A former SEC Player of the Year, Jan van Breda Kolff played a couple of seasons in the ABA before the team he was with (Kentucky) disbanded, and he was selected by the New Jersey (then New York), which was arriving from the ABA.  His best season was his first with the Nets, where he averaged 10.2 Points per Game.  The former Vanderbilt star would not start much but would play 434 Games for the Nets, predominantly in a reserve role.

Mike Newlin played for the Houston Rockets for 8 seasons before being traded to the New Jersey Nets, where he gained more playing time.  Newlin played for New Jersey for two seasons, during which he posted his highest career Points per Game at 20.9 and 21.4, respectively. Still, his rank is affected because his other numbers were down, and he was more one-dimensional.

A good defensive player over his professional career, P.J. Brown's career began with the New Jersey Nets, where he played his first three seasons in the NBA after trying the Greek League for a season.  The Center from Louisiana Tech likely made the right choice, as the additional season probably helped him land a regular role with the Nets, and he would be a decent defensive player.  Brown averaged 8.4 Points and 6.4 Rebounds per Game as a Net, though his next years would occur after he left with Miami, where he would be a three-time Second Team All-Defensive Selection.

Yes, Sam Bowie is the answer to the question, “What player did the Portland Trail Blazers foolishly draft ahead of Michael Jordan,” and there are many lists we can make around this, but for now, let’s focus on what Bowie did as a Net.

Mike O’Koren studied basketball collegiately under Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina, and the New Jersey Nets would draft him 6^th overall in the 1980 Draft.  The Small Forward would average over 11 Points per Game in his first two seasons and would settle in as a reserve player over the next four years until he was traded to Washington.  He would play 392 Games for the Nets, averaging 8.5 Points per Game.

Aaron Williams was undrafted out of Xavier, and it took him a long time to find his footing in the NBA.  In between stints with the Utah Jazz, Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets, Vancouver Grizzlies, Seattle SuperSonics, he played in the Continental League, the Italian League, and the Croatian League.  He would have a decent season with the Washington Wizards and would sign with the New Jersey Nets for the 2000/01 campaign and would have the best four years of his career, with the first year seeing Williams put up career highs in Points (10.2), Rebounds (7.2), and Blocks (1.4) per Game.  Overall, he would play 336 Games for New Jersey, averaging 7.2 Points per Game.

The most productive time of Kris Humphries' career took place when he was with the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets.  The Power Forward was in the NBA for six seasons before he joined the Nets midway through the 2009/10 season, and the next year, he had the chance to become a starter the year after.  In both the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons, he averaged a double-double with a peak season in the latter of 13.8 Points and 11.0 Rebounds per Game.  In both of those years, Humphries would finish fifth in the latter metric.  He would average 9.5 Points and 8.6 Rebounds in his 245 Games with the Nets.

Jason Collins did not do a lot of the things that would get you noticed in a box score.  Playing over 500 Games with the Nets, Collins averaged only 4.3 Points and 4.4 Rebounds per Game, but he excelled at screening, defending the post, and was praised for his leadership and high basketball I.Q.  Collins played with New Jersey from the 2001/02 season, when he arrived as a draft-day trade from Houston, until he was traded to Memphis in February 2008, but he would return at the end of his career (2014) for 24 Games.  It was notable as he had come out as gay only a month prior, making him the first openly gay player in the Big Four of American Sports.

Albert King was drafted 10^th overall in 1981 from the University of Maryland, and he would become the team’s starting Small Forward for most of the next six seasons.  While King was there, the Nets made the playoffs five times, and in his first five years in the NBA, he averaged at least 12 Points per Game.  His best season was in 1982/83, where he had career highs in Points (17.0), Rebounds (5.8), and Assists (3.7) per Game.  He would play 410 Games for New Jersey before signing with their division rival, the Philadelphia 76ers.

Bernard King was drafted 7^th Overall in 1977, and the former Tennessee Volunteer had one of the best rookie seasons in franchise history, averaging 24.2 Points per Game and finishing 10^th overall.  King would finish second to Walter Davis in Rookie of the Year honors.  He would play one more year in New Jersey, where he averaged 21.6 Points per Game.

