Brooklyn Bounce: The Highs and Lows of Nets Basketball's Historic First Season in the Borough

by Jake Appleman

“A breezy, cautionary tale for modern sports fans” (Booklist) of the Brooklyn Nets’ inaugural season, which brought back pro sports to the borough of Brooklyn—now updated to include the 2013-2014 season.When the Brooklyn Nets played their first game at Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn in the fall of 2012, they succeeded in bringing professional sports back to Brooklyn for the first time since the Dodgers abandoned the borough in 1957. Brooklyn Bounce chronicles the Nets’ historic inaugural season in the borough, full of highs and lows—plenty of them entirely unexpected. Sports journalist Jake Appleman takes us inside the locker room and courtside, examining the team’s transition from the New Jersey swamp to gentrified Brooklyn, from an opening night delayed by Hurricane Sandy to an epic seven-game playoff showdown with the Chicago Bulls. The Nets were the game’s foremost paradox in 2013, a team that managed to be the most improved in the NBA, but also consistently disappointed. What made them interesting wasn’t their style of play or even their unique collection of personalities; it was their constant state of reinvention and their evolving relationship with their new as the Barclays crowds would chant it, BROOOOOOK-LYN! Here, “Appleman’s wit, enthusiasm for his subject, and familiarity with the players lifts Brooklyn Bounce above most season chronicles” (The Boston Globe).

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 4, 2014

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

No real insider information. Quotes are from press conferences; anecdotes will already be well known to Nets fans. Even juicy drama like Avery Johnson firing brings no new angles or backstory. A lot of lengthy game recaps. Author also states early he will not be rehashing Atlantic Yards battle, aka the interesting part.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not necessarily Appleman's fault. The 2012-2013 Brooklyn Nets just weren't a very interesting team. Still the vast majority of this book is game recaps with postgame quotes. He captures the hype surrounding their first year in Brooklyn well enough and touches on the cultural issues of the game and the changing borough but for the most part, this is a fairly unspectacular read.

[Pit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Appleman is a talented writer, but there's no substance in this book. There are way too many asides that have very little to do with the subject of the book, and they never tie back to anything basketball-related. This book is a good idea in theory but should've been scrapped when one realized the Nets' season wasn't that interesting.

[Benjamin Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can verify much of the stuff in the book from having been there. And Jake used real pretty words when telling it.