Brooklyn Nets a perfect match for Jason Collins
Franchise's record of breaking down social barriers is second to none and its locker room has already demonstrated acceptance of him
Jason Collins has a week and a half to prove himself to the Brooklyn Nets.
He signed a 10-day contract, one of the toughest deals in sport because it gives non-superstars almost no time to impress their coaches and teammates in hopes of sticking around.
With this group, Collins did that long ago: the Nets locker room is filled with former teammates who have already accepted the league's first openly gay player and his on-court habits, which are the ones that matter most to them.
I know those guys over there in Brooklyn. It's a veteran locker room, so they're very mature, and they're going to accept him.
"Guys already know what to expect from me," Collins said.
That made it the ideal place for his historic return to the NBA.
Perhaps, as numerous players insisted after Collins came out in a Sports Illustrated article last April, athletes were ready to accept a gay teammate. Maybe Collins would have been welcomed anywhere he signed.
But maybe not. As the bullying scandal involving the Miami Dolphins proved, the locker room can be a place where abusive language can divide a team and threaten to derail a season, to say nothing of the fallout for the players themselves.
The loudest voices with the Nets, however, belong to the team leaders, and they've already made up their mind about Collins. Old teammate Jason Kidd coaches the team. Collins played with Joe Johnson in Atlanta and Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in Boston, and they are now the respected veterans in Brooklyn.