Lucious Harris played 456 Games for the New Jersey Nets, beginning with the depths of the awful teams of the late 90s to the finals of the early 00’s.  The Guard wasn’t a starter very often as he opened less than 25 percent of his games with the team, but what he did do in 100 percent of his games was know his role perfectly.  Harris wasn’t a star but was selfless, choosing his spots and helping in ways that may not always show up on a stat line.  These are the reasons that the Nets kept him around as long as they did.

Before he arrived in New Jersey, Otis Birdsong played in three All-Star Games for the Kansas City Kings, so many people may not have noticed!  Birdsong was traded to the Nets, where he was often injured, but played there for seven years.  When he was playing, Birdsong was able to show off his strong shooting skills, and he had a 20.6 points per Game season in 1984-85, but the year before, he was named to his fourth All-Star Game, and the only one as a Net, when he averaged 19.8 Points per Game.  His overall PPG for New Jersey was a strong 15.9.

The Detroit Pistons drafted Darwin Cook, but he was unable to crack the roster.  The Nets took a chance on him, and he made the team. He would average over 11 Points per Game in his first three seasons.  Cook was not special offensively, but he was very adept defensively.  He would finish in the top ten in Steals per Game three times, as a Net, peaking at fifth in the 1982/83 season.

Drazen Petrovic was considered one of the best European players ever, and he lit up the Euro League for years.  When he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers, Petrovic’s skills had not yet translated into the NBA game, but a mid-season trade in 1991/92, and he saw his minutes increase.  He would become a starter the following year, where he would be the Nets’ starting Shooting Guard.  He would average 20.6 Points and 22.3 Points per Game, respectively, which was good enough to put him in the top twenty in that statistic.

Kendall Gill arrived with the Nets late in the 1995/96 season, and he would put up the best scoring numbers of his career the year after, when he averaged 21.8 Points per Game and was the team’s top scorer.  Other scorers were brought in and Gill was able to have a more diverse game, and in 1998/99 he would lead the National Basketball Association is Steals and Steals per Game.  That year, he put up the rare triple-double with 15 Points, 10 Rebounds, and 11 Steals (most are points, rebounds, and assists).  He signed with the Heat as a Free Agent before the 2001/02 season.

If this list were about popularity and excitement, then “Chocolate Thunder” would have been at the top.  Prior to his arrival with the Nets, Dawkins made a name for himself with his glass-shattering dunks, and people legitimately paid for tickets with the hope of seeing the big man cause a mess around the paint. 

Named the National College Player of the Year as a senior at the University of Cincinnati, Kenyon Martin was the first overall draft pick of the 2000 Draft, where, for the New Jersey Nets, he was the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year Award, losing to Mike Miller.  Jason Kidd would join Martin, and they helped reverse the fortunes of the Nets, who would make back-to-back NBA Finals, but his best season was 2003/04, which would also be his last in a New Jersey uniform.  He matched his 16.7 Points per Game average of the year before, but averaged 9.5 Rebounds and was chosen for the All-Star Game, the only one he would be selected for.

Both the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets were looking to shake things up, and they engineered a major trade during the 2007/08 season that essentially swapped Point Guards: Devin Harris for Jason Kidd.  In his first full season with the Nets, it looked like the Nets got the better end of the deal as he was named to the All-Star Game and he had career highs in Points per Game (21.3) and PER (21.6), but he wasn’t able to get the Nets into the playoffs.  New Jersey would then jettison Vince Carter, who would then suffer ankle injuries, reducing his effectiveness.  He was still good, but he was traded to the Utah Jazz when the Nets decided to rebuild again.

Jayson Williams rode the pine in his first two seasons in the NBA as a Philadelphia 76er, and not much changed in his first three years in New Jersey, where he averaged under 14 Minutes per Game.  Something changed in 1995/96, where he had an 80 Game season with 23.3 Minutes per Game, yet had an even 10 Rebounds per Game, which was astounding considering he didn’t even average half of the game!

Nicknamed “The Hammer”, Armen Gilliam signed with the Nets before the 1993/94 Season, where he would be an efficient bench player over the next two seasons.  Gilliam was used in every game of his first two years in New Jersey, where he posted a PER over 18.  He was moved to the starting rotation in what would be his third and final season, where he would post 18.3 Points and 9.1 Rebounds per Game while keeping his PER near 18.