Insider

Tom Dowd

Herb Turetzky’s basketball life has not been confined to this one spot, even if it is the best seat in the house, center court for every Nets home game. It’s tempting to think so, to box him in there and picture him at the scorer’s table. Since the day the New Jersey Americans tipped off for the first time in 1967, before Dr. J and Jason Kidd, before Nassau County and the Meadowlands and Barclays Center – before they were the Nets – Turetzky has been this franchise’s official scorer.

The affiliation opened doors, facilitated connections, made the opportunities possible. All it took was a love of the game to make the most of it, and that was the easy part.

It’s what brought him here in the first place. Just a guy from Brooklyn coming out to see a game. Tony Jackson was playing for this new team in this new league, and Herb had followed his neighborhood friend from the Brownsville Boys Club all through Thomas Jefferson HS and St. John’s. And Connie Hawkins, the Boys High legend, was playing for the Pittsburgh Pipers. Just two of the best ballplayers Turetzky had ever seen in Brooklyn facing off. Even the coach, Max Zaslofsky, was a neighborhood guy from Brownsville, a star at Jefferson and St. John’s 15 years before Jackson.

So Turetzky took the trip out to Teaneck with his buddy Danny Mascia, another star in the old Jefferson to St. John’s pipeline, and Jane, who he married in 1970 and still accompanies him to every game. And then he got drafted.

“No one was there at the table,” said Jane. “They had everyone ready to go, they had referees, they had everything in place, except the scorer.”

So Zaslofsky called over to the kid – Turetzky was still a student at LIU – he knew from hanging around the basketball gyms and the courts over the years and asked him to help out at the table.

What followed was more than he could have asked for.

He was there every night for the closest thing pro sports has to an underground legend, Julius Erving’s skywalking ABA heyday away from the bright lights of the NBA. They forged a friendship that had Erving accompany Turetzky in 2004 for his induction into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.

He ran the NBA’s Pro Am League in New York in the early 1980s, a place for hungry players to find off-season competition at a time when the city was overflowing with talent. From there, he took All-Star teams of the league’s best on tours of Europe.

“Summer leagues in New York City in the ‘80s were the greatest,” said Turetzky. “You had three or four big leagues going on. You had the Rucker League uptown on the weekends. You had the downtown league at Xavier High School three or four nights a week and we were uptown at City College at the Pro Am league at night.”

Through those connections he was able to help players find a spot to play, whether it was a pro looking for a team in Europe or a younger kid looking for a college scholarship. When he helped former Net John Williamson’s son, Maurice, find his way to LSU, Turetzky struck up a friendship with Maurice’s gregarious roommate – Shaquille O’Neal.

The legendary Maurice Stokes Game at Kutsher’s Country Club drew the NBA’s best in its early years – Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and more – and after Stokes passed away and his teammate Jack Twyman stopped running it, Turetzky eventually stepped in and took over, bringing NBA players up to the Catskills each summer for a charity game to help raise money for former players in need of medical care.

They tossed him in the shower after winning the ABA title, where he found himself the sounding board for a weary Erving, sipping champagne after another season as the league’s savior. Then he went with them to the NBA, to Rutgers and Brendan Byrne Arena, the franchise’s fifth home in its first 15 seasons.

The league grew and changed, and Turetzky went from being younger than most of the players to being a contemporary to their senior. But he still keeps in touch with some of the Nets from the early teams and the ABA days, four decades later.

Along the way, others became like family – John Williamson, Drazen Petrovic.

Turetzky’s son David was a Nets ballboy during Petrovic’s seasons with the Nets, and the Croatian sharpshooter would work out one-on-one with David, coach him along and even hand down his sneakers. Petrovic’s death in a car accident in 1993 was crushing.

“The world just ended with that accident,” said Turetzky. “The phone call. The realization. The funeral. Everything. It was just the most devastating thing I could think of.”

It took a while, but better days came again. The back-to-back Eastern Conference championship teams brought back the energy of the old ABA champions. Turetzky chronicled it all, saving mementos along the way that grew into an epic memorabilia collection – blazers and basketballs, sneakers and jerseys, trophies, posters and ticket stubs. Everything you could imagine, and some things you couldn’t. When he and Jane downsized from the house in Bayside to an apartment, they squeezed as much as they could into a bedroom and their daughter Jennifer made her own basement an unofficial Nets museum the way Herb always had.

He’s been honored with induction into a half-dozen or so Hall of Fames and scored more than 2,000 games. He’s got a consecutive game streak approaching 1,400 – every home game the Nets have played since May 4, 1984.

He thought about leaving when the Nets left IZOD Center for Newark, but the opportunity to come home to Brooklyn kept him hooked. Five years later, at the end of his and the team’s 50th season, he’s not quite ready to give it up. It’s basketball in Brooklyn, and what’s better than that?

