bleacherreport: Knicks Will Win 2014 Atlantic Division

[NoLayupRule]

its also worth mentioning that the depth behind KG and Lopez - two players who havent stayed healthy for a season in quite sometime - are AK-47, Blatche and Evans. well Tetlovic for whatever thats worth and plumlee and Shengelia for whatever thats worth too.


thats not great depth for their bigs which means any injury is compounded with struggles at that position as well as potentially too many mins for whoever remains

They've been healthier than Amare and Bargnani...

and thusly the BS comparisons are made

Bargs and Amare are not as important to this team as KG and Lopez to that
Amare played very little for us last year and we were the 2nd seed
Bargs replaced Camby or Novak, as you will, and thats not a big deal for us

KG and Lopez are the centerpieces to the Niets after Deron. Their health is of paramount importance. We have Amare, Bargs, Kmart, Tyler, Chandler, Melo and MWP so far at the 4/5

[Idee Mixed]

its also worth mentioning that the depth behind KG and Lopez - two players who havent stayed healthy for a season in quite sometime - are AK-47, Blatche and Evans. well Tetlovic for whatever thats worth and plumlee and Shengelia for whatever thats worth too.


thats not great depth for their bigs which means any injury is compounded with struggles at that position as well as potentially too many mins for whoever remains

They've been healthier than Amare and Bargnani...

and thusly the BS comparisons are made

Bargs and Amare are not as important to this team as KG and Lopez to that
Amare played very little for us last year and we were the 2nd seed
Bargs replaced Camby or Novak, as you will, and thats not a big deal for us

KG and Lopez are the centerpieces to the Niets after Deron. Their health is of paramount importance. We have Amare, Bargs, Kmart, Tyler, Chandler, Melo[6'8 230] and MWP[6'7 260] so far at the 4/5

Funny!!! Nets fans can do the same thing.

Nets have KG, Lopez, Blatche, AK-47, Evans, Pierce(6'7 235), Joe Johnson (6'7 240), Teletovic, Shengalia(6'9 240), and Plumlee.

You can hardly argue with age the likelihood of injuries in NBA increases, but to compare last years old Knick players of Sheed, K-Mart, Camby and Kidd to this years old players on Nets of KG, Pierce and Jet is just plain ridiculous. Sheed was called out of retirement, Camby was never health when he played for Knicks last year and his first time around, and Kidd only wanted to play back up PG minutes.

KG will probably play less games this year but that is being planned ahead of time. PP played 77 game last year. Melo played 67.

[NoLayupRule]

Funny!!! Nets fans can do the same thing.

Nets have KG, Lopez, Blatche, AK-47, Evans, Pierce(6'7 235), Joe Johnson (6'7 240), Teletovic, Shengalia(6'9 240), and Plumlee.

You can hardly argue with age the likelihood of injuries in NBA increases, but to compare last years old Knick players of Sheed, K-Mart, Camby and Kidd to this years old players on Nets of KG, Pierce and Jet is just plain ridiculous. Sheed was called out of retirement, Camby was never health when he played for Knicks last year and his first time around, and Kidd only wanted to play back up PG minutes.

KG will probably play less games this year but that is being planned ahead of time. PP played 77 game last year. Melo played 67.

sorry
its different

Joe Johnson and Paul pierce are not PFs no matter what their height is.
Niets have AK-47, Blatche, Evans and the scrubs. they have depth at PF. not so much at center. they have tet and plumlee after lopez and KG

injury is always a difficult thing but often injured guys who are also late in their careers are a good bet to do it again.

Id bet Amare will spend significant time injured.
Ill also bet Lopez and KG will too.

beyond that its luck.

point was the Niets have a lot to worry about with regards to their starting lineup

[Idee Mixed]

Funny!!! Nets fans can do the same thing.

Nets have KG, Lopez, Blatche, AK-47, Evans, Pierce(6'7 235), Joe Johnson (6'7 240), Teletovic, Shengalia(6'9 240), and Plumlee.

You can hardly argue with age the likelihood of injuries in NBA increases, but to compare last years old Knick players of Sheed, K-Mart, Camby and Kidd to this years old players on Nets of KG, Pierce and Jet is just plain ridiculous. Sheed was called out of retirement, Camby was never health when he played for Knicks last year and his first time around, and Kidd only wanted to play back up PG minutes.

KG will probably play less games this year but that is being planned ahead of time. PP played 77 game last year. Melo played 67.

sorry
its different

Joe Johnson and Paul pierce are not PFs no matter what their height is.
Niets have AK-47, Blatche, Evans and the scrubs. they have depth at PF. not so much at center. they have tet and plumlee after lopez and KG

injury is always a difficult thing but often injured guys who are also late in their careers are a good bet to do it again.

Id bet Amare will spend significant time injured.
Ill also bet Lopez and KG will too.

beyond that its luck.

point was the Niets have a lot to worry about with regards to their starting lineup

Well I can make an argument that JJ and PP can play PF. The reality is Melo isnt a PF. He plays there because the Knicks dont have any better options offensively. In JJ and PP case, they have always had a PF so they have never needed to play that position (JJ -Amare, Marion, Smith and Hortford; PP- Walker and KG) Melo is usually defended by SFs regardless of who is playing PF on the opposing team. So JJ and PP can play PF and still be guarded by an opposing SF. JJ and PP will definitely not guard post banging PFs but either should Melo. Melo is superior in breaking down opposing SF or PF off the dribble and elevating over his defender to shoot, but he isnt IMO that superior in the post than JJ or PP. They have more of an arsenal in the post then Melo. In the paint, JJ has a variety of quick floaters while PP has a wicked turn around jumper. So it is not that far fetched that if Melo can play PF so can JJ or PP.

