MLB - Sports Rumors

Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:31 am EST

Bruce Ratner to blame for New Jersey Nets' poor start?

By Mark J. Miller

“KenyonThe New Jersey Nets have lost 14 games in a row and starting to get a little too close for comfort to the league record for most losses to start a season. That record of 17 is shared by the 1988 Miami Heat and the 1999 Los Angeles Clippers.

It would be easy to blame coach Lawrence Frank or the injuries the club has suffered, but former Net Kenyon Martin is apparently thinking there is one person who should accept what he's done, according to the New York Daily News: current owner Bruce Ratner.

Martin, who plays for the Denver Nuggets now, is saying Ratner started the team on a downward spiral right after the team made the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. "When you let people who have never played the game of basketball make decisions, that's what you get," said Martin. "Bruce Ratner came in and made decisions and it affected everything from that point on. The blame for that has to go somewhere. It can't always be on the players."

Perhaps Martin is still bumming that Ratner wouldn't give him the money he wanted for a long-term deal six years ago just after Ratner came aboard. "It's been six years now but it still pops up, just 'What if they would have made the right decision?' " Martin said. "It just seems like when I left it was just downhill from there, and we had something good."

Source: New York Daily NewsNew Window

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24 Comments

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  1. Cracka Killa
    1. Posted by Cracka Killa Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:38 am EST

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    1st....Nets suck d...go Dubs
  2. New York King
    2. Posted by New York King Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:01 am EST

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    who cares............
  3. AndrewP
    3. Posted by AndrewP Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:23 am EST

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    Remove from MLB Rumors please
  4. michael
    4. Posted by michael Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:35 am EST

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    all i want to know is can he hit the slider.
  5. dagoldeneagle
    5. Posted by dagoldeneagle Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:51 am EST

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    after ratner bought the team, there were a lot of uneasiness among nets faithfuls.
    k-mart left for the nuggets. keith van horn, lucious harris, kerry kittles, dikembe mutombo, and rodney rogers all left the team.
    alonzo mourning was signed despite missing nearly 3 years due to kidney ailment..
    the nets got off to a horrible start as mourning was unable to play, so ratner, in an effort to prove that he is willing to pay, traded for raptors' disgruntled franchise player vince carter.
    the threesome of carter, jason kidd, and richard jefferson did not achieve any success due to lack of quality big men and post presence. the best big men on their team from this era were jason collins and nenad krstic.
    ratner is an idiot.
  6. Shoot A Moose
    6. Posted by Shoot A Moose Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:51 am EST

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    And this is an MLB rumor how? typical dummy Yahoo staff again get the rumors where they belong for God's sake.
  7. Ken
    7. Posted by Ken Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:09 am EST

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    a bunch of monkey picking balls from the cotton field
  8. almx17
    8. Posted by almx17 Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:59 am EST

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    I think they confused Nets and Ratner for Mets and Omar. That's why it is under MLB rumors. Very easy to mistake these franchises for each other. Oversight forgiven, Yahoo!
  9. Edwin
    9. Posted by Edwin Wed Nov 25, 2009 11:03 am EST

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    Must be hard for a team to realize they are a bottom feeding team trying to compete with the Clippers.
  10. John
    10. Posted by John Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:27 pm EST

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    The Nets had 2 shots at winning the championship and failed. There is NO WAY they should have signed K Mart to the max contract. He is not a max player but the NBA and teams continued to give decent players, superstar money. The Nuggets have been trying to move him too but no one wants his contract. They had their run and it was nice but now it's time to rebuild. The only trade that I disagreed with was RJ but the players and picks they got for Kidd and Carter will help them for the future. They have a nice young core and adding a 2010 free agent will help elevate them in the standings. The KNicks on the other hand have nothing to entice a free agent to come aboard except NYC and the Garden. And I'm a Knicks fan
  11. skiorpes
    11. Posted by skiorpes Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:39 pm EST

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    Why The HELL IS THIS IN THE MLB RUMORS SECTION!!!!! this could be in the baseball section if RATNER WENT FROM THE NETS TO THE METS and it could be in the Football section if he went to the Jets.
  12. dagoldeneagle
    12. Posted by dagoldeneagle Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:12 pm EST

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    @ john: they let k-mart go and acquired vinsanity thinking they would be good with no post presence. ratber is an idiot.
    nice young core? are you kidding me? the guys they have are all role players and scrubs. because they're on a horrible team, their stats look good cuz somebody gotta do the shooting and scoring. courtney lee is a fraud. terrence williams can't shoot in louisville, can't shoot in the nba. brook lopez is not a difference maker. i rather have brendan haywood, marc gasol, marcus camby, or drew gooden on my team. devin harris's play from last season was a fluke. he is soft and injury-prone. that's why he never panned out with the mavs. a lot of guys have one good season, remember kendall gill back in '97?
  13. michael
    13. Posted by michael Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:57 am EST

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    hahahah, Ken is a b1tch. i got money he wont go outside and say that.
  14. BaseballFan
    14. Posted by BaseballFan Thu Nov 26, 2009 12:03 pm EST

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    Rumor is this is a f@cking basketball story that doesn't belong here.
  15. Greg
    15. Posted by Greg Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:36 pm EST

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    Ratner is scum.
  16. Halcyon Daze
    16. Posted by Halcyon Daze Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:24 am EST

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    I can certainy understand why people would thinkRatner is responsible, particularly if he's trying to play BASEBALL! Doesn't anyone edit or proof these rumors?
  17. Joel
    17. Posted by Joel Fri Nov 27, 2009 9:03 am EST

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    Yahoo at it again. When will they terminate the employment of the Sport Rumors people who continue to do this.
  18. Edwin
    18. Posted by Edwin Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:41 am EST

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    Yeah it would be easy to blame Ratner, but the demise under him. If you look close : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NJ_Nets#1976_to_1980_.E2.80.93_Move_to_the_NBA_and_back_to_New_Jersey You'll see that it wasn't all his fault in fact on occasion the injury bug hit the Nets quite hard through out Ratners rein. I would have to give some of the blame to team president Rod Thorn as well. Remember the owner writes the checks but the Team president pulls the trigger when it comes to trades. Granted the threat of moving the team each year probably didn't help the moral but I have never seen a team owner go out and play in the game itself. Remember there have been a lot of Players that have gone on to be coaches but not many first rate team owners. Last but not least they did make it into the play offs under Ratner.
  19. left63
    19. Posted by left63 Fri Nov 27, 2009 1:25 pm EST

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    Being run by the Obama administration!
  20. Dj Kobe
    20. Posted by Dj Kobe Fri Nov 27, 2009 4:56 pm EST

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    i think thats the only good decision hes made. not to give kmart the money cuz hes not worth it....
  21. aces over
    21. Posted by aces over Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:10 pm EST

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    yahoo sucks...
  22. JS
    22. Posted by JS Sun Nov 29, 2009 10:24 am EST

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    left63......seems more like a holdover from Bush administration incompetence......this country will be suffering from 'W' stupidity for many years to come.
  23. Jay
    23. Posted by Jay Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:39 pm EST

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    I LOVE it when they put basketball rumors in the MLB rumor section!
  24. left63
    24. Posted by left63 Tue Dec 01, 2009 6:08 pm EST

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    Dumb-dumb-dumb----sounds like a bunch of politicians

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