“We drive in every day and every night coming here I smile,” said Turetzky. “It’s romantic, thinking of where we’re going. Seeing the changes in the borough, as we’re driving through Williamsburg and Greenpoint and down Flatbush Avenue. New high rises. New restaurants. This is about eight or nine subway stops from where I grew up as a kid. If this was ever here when we were young, it would have been the greatest thing in the world. That’s what it feels like today.”

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The Man For Every Season

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As part of Nets2Schools and Black History Month, Sean Kilpatrick and Spencer Dinwiddie visited PS 156 in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Dinwiddie and Kilpatrick spoke with the students about influential black role models that had a personal impact on their lives.

The students also took turns reading passages from the book Because of them We Can, which features images of children posing as black heroes and trail blazers to empower the next generation.

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Empowering the Next Generation

The Brooklyn Nets marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day by participating in a day of service at Brownsville Ascend Lower School.

Trevor Booker and Sean Kilpatrick helped build and paint benches and bookshelves for the school’s reading nook. The players worked with volunteers from City Year, Brownsville Ascend Lower School and Brooklyn Sports &amp; Entertainment on the project.

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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

On Oct. 23, 1967, the Brooklyn Nets franchise played its first game as the New Jersey Americans. A Brooklyn basketball junkie who was friendly with coach Max Zaslofsky and several players, Herb Turetzky was asked shortly before tip-off to serve as official scorer. As the franchise celebrates its 50th anniversary, Turetzky remains the official scorer, working the table at Barclays Center every game. Over the course of the season, we’ll check in with Herb for a Q&amp;A of his memories of significant moments in franchise history.

In this edition, we look back at the 2002-03 season. After their breakthrough run to the NBA Finals, the Nets traded starters Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch to Philadelphia for Dikembe Mutombo. That cleared room in the starting lineup for second-year forward Richard Jefferson. The Nets returned to the NBA Finals, winning 10 straight playoff games before dropping Game 1 against the Spurs. San Antonio went on to win the series, 4-2, erasing a fourth-quarter Nets lead in Game 6 at the Meadowlands.

What was it like on opening night in 2002 when they raised the conference championship banner?

We had people. We had gotten used to having people in the stands. It was nice. It was also warmer. When you have people in the stands the whole building gets warmer and it was easier. The fans have always been good people. They gravitate to the players, they gravitate to everybody working with the team. We get to know who they are. It was always nice. Here we have Mr. Whammy. We had other people back then who were at every game. 

What impact did Richard Jefferson have moving into the starting lineup?

I loved his athleticism. When he came in as a rookie you could see he was special. His body was right. He was a prototypical small forward. But he was only 6-5, 6-6. Now your prototypical small forward is 6-9. His shot wasn’t as good the first year as it got to be the second year. It became more dependable. He always made the right cuts. He had a good background from high school to college at Arizona as to what to do. And he stayed with the program. He wasn’t someone who looked to be a star. He wanted to be part of it. With Jason (Kidd) running it, life is easy. 

Was it a different vibe around the team that year?

A little more confident. There was more that was expected. They’d been to the Finals. They were no longer deer looking at a car’s headlights. They were expected to win games. I don’t think they expected necessarily to get to the Finals again. They expected to be competitive. And they were.

What happened in the Finals against San Antonio?

San Antonio was a good team. They were beatable. They really were. That was also the year I felt that Jason should have been the MVP. He came in second to (Tim) Duncan. I didn’t think it was right. I felt we had a chance. When we were 3-2 going into Game 6 and we had them on the ropes in the fourth quarter. I think it was maybe a 16-0 run, it broke my heart. I was looking forward to Game 7, going home and watching that and seeing what we could do with that. It didn’t happen.

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Nets History with Herb: Back to the Finals in 2003

In this edition, we look back at the six players that have had their jersey numbers retired by the franchise: Julius Erving, John Williamson, Drazen Petrovic, Bill Melchionni, Buck Williams and Jason Kidd. Herb offers his recollections of seeing these legends up close.

Dr. J literally changed the game of basketball. He was a transition between Elgin Baylor, Hawk (Connis Hawkins). The way he did it was so graceful. Such class and style. And those are the only words I can think of. Everything he did was right. And he was in control of everything; of everything he had to do and he was in control of every player he was with. They revered him. And no one would ever do anything he didn’t want done. Every night with him was like being on a road trip with the Rolling Stones. He gave you something different every single night. You knew what he was going to do. He knew what he was going to do. And as he was doing it, he changed it. The hands, the fingers allowed him to do such things with the ball. And the air time he spent up there was just amazing. The 3-point shot he developed over those years made it even easier, so he didn’t have to work quite as hard. And when he wanted to get 15 rebounds a night, he got 15 rebounds a night. There was really nothing he couldn’t do.

