new jersey nets no nameThe New Jersey Nets have filed paperwork with the NBA to change their name. We’ve already learned after Ted Leonsis’ takeover of the Washington Wizards that such a measure literally takes years to implement, but the Nets, who finished dead last in the league with 12 wins last year, don’t seem to be in any bit of a hurry.

The process takes about two years, which would coordinate nicely with the Nets’ scheduled 2012 move into a new arena in Brooklyn. Given that the Nets’ new owner — Russian gazillionaire Mikhail Prokhorov — is determined to give his team a total makeover, might we expect a new nickname to go along with the new city name? –GameOn, via NY Daily News.

This is really the only way that I’d pay attention to the NBA–if the teams changed names every year. It would be like fantasy sports, where a franchise literally exists for five months and then gets mercilessly scrapped. By the way, I’m doing fantasy soccer this year. I can’t wait to show off my futbol knowledge with “Human Centipede United.”