What offense will Kidd run?

[Boarder Patrol]

No it's not irrelevant, you can talk about the improvements they made but you can't say it's irrelevant. Pierce struggles keeping lots of guys in front of him and has lost tons of his lateral quickness (never elite, but it's fallen off a cliff).

Garnett was unarguably a great defender last year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he handles defending the new age, quicker, perimeter power forwards when in the past few years he's defended mostly C's, aside from the elite low post power forwards like West, Boozer, Duncan, etc.

Kirilenko has actually fallen off quite a bit. Last year his D rating was only 105 and the year before it was 109 - worse than even Deron and Melo this year.

That being said, while I find them to be reliable stats, one can argue that D rating and win shares are not really indicative of a players performance.

Definitely upgrades, but you're not getting the same two elite defenders in Kevin and AK, and Pierce is pretty bad in his own right.

[DrazenForThree]

No it's not irrelevant, you can talk about the improvements they made but you can't say it's irrelevant. Pierce struggles keeping lots of guys in front of him and has lost tons of his lateral quickness (never elite, but it's fallen off a cliff).

It is very irrelevant, as the Nets have 2 new starters and 8 new players overall. It is very irrelevant when you consider the nets 2 best defenders(Garnett/Kirilenko) were not on the team last year. It is very irrelevant when you consider the nets 2 worst defenders arent on the team this year(Brooks, Wallace). And it is very irrelevant when you consider the nets have 100% turnover in the coaching staff.

As far as pierce struggle or losing a step:
- His defensive rating last season was better then his career average.
- His defensive on/off numbers were the best they've been since 2009
- His steals are the most they have had since 2009
- His opponents PER is the lowest its been since 2010.

I'm not seeing anything which shows he has slowed defensively. And, at the very least, he is an upgrade defensively to what we had last year in wallace. Garnett is light years better defensively then Evans. Kirilnko and Anderson are light years better defensively then Brooks and Stackhouse. Lopez should be better with KG playing alongside him as opposed to evans. Even if you want to say their aquisitions are going to decline defensively, even serverly declined version of garnett, pierce, kirilenko, anderson are huge improvements to those they will be replacing.

Garnett was unarguably a great defender last year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he handles defending the new age, quicker, perimeter power forwards when in the past few years he's defended mostly C's, aside from the elite low post power forwards like West, Boozer, Duncan, etc.

Which PF exactly is Garnett going to struggle with? Bosh he has pretty much had his way with, Boozer is hardly a young quick perimeter player, same with west. Bargani isnt exactly someone im worried about garnett gaurding. If josh smith wants to stay outside and handle the ball and chuck 3's im fine with that. Nene isnt exactly a blur or outside shooter. maybe ilyasova could draw him outside a bit.

I fail to see these "new age" quick perimeter forwards he is going to have to gaurd, especially among east playoff teams. And even if a team wants to go small, the nets can easily match them going with kirilenko at the 4 and KG at the 5.

Kirilenko has actually fallen off quite a bit. Last year his D rating was only 105 and the year before it was 109 - worse than even Deron and Melo this year.

if by "falling off" you mean kirilenkos defensive rating is the best its been since 07-08 then yea, he has fallen off.
His defensive win shares, opponents PER, and on/off stats are right in line with his career averages, and last year he was sensational on that end from february on. he also allowed an average of .741 points per possession on the defensive which was like 9th among NBA forwards. The thing to remeber about andrei is that he is gaurding multiple positions and the teams best player regardless of its a 2-3-4. And his defensive rating was 3 points lower then that of his teams, which his on/off stats would indicate should be the case.

He had an excellent year last season. Durant was the only other player in the league to post 12/5/1.5/1.0 on 50%.

And again, even if you want to say he took a step back, he is replacing jerry stackhouse. 1/10 of AK47 is a massive upgrade to old man jerry.

Definitely upgrades, but you're not getting the same two elite defenders in Kevin and AK, and Pierce is pretty bad in his own right.

KG was elite last year. and again, even if they are just above average defenders, thats a monumental upgrade from the extremely poor defenders they are replacing

[NyCeEvO]

^ Great response!

Drazen has been doin' work since he's joined this site. Don't mess with this guy!