the New Jersey iterations of the Nets is worthy of attention and analysis. Muniowski illuminates the Nets’ long struggle for relevancy, one repeatedly beset by location, demographics, and mismanagement. Muniowski’s history productively provides insight into the messiness of the average NBA franchise, where success is fleeting and no banners fly forever.”—Cat M. Ariail, author of Passing the Baton: Black Women Track Stars and American Identity

From the Publisher