page_title: History of the Brooklyn Nets
section_title: 1990–1996: Another promising start and downfall
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Brooklyn Nets / 1990–1996: Another promising start and downfall
caption_attribution_description: English: Dražen Petrović with new Jersey Nets
context_page_description: The Brooklyn Nets, a professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, was founded in 1967 and initially played in Teaneck, New Jersey, as the New Jersey Americans, later the New Jersey Nets. They are a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association, as well as an original member of the American Basketball Association. In 2012, the team moved to Brooklyn and were renamed the Brooklyn Nets.
context_section_description: During the early 1990s, the Nets began to improve behind a core of young players. New Jersey drafted forward Derrick Coleman with the first pick of the 1990 draft and then took guard Kenny Anderson with the second pick of the following draft. The Nets later added Dražen Petrović in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers. Although the Nets did not finish with a winning record in the 1991–92 season, they finished sixth overall in the conference and qualified for the playoffs. The Nets lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, three games to one, and coach Bill Fitch left after the season.
  The team improved significantly in 1992–93, led by the emerging trio of Petrović, Coleman and Anderson. Chuck Daly, who had been let go by the Detroit Pistons following the 1991–92 season, was hired by the Nets and immediately paid dividends. However, injuries to both Anderson and Petrović toward the end of the season sent the team into a 1–10 slump to end the regular season. The Nets finished the season at 43–39, which again earned them the sixth seed and a date with the Cavaliers in the first round. With Anderson out with a broken hand and Petrović playing on an injured knee, the Nets lost a tough five-game series.
  The Nets experienced tragedy in the off-season, as Petrović was killed in an auto accident in Germany. Still, the team managed to win 45 games during the 1993–94 season. Anderson and Coleman made their only All-Star appearances this season. The Nets again qualified for the playoffs as the East's seventh seed, but were eliminated by the New York Knicks the first round of the 1994 NBA playoffs, three games to one.
  After the 1993–94 season Daly resigned and Butch Beard was hired to be the team's head coach. The Nets struggled through the rest of the decade. During the mid-1990s, the NBA's main image problem was that of the selfish, immature athlete, and the Nets exemplified this. In 1995, Coleman was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the poster child of the selfish NBA player, with Anderson, Benoit Benjamin, Dwayne Schintzius and Chris Morris among the mentioned athletes. The team's reputation was so poor that in an effort to shed its negative image, team president Jon Spoelstra decided to rename the team the New Jersey Swamp Dragons in 1994, partly inspired by the New Jersey Meadowlands in which the team played. After the team obtained approval from ownership and spent $500,000 on trademarks, the name was ultimately rejected when Nets co-owner David Gerstein changed his mind and voted 'no' as the name was sent to the NBA Board of Governors for approval, despite unanimous approval from the other team owners. In both the 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons, the Nets finished with identical 30–52 records. Beard was fired after the second of those two seasons.
caption: Basketball Hall-of-Famer Dražen Petrović played three seasons with the Nets before he was killed in a car crash. His number 3 jersey has been retired by the team
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