The most confident player I’d ever seen. More so even than Doc. Soup believed that nothing could stop him and that if the situation needed something, he’d get it done. And that’s what happened in the fourth quarter (of Game 6 of the ABA Finals). Doc was great. But Soup just went off. But that’s how he was in life. The story is true: he invented the name Super John. It wasn’t given to him. He called himself Super John. He believed no one could stop him. And as strong as he was, there really were very few people who could. He had no problem just blowing right through someone to go to the basket. And he had a little bit of grace. He had that step-back at the foul line with the left foot up, like a climb the ladder move, and he was really very good at it. Very few guys had that with his size.

The side name of the book they put out last year on him was the Mozart of basketball. That’s really what he was. He was like a composer out there. I’ve seen tapes of him when he was younger and the development he showed and the work he put in, it was his career from when he was 12 years old. And it was going to be his career for the rest of his life. He worked very hard. Nothing came easy. He had to work very, very hard. His game was to put the ball in the basket. He wasn’t a great defender. He was a good passer, he was a good ball-handler, not great. He could penetrate and take the bang as much as anybody.

He was on the ’67 championship team with the Sixers. He was a great college player. Very fluid, very smooth, very smart. Again, a great guy. He fit in perfectly. Billy could find open people. He was a good shooter; he wasn’t a great shooter. But he was able to get by. He was very slight —6-2, maybe 175 pounds. He didn’t take banging well. Terrific passer, very solid ball-handler.

Consummate worker. Talk about a blue-collar worker; that was Buck. With his lunch pail every night. And he knew why he was there. And he worked, and he worked and he worked. Every off-season he went home and he would come back with a new offensive move. Right-handed jump hook. Left-handed jump hook. A 12-foot bank jumper from the right side. Never did something he couldn’t do well. He wasn’t taking an 18-foot jump shoot and look silly doing it. And he sure wasn’t taking a 3-pointer. But he perfected his art. As a rebounder he was really as good as they come. He knew the angles to play, the people to bang, and how to get to where he wanted to be.

He had an uncanny knack for what had to be done to get the ball in the basket. Not by his hands, by somebody else’s. And he was with a group of guys that could run that floor with him like a herd of deer. And they knew if they would get open, he was going to find them. Richard Jefferson, Kerry Kittles, Kenyon Martin, later on Vince Carter. Even Jason Collins got down the floor. He had an uncanny knack for finding them in the right spots. And the ball came just at the right time. He was for that one stretch of time what Russell Westbrook is now, Mr. Triple Double. You expected it. He had such big strong hands. It was very hard for someone to take the ball away from him. When he got his hands on the ball, it was like putting a vice on it. Like a plumber on a construction job with a big wrench. When Jason got his wrench on it, no one’s getting it away from him. He rebounded, a 6-4 guard, very strong. He wasn’t particularly fast, but very quick. 

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Nets History with Herb: Jerseys in the Rafters

From Barclays Center to the high school gyms, playgrounds and youth leagues, basketball is part of the fabric of Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Nets offered local kids the opportunity to take the same court the pros have practiced on with a Brooklyn Nets Basketball Academy clinic on the practice court at Barclays Center.

The kids worked on fundamentals of the game, with passing, dribbling and shooting drills in an environment to foster teamwork. Each participant also received a Nets Academy T-shirt.

The Brooklyn Nets Basketball Academy is dedicated to helping young athletes improve their skills with elite training techniques and a distinctive coaching style that stresses physical improvement, mental growth and leadership skills. The Academy hosts clinics throughout the year, encouraging fundamental basketball play with an emphasis on education.

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Brooklyn Nets Basketball Academy

In this edition, we look back at the franchise’s first season. Trucking magnate Arthur Brown was running an AAU team called the ABC Freighters when the ABA launched. Brown took the New York franchise in the new league, and hired his ABC Freighters coach, former St. John’s and NBA star Max Zaslofsky, as coach. Unable to secure a home court in the city, though, the team played its first season in New Jersey’s Teaneck Armory. Former Thomas Jefferson HS and St. John’s star Tony Jackson led the Americans in scoring. Yogi Berra tossed up the first ball at the opening game. Joe Namath came to see buddy Art Heyman, the former Duke All American guard who was partners in Namath’s bar, Bachelors III. And at the end of every game, the players rushed for the showers — sometimes fighting over them — before the hot water ran out. The inaugural season ended with a forfeited tie-breaker game that cost the Americans a playoff spot.

What did you think when you heard this new league was starting up?

