Realistic expectations for 2014-2015

[Da_Kidd]

Barring any trades, seems like this is the roster were rolling with. I'm just curious to see how Nets fans expectations are of this team for the upcoming season. A lot of critics seem to think that we're going to take a step back with the loss of Pierce but I think it's quite the contrary.

Like every season, a lot depends on the health of Lopez and D-Will as well as the development of Mirza as well as, to some extent, Boyan. I have the utmost confidence in Lionel to get this team playing hard especially on the defensive end. IMO, the East is wide open next season with so many questions with each team (Cavs with the young kids, D Rose's health, Indiana without Lance, Miami without LeBron)

What's your take on this?

[Zachbretton]

If I wasn't on my phone I'd write more but my quick answer is that I believe we're in a unique place. Yes, injuries will be our main downfall, but if we can stay healthy with this Roster and get the true grit we need from Hollins I see is being a mid to high team, winning about 45-52 games.

That is only if everything goes the way it should; Plumlee keeps developing, we get a healthy Brook, healthy KG, AK47 goes back to normal, Dwill doesn't suck more than last season, Bogs fits into the NBA, etc.

If we can get things to go right, I see us doing better than our 49 wins with the core of Dwill/JJ/Brook since we actually have a team around them now.

A lot of people will doubt us, but I know there have been posts and are posters on here can explain what I'm thinking with more stats and a deeper knowledge.

I'll post more later to give my full thoughts


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Paradise]

We have so many "If" factors but we still have the capability of being a very good regular season team. I think our biggest step back would be in the playoffs (assuming we get there). I think Deron will be better than last season. I see him putting up similar numbers to the 2012-13 season. Nothing elite but above average basketball. I think Brook will be fine. Joe will be most likely the first option. His health will be the underrated factor. He's been relatively healthy as a Net. Can it continue? Our bench should be solid. I think Jack will be trending towards his NO/GS production but again, if he isn't that isn't necessarily a terrible thing. People forget we had CJ Watson here as our backup PG and small ball SG. If we survived with CJ Watson, I would assume we can survive with Jack considering he is a better rebounder, passer and defender than Watson.

Bogdanovic is really the biggest question mark for me. I have no clue what to expect. He can either have a very impressive season or be an inconsistent player like Mirza as a rookie. I expect Mason to be better. I think Markel Brown will find a way to earn minutes in the rotation eventually. Right now, we can be anywhere between 5-9. That isn't necessarily a knock on the team but a sign of a better spread out Eastern Conference.

1. Chicago
2. Cleveland
3. Washington
4. Toronto
5. Charlotte
___
6. Indiana
7. Brooklyn
8. Miami/Atlanta/Detroit

[Prokorov]

Barring any trades, seems like this is the roster were rolling with. I'm just curious to see how Nets fans expectations are of this team for the upcoming season. A lot of critics seem to think that we're going to take a step back with the loss of Pierce but I think it's quite the contrary.

Like every season, a lot depends on the health of Lopez and D-Will as well as the development of Mirza as well as, to some extent, Boyan. I have the utmost confidence in Lionel to get this team playing hard especially on the defensive end. IMO, the East is wide open next season with so many questions with each team (Cavs with the young kids, D Rose's health, Indiana without Lance, Miami without LeBron)

What's your take on this?

FLOOR:
-Lopez struggles, then blows out his foot again and plays <= 20 games
-dwill struggles, misses more time/less effective then last year
-we miss livingston/pierce

42 wins, lose in 5 games in round 1

CEILING:
-everyone stays relatively healthy(or as much as can be expected)
-lopez plays at a high level
-dwill is back to 2nd half of 2012-13 form
-new addtions/young guys play well

49 wins, 2nd round exit

[MaxZaslofskyJr]

I honestly don't have a lot of optimism at present. The Nets somehow have the "feel" of a team going in the wrong direction. A big worry is that one of Williams and/or Lopez goes down for an extended stretch (or can't play 100%). I think that the additions don't outweigh the subtractions to the roster. Chemistry might have to be re-established in the 1st couple of months. Offer me a .500 season right now and I'd take it. The ceiling is higher than that, of course, but to reach it, the team needs 100% health. Hope that happens.

[NyCeEvO]

We have so many "If" factors but we still have the capability of being a very good regular season team.

