The Knicks brand is mature and backed by the awesomeness of playing home hoops at the Garden, in the middle of, what many people perceive to be, the coolest city in all of the land. To keep selling out, all that's required is to grab a big name or two and play on hope, play on the future. If one coach doesn't work out, hey, we'll hire another, but we have stars! It will work out. Whether or not it works out is irrelevant, because the tickets were sold, the brand was maintained.

This is what happens with a mature brand. The things that made it a draw in the first place are no longer important. Maintaining a brand is different from building a brand. In the world of bucket dropping, maintaining a brand doesn't always equal maintaining a winning team. It's easier to go for the spit shine, scoop a few stars up, regardless of how they mesh, how they will play together, and hype it up. If you're establishing your brand, you have to win. The hype of maturity has to be based in awesome bucket dropping. Team building becomes much more important.

The Nets are at an earlier stage. Winning is crucial for them. So they went out and are building their team the right way. Getting one of the best point guards in the league was a big step. It's a planned build with a focused goal, they have to win games, they are establishing their reputation.

If you're a fan of the hoops game, you will enjoy watching the Nets grow much more than the Knicks stringing you along. The Knicks are a bad habit at this point. The quality of the hoops game suffers while you stare starry eyed at the fancy jerseys on the floor.

Good take.

Dolan often refers to the Knicks as a "product" and MSG as programming. Its natural perhaps.

I the 90's it was written the team was very profitable if it went to the conference finals. That was the corp. benchmark of success.

Fans are into the games and players. An owner like Jerry Buss and Cuban care about the fan experience and winning. Make no bones that they care also about profits but ultimately as the great Charlie Sheen has told us that "winning" is what its all about.

ObM, good thread but your point could have been summed up in one word:

Knick fans get "Starphuched" and love it.

As for the Nets, its a whole new ball game. They will erase the past as building on a former glory is just not accessible. Their hero of a glory era was DR. J and how do you build on that after they literally sold the man to another team? If the Kidd era produced a championship perhaps that could have sufficed.

I wonder if the league will let them change names of if they even desire to do so.

comparing how they will rebuild will be interesting. Both Knicks and Nets went after Melo but it seems he was never quite destined for the Nets and they were in it to drive up the value. It was important to the nets the knicks pay a high price for him.

Conspiracy aside, its all good for NY hoops to have healthy competition.