stevemcqueen1 wrote:rockymac52 wrote:stevemcqueen1 wrote:They've got a Frankenroster with a bunch of massive egos, bloated salary, and unrealistic expectations of championship or bust, where chemistry was an afterthought in the building of the team and they made a nonsensical coaching hire. In other words, they did the same thing the Lakers did last offseason, only their players aren't as good as the ones LA had.
I don't think they were very good last year and I think the East got stronger. I don't know if they'll finish with a worse record than last season, but I doubt finishing with less than 50 wins gets them into the top four seeds this year. I think there are two top tier teams in Miami and Chicago, they should finish in some order of 1 and 2. Then you've got a second tier of New York and Indy, they'll be some order of 3 and 4. Then you've got five mediocre third tier teams in Washington, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Detroit, and Atlanta, that should be battling for the final four seeds. I think all of those teams hover just above .500 and only a few wins separate each for the final seeding.
I think you're completely wrong. I understand why you, and many others, might be hesitant to crown the Nets as an elite team that's as good or better than the Heat. Personally I haven't made up my mind about how good they can be this coming season, but I am positive that they are a top 5 team in the East, and most likely top 4 with the Knicks being the 5th best.
Last season they overachieved a bit, but still won 49 games. They added Pierce, Garnett, Terry, and Kirilenko. While all four of those guys might not be as good as they used to be, they're still all pretty good (less so on Terry, he's fairly average these days). I am concerned about how they will spread the ball around with so many high usage players, but I'm sure they'll find a way to make it work. I'm also skeptical of the Jason Kidd hire, especially if he's going to be coaching such a stacked veteran team. I suspect if he gets off to a slow start, he may be fired by December or January, and Lawrence Frank will take over once again.
Let's say their starting 5 are Williams/Johnson/Pierce/Garnett/Lopez. Then they have a bench lineup of Livingston/Terry/Kirilenko/Evans/Blatche. Obviously the bench lineup lacks scoring, but it's a pretty damn good group of 5 guys. When you consider that 2 or 3 of the starters will be on the court at all times, mixing and matches with those bench pieces, you start to realize that they have an absolutely stacked team. You're sleeping on them, big time.
Doubt it. Like I said before, the Lakers tried to take a similar shortcut last offseason and it ended in failure. The Nets built a similar team of expensive, mismatched parts only their players aren't as good.
Also, I don't agree that the bench is very good. Livingston and Blatche are Wizards rejects, Evans is basically just a goon that rebounds, and JET is pretty close to washed up. Kirilenko is quite good, but how many games will you get from him?
Deron Williams is the one who is supposed to glue that roster together but he's difficult and something of a coach killer. And he's not the player he was in Utah any more. Joe Johnson is terrible, probably the worst contract in the NBA. Pierce is good but he's difficult too. And he requires the ball a lot and doesn't seem like the best fit with DWill. And he's aging quickly.
KG is good and he's a glue guy and he's the one player that makes me think they've got a chance to get something to work. He'll do the dirty work to fill in the cracks. But he's 37. And he's streaky now, you'll get months where he's ineffective.
Brook Lopez is the best player on the Nets now, he's young and probably a year or two from his prime. I don't understand why they didn't just make their goal building something sustainable around him. Well I do actually, that would have required patience and discipline, which that organization lacks.
If Jason Kidd gets fired, then that really would mean their in for a Lakers style season.
I just don't see it working for them. Not as is. They're too old and expensive. Too many egos. No thought to cohesion and chemsitry in the construction. Indy totally lacks the star power Brooklyn has, but they're so much better constructed IMO. They were built like a real team--patiently and with care given to how the parts fit together.
The Nets are going to be really good IMO. Deron Williams & Brook Lopez will do the heavy lifting. Garnett & Pierce don't have to carry as much weight as they did in Boston. Pierce is probably an ideal 3rd option at this stage. Kirilenko should really help out as the first forward off the bench. With Kirilenko & Evans, they should be able to limited Garnett's minutes and save them for the playoffs. No matter what you think of Andray Blatche, he was arguably the most productive big off the bench in the entire NBA last season so he's a plus for them. Livingston is gamble but he finished last season strongly with Cleveland. They aren't a perfect team, but I think your trying to find flaws were there really aren't any.
Their biggest weaknesses are:
Overall team speed. This is a half court team. They'll struggle in up & down games but playoffs are about half court basketball and they'll be fine come playoff team.
Defending stretch 4s. Garnett is more of a C at this stage defensively than a PF. Keeping up with quick 4s may be a problem for him which makes the pickup of Kirilenko potentially so huge.
I suspect they'll comfortably win 50 games and depending on the playoff matchups, have an opportunity to get the East Finals to challenge Miami. I don't know if they have enough to beat Miami in a 7 game series but I wouldn't completely rule it out either.
