New Jersey Nets’ five-year plan for world dominaton not a hoop dream

The New Jersey Nets are planning to take over the world . . . via London and Brooklyn.

As new coach Avery Johnson struggles to find the launchpad for a five-year plan which requires the team to return to the NBA Finals for the first time since they finished runners-up in 2002 and 2003, owner Mikhail Prokhorov is demanding equally ambitious improvements off the court.

The team will move to their state-of-the-art new stadium — the £577million Barclays Center which is currently under construction on a disused railyard in Brooklyn — in the summer of 2012. It's more than likely that they will change their name completely which, on top of the relocation, would outrage fans in this country.

CEO Brett Yormark said: "Hopefully, we'll give them a reason to follow us. We're keeping them engaged, investing and spending like never before."

Star player Devin Harris admitted: "We're wiping out the old and coming in with the new. We get to start over."

The move to Brooklyn is spearheading the Nets' bid to become the biggest basketball team in the world and their plans will sit well with the NBA, who are determined to expand the League into Europe and beyond.

Yormark added: "We're drafting behind the League. The League are well ahead of us in terms of globalisation of the sport.

"But with a global owner and a global market like Brooklyn, we think that we can position ourselves as a global franchise.