When Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and the rest of the Brooklyn Nets go to practice they have to head out the Lincoln Tunnel on the 495 West toward East Rutherford, New Jersey. The same practice facility the Nets have had for years.
It’s a 40-minute drive from Brooklyn to New Jersey to practice, and that’s if you don’t hit any traffic. And good luck with that. It’s why a lot of Nets players are splitting the difference and living in places like Hoboken (home of Frank Sinatra, thank you very much).
But the Nets are still looking hard for a practice facility in Brooklyn, they just can’t find one, reports Crain’s New York (via SLAM).The search for a Brooklyn location has been going on for over a year now. Last year, the Nets weighed three sites in Brooklyn, according to another real estate source. But team officials decided not to pursue those opportunities because a number of key players reside in New Jersey and wanted to practice closer to home, the source said. The Nets also have a lease on the facility in East Rutherford that runs through June 2015….
Last year, General Manager Billy King told reporters who follow the team that the Nets plan to build a new practice facility for the 2013-2014 season.
Build is the most likely option, but all they have to do is find affordable land to do it on in the New York area. They’d have better luck finding a day without traffic for the commute to East Rutherford.
But they are looking and you can expect an announcement in the next year about the Nets new facility. Somewhere.