(snip)

1. Chicago
2. Cleveland
3. Washington
4. Toronto
5. Charlotte
___
6. Indiana
7. Brooklyn
8. Miami/Atlanta/Detroit

I agree that there are a lot of "if" factors which are mostly based around health, but how can you have Miami below us?

If you're assuming the Nets are relatively healthy, we should do the same for them.

A (relatively) healthy core of Wade, Deng, Bosh and McBob should at least be equal to us if not higher.

We have to remember that 2 of our Big 3 are coming off of surgery: Brook with 2 more major surgeries and D-Will has a long recovery process.

Not only is it realistic to expect them to be rusty out of the gate, but Lopez will almost definitely have a minutes restriction of like 25-27 minutes per game. It was frustrating watching Lopez only get 30mpg so him getting anything less is only going to decrease the amount of PT he has.

The number of variables that have to go in our favor in order to reach our potential is greater than most teams (especially MIA).

I think our ceiling is the 5th/6th seed (if everything goes well).

If we have some small injury-related issues (which should kinda be a realistic expectation for this specific team), we're the ones battling for the 7th/8th seed.

If any of our core players go down for a while, I can easily see us missing the playoffs.

[Paradise]

We have so many "If" factors but we still have the capability of being a very good regular season team.

(snip)

1. Chicago
2. Cleveland
3. Washington
4. Toronto
5. Charlotte
___
6. Indiana
7. Brooklyn
8. Miami/Atlanta/Detroit

I agree that there are a lot of "if" factors which are mostly based around health, but how can you have Miami below us?

If you're assuming the Nets are relatively healthy, we should do the same for them.

A (relatively) healthy core of Wade, Deng, Bosh and McBob should at least be equal to us if not higher.

We have to remember that 2 of our Big 3 are coming off of surgery: Brook with 2 more major surgeries and D-Will has a long recovery process.

Not only is it realistic to expect them to be rusty out of the gate, but Lopez will almost definitely have a minutes restriction of like 25-27 minutes per game. It was frustrating watching Lopez only get 30mpg so him getting anything less is only going to decrease the amount of PT he has.

The number of variables that have to go in our favor in order to reach our potential is greater than most teams (especially MIA).

I think our ceiling is the 5th/6th seed (if everything goes well).

If we have some small injury-related issues (which should kinda be a realistic expectation for this specific team), we're the ones battling for the 7th/8th seed.

If any of our core players go down for a while, I can easily see us missing the playoffs.

Chalmbers/Cole/Napier
Wade/Ennis
Deng/Granger
McRoberts/Haslem
Bosh/Anderson

The Heat still don't have a true point guard and no three point shooting. Chalmers isn't a real PG. Cole is considered expendable and Napier is still a rookie and they don't seem interested in starting him. We still have a better bench and PG rotation. The current Heat roster is similar to the Pre-LeBron Heat team that won 43 and 47 wins in 2008/2009.

[jeff1624]

I'm not sold on the Heat being this great team that should automatically make the playoffs. Who's their first option? Wade? He doesn't have it in him to be the leading scorer day in and day out anymore. I'm not sure Bosh has it in him either.

Their bench is terrible. Who's the 6th man that is suppose to provide a spark off the bench and/or fill in for wade when he's given nights off? Cole? Granger's corpse?

Their rebounding (which was already terrible) is gonna take a hit without Lebron, but it's gonna be an even bigger problem since their offense won't be nearly as efficient and thus will make them have to work harder on both ends which will tire out this team by February.

---

Indiana is gonna be terrible this year. I don't really like Stephenson's game but theres no denying how important he was for them. There offense which was s****y to begin with is gonna be even worse... as will their rebounding since Stephenson was huge for the on the boards. Their bench is slightly better... but their starting five is MUCH worse considering the fact that Hibbert's rotting corpse has been exposed. This team is gonna be sooo bad.



---

These teams all make it. No order:

Wizards
Cavs
Raptors
Bulls
Nets (with a relatively healthy team. Meaning Brook and Deron both play more than 50 games each, if not they'll fight for an 8th seed)
Hornets
Atlanta (with a healthy Horford, if not they miss playoffs)

These teams will be fighting for one of the last spots:

Knicks
Heat
Pistons (if they find a better PG or SF by trading Monroe.