One of the biggest mistakes Knick fans and NBA anal-yst make is the lack of understanding of the versatility of the Nets roster. Most of the players on the Nets can play 2 or more positions. The Knicks have that two but the Nets are much more versatile.

Dwill(PG/SG) JJ(SG/SF), PP(SG/SF), KG(PF/C), Lopez(PF/C)
Liv (PG/SG/SF) Jet(PG/SG), AK(SF/PF), Blatche(PF/C), Evans(PF/C)
and the rest of the bench

Niets have AK-47, Blatche, Evans and the scrubs. they have depth at PF. not so much at center. they have tet and plumlee after lopez and KG

This isnt correct. The versatility is beyond just that.
PF = KG, Blatche, AK, Evans, Televic, Plumlee
C = Lopez, KG, Blatche, Evans, Plumlee

I could throw Lopez in the PF mix too but it isnt necessary to make this point and you would most likely not agree.

[NoLayupRule]

I could throw Lopez in the PF mix too but it isnt necessary to make this point and you would most likely not agree.

Id love to see Lopez at PF

hed get abused on D

Id also love to see jj or pierce there and get eaten alive

Im not saying they dont have versatility though, Im sayign they have major issues with age and injury potential and massive drop off after their starting 5

if they field Blatche or Evans as a starter they have a massive problem with their bench or their defense/offense depending

it'll be interesting

Niets are a tough team
Im not taking that away from them
The Brooklyn Celtics wont be a pushover
i just wish them all the suffering and misery in the world

[Idee Mixed]

I could throw Lopez in the PF mix too but it isnt necessary to make this point and you would most likely not agree.

Id love to see Lopez at PF

hed get abused on D

Id also love to see jj or pierce there and get eaten alive

Im not saying they dont have versatility though, Im sayign they have major issues with age and injury potential and massive drop off after their starting 5

if they field Blatche or Evans as a starter they have a massive problem with their bench or their defense/offense depending

it'll be interesting

Niets are a tough team
Im not taking that away from them
The Brooklyn Celtics wont be a pushover
i just wish them all the suffering and misery in the world

You are going to be disappointed.

KG and PP could play 60 games each and Nets still cruise to top of Atlantic. Lopez could be out for 10+ and Nets still could have a good record.

As for Lopez playing PF, we can argue that too. On Defense, Lopez guards Center. On Offense he plays against PF. Just like you can switch Melo offense/defense the same can be done with JJ, PP or Lopez.

Injuries can happen to any team to any player at any age. Did you think a young Rose would miss an entire year? What happens to Knicks if Melo gets hurt? Dont wish for that type of pain, suffering and misery because the same can happen to the Denver Knicks.

[boomann21]

I assume this has been gone over a lot already, so I'll summarise. The Nets are better than you at... hmm, probably every position in the starting 5. Then they have a better bench too. Plus all their pieces fit together really well, as yours do not. You could argue Chandler over Lopez, I think it depends on the rest of your roster which you'd take, and as a 3 Melo would be better than Pierce obviously... but Melo is your 4, and he can't compare to KG as a 4. KG might be only getting 30mpg next season, and playing 70 games, but that'll be because the Nets are blowing teams out of the water the rest of the time and can afford to rest him. Come playoffs KG will get more minutes. Just not seeing the argument for the Knicks, unless Kidd is a terrible coach.

[boomann21]

That looks bad, but it's misleading because intervening events negated 29/35 votes. Nobody expected Rondo to miss over half the season, while Avery Bradley missed 32 games, and KG another 14. Don't get me wrong, I find Bradley to be overrated, and part of the reason for the error was that commentators didn't predict the degree to which the Celtics would coast/age, but some of those guys probably didn't have the Knicks far behind. The 76ers on the other hand were supposed to be good because of Bynum- who never played for them. It's also not unusual for a few commentators to throw in a wild darkhorse prediction. The Nets were 5 games worse than you in spite of a bad coach who clearly held them back. The Knicks were the beneficiaries of some bad luck on the part of those 3 teams (injuries mostly), but were still not as good as 54 wins suggested (see their 17-13 Western conference record), they just benefitted from a weak East. Next year the East will be a bit better, so they'll benefit less from it.

So you're using the injury excuse as to why the Knicks benefited? The Knicks suffered with injuries of their own too. But hey, let's not mention that because it's "not a big deal", right?

Actually we had the second most games lost to injury in the entire NBA, but we should be able to win anyway, with our ball boys running out there and good team work (green font). The Knicks have no excuse no matter who goes down. Didn't you get the memo?

[Dr. Detfink]

Dunno what's so hard with, going with your own opinion. Trying to mix and match the writer who will say what you want to hear is stupid.

[NoLayupRule]

KG and PP could play 60 games each and Nets still cruise to top of Atlantic. Lopez could be out for 10+ and Nets still could have a good record.

As for Lopez playing PF, we can argue that too. On Defense, Lopez guards Center. On Offense he plays against PF. Just like you can switch Melo offense/defense the same can be done with JJ, PP or Lopez.

Injuries can happen to any team to any player at any age. Did you think a young Rose would miss an entire year? What happens to Knicks if Melo gets hurt? Dont wish for that type of pain, suffering and misery because the same can happen to the Denver Knicks.

I guess your point is that anything can happen

this could happen or that could happen

my point was that the odds are against players who have become chronically injured recently and are getting quite old for the NBA grind