Getty Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving.
Earlier this month, the Brooklyn Nets paid tribute to their 90s New Jersey Nets roots by unveiling their powder blue jerseys.
One person who enjoyed seeing them is Nets broadcaster, Ian Eagle.
“I not only got a glimpse but I watched the video, I saw Kyrie who is coming from such an authentic place because he grew up a Nets fan,” Eagle told me on the Heavy Live With Scoop B Show.
“And in that interview if anyone hasn’t seen it yet, you can catch it on any of the Brooklyn Nets social media channels; that’s some real stuff. He, like you, grew up a Nets fan and there’s a little something different about that era of being a Nets fan. A feeling like you weren’t respected. Feeling as if people were not paying attention to your team. So what Kyrie was talking about and meant so much to him emotionally to put that jersey on and to know that he’s going to wear it in the upcoming season, that’s coming from the heart.”
Ian Eagle has been a Nets play-by-play broacaster for over 25 years. His tenure began with former Seton Hall University basketball coach-turned broadcaster, Bill Raftery. The two formed the dynamic duo of Nets play-by-play and color commentary on the now-defunct SportsChannel.
They’d later move to Fox Sports Network New York before moving over to YES Network.
“Yeah they’re cool,” Ian Eagle said of the throwback jerseys.
“But it was a little before my time – I’ve been doing the Nets games 26 years… that tie-dye look was just before I got there in 1994; it was Dražen Petrović, Derrick Coleman, Kenny Anderson, Chris Morris…it was that group and then they just…went away. It went into the ether somewhere. So, it’s pretty cool that the franchise is bringing it back in a new form.”
Ian Eagle is not the only person who has weighed in on the Nets’ retro unis. “Can’t wait to see them in it,” Nets legend, Derrick Coleman told me via text message.
Nets legend Kenny Anderson tells me he likes Brooklyn’s retro jerseys.
Per @chibbs_1 –
“The retros are great. I just didn’t wear it. This is great for the Brooklyn Nets. They’re bringing it back. You have to dig in & bring back the retro. It’s a plus!”
“The retros are great,” Nets legend, Kenny Anderson, a Queens, New York native told me by phone.
“I just didn’t wear it. This is great for the Brooklyn Nets. They’re bringing it back. You have to dig in & bring back the retro. It’s a plus!”
The Brooklyn Nets are paying tribute to the past, while their future is looking promising. With the acquisitions of Irving and teammate, Kevin Durant last summer, the duo will be coached by first year head coach, Steve Nash and assistant coaches Jacque Vaughn and Amare Stoudemire.
The 2020-2021 NBA season could begin as soon as December 22.
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Nets Broadcaster Reveals Thoughts On Kyrie Irving, Team’s New Uniforms