Photo: Dylan Christie/AMNY
June was a memorable month for New York basketball. While Knicks fans are riding high after winning their first NBA championship in 53 years, Nets fans shifted their attention to the future as the NBA draft brought in their next generation of talent.
The future made their first appearance as the Nets introduced their three draft picks — sixth overall pick Mikel Brown Jr., along with 28th overall pick Joshua Jefferson and second rounder Tyler Bilodeau — at the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center. Fans and members of the Nets organization welcomed the newcomers.
For the Nets, introducing their future was about more than being on the court. It is building relationships between players and the Brooklyn community firsthand, according to senior vice president of marketing at Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, Becky Kimbro.
“We firmly believe that players build much stronger connections with fans when they actually have an opportunity to engage face to face with those fans,” Kimbro said. “That’s why it was super important to us to do a clinic at our Brooklyn basketball training center [on Monday] and not just tour them around in a car or have them watch content about Brooklyn.”
After answering questions from young fans, the three rookies signed autographs and led a basketball clinic using drills and games to build relationships with the next generation of supporters.
“When you get players in front of young kids who are interested in the sport, there’s an element of that that the players can connect to really immediately and authentically,” Kimbro said. “These players were at one point themselves young fans who were interested in the game of basketball … It gives the players just sort of a way to feel comfortable right off the bat.”
A priority for the Nets organization is creating a team culture where every player, regardless of NBA experience, feels connected. That starts with everybody being integrated equally.
Brooklyn’s culture gives fans a chance to connect with players and relate to them beyond basketball, even over simple things like food.
“Everything has been great. It was the best food ever,” Brown said about local food spots in Brooklyn.
Teaching new players about the borough’s identity is crucial to helping build further connections in the city they’re relatively new to, having only been in Brooklyn since 2012. Being able to adjust to the constantly evolving and changing borough brings fans closer to the team.
“Everything we do as an organization is focused on building long-term, generational fandom,” Kimbro said. “We know that trust and loyalty aren’t built overnight; they come from consistently showing up for the community in authentic ways. We’re committed to celebrating, supporting, and serving the people who call this borough home.”
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