Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The New Jersey Nets officially became the Brooklyn Nets back on April 30.

That doesn't sound like much of a move. After all, it's just under 14 miles from the Prudential Center in Newark to the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn but in the eyes of the fans and the players around the NBA, the jump is light years away.

Brooklyn is everything North Jersey isn't. It's cutting edge and cool. So much so that according to CNBC, on the day the Nets officially re-branded under the Brooklyn name the franchise sold more team merchandise than the New Jersey Nets did in the entirety of the 2011-12 season.

That said, the perception of relevance and any goodwill which comes along with it will dissipate rather quickly if the Nets continue to flounder on the court, something which was certainly a possibility with Billy King in charge of the team's personnel.

After all King didn't exactly arrive in North Jersey with a sterling reputation. He was fine as Larry Brown's yes man in Philadelphia but left to his own devices after the nomadic mad scientist got the inevitable itch to leave the City of Brotherly Love. King left the 76ers in ruins by the time he departed the organization in December of 2007.

After the Sixers made the 2001 Finals, a team which was built by Brown, King decided that playing ATM to a host of players in decline as well as a number of glorified role players was the way to go.

The smooth talking, impeccably dressed, would-be politician's dazzling personality shielded him for a number of years as the evidence mounted against him as a talent evaluator.

King gave out some ludicrous contracts in Philly. There was $68 million for Dikembe Mutombo, even though it was clear the aging defensive specialist was in rapid decline. He then wrote a check for $35.5 million to an injured, beaten down Aaron McKie before shelling out $29 million to journeyman point guard Eric Snow.

How about a big free agent splash? Try $18 million to lure Greg Buckner to the City of Brotherly Love. Next up was $40 million to keep limited 6-foot-7 power forward Kenny Thomas and $25 million to get Brian Skinner back to Philadelphia, a year after King could have had him for the league minimum.

Or how about $25 million to the ultimate one-dimensional player in Kyle Korver or $60 million to the offensive juggernaut that is Samuel Dalembert after one decent postseason series against Detroit.

The GM of the Washington Generals did a better job than King did with the 76ers.

But the NBA is an old boy's club and King knows how to play the game better than most. By July of 2010 he was hired as a general manager of the Nets, replacing former president and general manager Rod Thorn, who ironically enough landed in Philly.

Since then it's been more of the same for King. He put all his eggs in the Dwight Howard basket last season and failed to get it done.

But there was no Plan B for B.K. and concerned about keeping Deron Williams, he panicked at the trade deadline and sent what ended up being the No. 6 in the 2012 NBA Draft to Portland for Gerald Wallace, a nice player but one who was certainly not worthy of a lottery pick and was, like Williams, set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

There is a big difference, however, between the Sixers and the Nets.

The names have changed from Pat Croce to Ed Snider to Adam Aron but no matter who was or is running things in Philly, the Sixers have always acted small- time in a large market. Mistakes on South Broad Street are treated like the end of the world and a big one will set the organization back for years.

King's safety net in Brooklyn, however, is Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, an owner intent on making the Nets relevant no matter the mistakes and the price tag it costs to make them disappear.

The worm finally turned for King early this week. First he picked up an All- Star level player from Atlanta, albeit one with an albatross of a contract, in Joe Johnson for a host of expiring contracts and a lottery protected first round pick, something he would have never been allowed to do with the Sixers.

King was also able to avoid a disaster and re-sign Wallace for $40 million over four years and ink Spanish League star Mirza Teletovic, a power forward, using his mid-level exception. King even completed a sign-and-trade with the Clippers for rebounding machine Reggie Evans, an important component since a projected front court of Wallace, Teletovic and Brook Lopez isn't exactly going to control the glass.

The real sigh of relief came at 7:03 ET on July 3 when Williams himself Tweeted "Made a very tough decision today" with a Brooklyn Nets logo. The franchise point guard will sign a five-year extension with the Nets for roughly $100 million.

Meanwhile, the Nets remain in play for Howard, even though the Magic have no interest in what the team has to offer in trade. The big man, pushed by adidas, has been steadfast in saying Brooklyn is the only place he will sign an extension. So while Barclays Center might not house Howard until the 2013-14 season, make no mistake he's coming eventually.

And when he arrives, the Nets will have officially transformed from the 25-win bunch which called North Jersey home to a 60-win club in the hippest of New York City's five boroughs.

They will have morphed from laughingstock to championship contender simply because Prokhorov wants Brooklyn to be big time.

And even Billy King can't screw that up.

The Sports Network