Effect of Knicks-Heat Matchup on Nets goals

[NyCeEvO]

I'm sure many of us at least had a casual glance at the Knicks-Heat game last night. On paper, I thought the Heat would easily take care of business against the Knicks and show that they have a while before the Knicks can legitimately argue about being a top team in the East. The Knicks lost the Cavs and barely beat the Bucks. Melo, Amare, and Billups have had less than a week to mesh together before they play an enormous game against the team that most believe will rule the East after Boston falls off.

Instead, the Knicks beat the Heat off of timely and smart PG play by Billups and dare I say defense in the paint, which ultimately stopped LBJ from attempting a GW layup after Melo forced LeBron away from the paint just long enough for Amare to come from the weak side and block his layup attempt.

How in the world does this have anything to do with the Nets you ask....

1) 3 superstars on a single team does not equal supreme dominance always. Like I've said in other posts, I actually prefer two superstars/1 good player/solid bench over 3 superstars (even though Bosh isn't a true superstar). You obviously need a bench. Look at how guys like Bill Walker and Shawne Williams ended up making key plays by being the right place at the right time and benefiting off of the presence of Melo and Amare. Even though the Knicks bench isn't great, it's still better than Miami's bench. You need to have a bench that can play during crunch time if need be. Miami doesn't have that.

2) If Chauncey Billups (good player and PG), Carmelo (star and SF), and Amare (star and PF/C) can beat the Heat, imagine what Williams (star and PG), Granger/Iggy types of players (good players that can sometimes play like stars and are SFs), and Dwight (star and C) would be like?
If Melo and Amare, who are not known for defense, can slow down the Heat and hold them to about 53 pts over the last 3 quarters, imagine what Dwight alone let alone the addition of a defensive player like Iggy and solid defensive PG in in D-Will can do? I'm not saying that it's
guaranteed success but it's an exploitation of the Heat's weaknesses. The PG and C positions. Chauncey abused the Heat simply because the Heat have to be concerned about Melo and Amare but they don't have a good enough PG to do anything against Billups. Bosh may be able to defend Amare somewhat, but he'd be eaten alive by Dwight. Now find someone who could either matchup LBJ offensively like Carmelo or reduce LBJ's offensive effectiveness like Iggy could and you have effectively neutralized the Heat.

Is it a pipedream? Somewhat but we've already established how it's logically possible in the Nets future thread.

Is worth it? In every which way. If you can beat the Heat in a playoff series, then there's a pretty good chance that you can represent the East in the Finals. If we can somehow make the trade for Dwight either this offseason or during next season (and sign wing player this offseason) it instantly vaults us to being one of the top teams in the East.

[deepblueday]

Well, I don't think we needed a Knicks-Heat regular season game to tell us that. Deron, Dwight, a very good (perhaps not great) wing scorer, and some solid roleplayers is a perennial championship contender.

So the question is, can we get Dwight? As you pointed out, it is a long shot, but it's possible. The Nets have the cap space, some solid assets to offer in return (although I remain unconvinced we have the best package), and one would have to think playing in Brooklyn in a brand new arena with the best PG in the NBA would put the Nets on his list. But I think it's also important to point out that, should the Magic have no interest in moving Dwight this offseason, and I don't think they do, then retaining the assets and cap flexibility to maybe land him at the deadline or next offseason entails a trade-off. If the Nets trade and sign aggressively and smartly this offseason, they can be a 50+ win team next season and win a first round series. A good young team with the potential to improve might be enough to convince Deron to stick around. If we don't make aggressive moves in order to retain the flexibility necessary to make a play for Dwight, we're going to be a team that struggles to stay at .500 for the first half. If we then miss out on him at the deadline, Deron's gonna check out and will bolt for sure.

[NyCeEvO]

Well, I don't think we needed a Knicks-Heat regular season game to tell us that. Deron, Dwight, a very good (perhaps not great) wing scorer, and some solid roleplayers is a perennial championship contender.

Ok, maybe the title was a little misleading. I don't think last night's game drastically changed the Nets outlook on the future or their goals. I'm just saying that the game was just a live confirmation of the type/build of a team that can at least give the Heat serious problems in the playoffs. It was more of a "If team A (Knicks) can beat the Heat, and potential makeup of team B is greater or as good at every position as team A, how much more should the management of team B push to make the potential of team B a reality.

If we don't make aggressive moves in order to retain the flexibility necessary to make a play for Dwight, we're going to be a team that struggles to stay at .500 for the first half. If we then miss out on him at the deadline, Deron's gonna check out and will bolt for sure.

Agreed.