I thought it was great. Because we grew up watching these guys play in tournaments at the Brownsville Boys Club. The Easter tournaments at the Brownsville Boys Club were incredible. You had all the fellas who had played college ball, played Eastern League ball, some NBA veterans, and they were all playing. As kids we would sit there in the stands and watch them play and it was fantastic. We knew all of them. And the ABA really started with mostly Eastern League players, guys who played in these tournaments. They were second chance guys who were thrilled to get a chance to play. They were playing in the Eastern League, $50, $100 a game. Now if they were lucky they might get twice that … if the checks would clear. But they had a chance to play. Instead of driving to every game they would bus it, sometimes they would even fly. It was exciting. And having known most of the guys, we couldn’t wait to see it because we were basketball junkies.

What do you remember about Arthur Brown? What was your impression of him?

Had a beautiful Rolls Royce. Parked it outside of the Teaneck Armory at every game. He was a man who had money. And he treated the game as if it were a pro operation. There was no press room there so they used the officer’s club upstairs at the armory. And they outfitted it every night after the game — it wasn’t before the games like we have here — but after the game every event, it was almost like going to an affair, bar mitvah, Sweet 16. Hot and cold stations. Waiters. Open bar. And so we were up there after the games with writers, with players, with friends. It was a great place to go to.

Max was a little bit of a character. He had led the BAA in scoring in ’45-46 right before the NBA officially became. And he was good. I saw Max he was shooting baskets at the boys club. He was a great shooter. He was a good guy. He wasn’t full of himself, because basketball wasn’t what it is now. They weren’t making a lot of money playing. There was no place to get it. So he would work wherever he could. He worked for Arthur Brown’s company. Arthur Brown liked to hire former players. In later years Max worked for the Syms clothing company, because again Syms liked to hire former athletes. But Max was a good guy. His wife Elaine was very nice. He had a daughter, Joanne, who was our age. We became friendly with her, and his son was Jeffrey. We spent time with them.

How was the atmosphere that first season?

The stands were basically empty. If we got 500 to 1,000 people each night, it was a good crowd. They were sitting on movable chairs and the bleachers they just put up for each game. The armory was a vast building. It housed tanks and trucks. It was huge. And they put the court down. I think it was the old Boston Garden court that they had gotten. Lot of empty space around it. You look past the basket you see 200 feet beyond it because they only put stands on one side. They didn’t really build up a fan base, because they weren’t winning either.

Tony Jackson, up until the evolution of Ray Allen and, my goodness Stephen Curry, Tony Jackson was the purest jump shooter I’ve ever seen in my life. In high school at Madison Square Garden in the playoffs, he scored 54 against New Utrecht one game. John Condon was announcing the game. He would go, ‘Tony Jackson … ah, that’s him again. That’s him again. Another one by TJ.’ He was that good. At St. John’s as a sophomore he joined a team that had four senior starters — Alan Seidman, Gus Alfieri, who was Kenny Atkinson’s high school coach, Lou Roethel and Dick Engert. They were a good team. Tony came in and they became an All American team. Tony was the MVP of the Holiday Festival at the Garden. He was the MVP of the NIT at the Garden, which at that point was the biggest tournament in the country. St. John’s won both of those. Tony became a first team All American for two years. He could shoot from the deep corner — there were no three-pointers in those years — but he could shoot it from as deep as you could do it. His release on his jump shot, he was off the ground about three feet before he let it go. And squared to the basket every time. He wasn’t much of a driver to the basket; he didn’t like getting hit. But Tony could shoot the ball. I’ve seen very few; Ray Allen, and now Steph Curry. Beyond that I’ve never seen anyone who was as good a jump shooter.

What happened with the forfeited tie-breaker at the end of the season?

We went to Commack Arena for the playoff game. We tied the Colonels for the last playoff spot. We got to the arena in Commack. The floor was horrible. I recall seeing holes in the floor that were big enough for guys’ feet to fit into. They studied it for about an hour-and-a-half. (Commissioner) George Mikan was there. I was on the phone … we tried to get coach (Lou) Carnesecca at St. John’s to see if somehow we could switch the game to St. John’s to get over there. Coach wasn’t in and we couldn’t find anybody to give us clearance for the arena. We wound up where Mikan finally said we had to forfeit.

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Nets History with Herb: The First Season

The Brooklyn Nets brought a Christmas surprise to Santa Land at Atlantic Terminal Mall during the team’s Season of Giving. Nets players Brook Lopez, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Luis Scola and Justin Hamilton were on hand to present holiday gifts during the event.

“When you’re around them showing that love and that care, it says a lot and it goes a long way,” said Hollis-Jefferson. “I’m trying to tell some of the kids out there today that it’s OK to smile. It’s OK to cheer everyone else on. It’s about love and happiness at the end of the day.”

The event was sponsored by Clorox, with toys donated by Toys for Tots.

“Your teammates are your family,” said Lopez. “I certainly feel that way with my teammates and with my actual family being back in California during Christmas it’s nice to be around my teammates and have events like this where I can come, hang out with kids, bring them holiday cheer. It brings me just as much cheer.”