These teams make it if everything gels and other teams (mainly Nets, Heat or Atlanta) completely fall apart:

Pacers
Celtics

[NyCeEvO]

Getting Stuckey on vet min deal is a solid replacement for Stephenson.

There's no way he can do everything that Stephenson did but he attacks the basket relentlessly and can hit from the outside. He'll do a solid job.

Also, are we also believing that Paul George has plateaued offensively and isn't getting better this offseason?

Everyone knows that the Pacers offense was absolute crap. I expect Vogel to be a bit more creative than just pass the ball to the open guy and let's watch something happen.

Despite their ridiculous moments of epic fail-ness, they still managed to get the 1st seed and they still managed to get to the ECF.

Is Lance Stephenson, the difference between having the #1 seed and completely missing the playoffs? I don't think so.

If they develop any semblance of an offensive system (which I'm sure Larry Bird has and will continue to discuss with Vogel), Stuckey plays as he normally does, and PG grows just a tad more as a better offensive player, they'll make the playoffs.

[Paradise]

Getting Stuckey on vet min deal is a solid replacement for Stephenson.

There's no way he can do everything that Stephenson did but he attacks the basket relentlessly and can hit from the outside. He'll do a solid job.

Also, are we also believing that Paul George has plateaued offensively and isn't getting better this offseason?

Everyone knows that the Pacers offense was absolute crap. I expect Vogel to be a bit more creative than just pass the ball to the open guy and let's watch something happen.

Despite their ridiculous moments of epic fail-ness, they still managed to get the 1st seed and they still managed to get to the ECF.

Is Lance Stephenson, the difference between having the #1 seed and completely missing the playoffs? I don't think so.

If they develop any semblance of an offensive system (which I'm sure Larry Bird has and will continue to discuss with Vogel), Stuckey plays as he normally does, and PG grows just a tad more as a better offensive player, they'll make the playoffs.

It's hard to assume George will get alot better. Everyone assumed he would blossom into an elite scorer last season and he didn't. He actually got worse at one point. The Pacers were 22nd in offense with Stephenson on the floor and 29th in offense rating with him on the bench. Stuckey is a decent replacement but he is frequently on the injury list.

Even if Vogel tries to implement some sort of offensive system, it won't change the fact Hibbert not a reliable offensive threat, West is older, George Hill is not a starter, etc. They will most likely make the playoffs but they have a good chance at a major regression.

[Prokorov]

Getting Stuckey on vet min deal is a solid replacement for Stephenson.

There's no way he can do everything that Stephenson did but he attacks the basket relentlessly and can hit from the outside. He'll do a solid job.

Also, are we also believing that Paul George has plateaued offensively and isn't getting better this offseason?

Everyone knows that the Pacers offense was absolute crap. I expect Vogel to be a bit more creative than just pass the ball to the open guy and let's watch something happen.

Despite their ridiculous moments of epic fail-ness, they still managed to get the 1st seed and they still managed to get to the ECF.

Is Lance Stephenson, the difference between having the #1 seed and completely missing the playoffs? I don't think so.

If they develop any semblance of an offensive system (which I'm sure Larry Bird has and will continue to discuss with Vogel), Stuckey plays as he normally does, and PG grows just a tad more as a better offensive player, they'll make the playoffs.

the pacers were a fraud team already and just lost their best player. this puts even more pressure on george for offense, and he is already doing too much for an average offensive player.

they are going to take an enormous step back

[MrDollarBills]

I think we're a 5th-6th seed.

Lots of versatility. I think the biggest wildcard for us is health. I think that we'll surprise people. We won't be tanking games or taking nights off, and players will get their asses handed to them by the coach if they dare take plays/nights off. We also have a much needed injection of youth.

I'm fine with what we've got right now.

[MrDollarBills]

We have so many "If" factors but we still have the capability of being a very good regular season team.

(snip)

1. Chicago
2. Cleveland
3. Washington
4. Toronto
5. Charlotte
___
6. Indiana
7. Brooklyn
8. Miami/Atlanta/Detroit

I agree that there are a lot of "if" factors which are mostly based around health, but how can you have Miami below us?

If you're assuming the Nets are relatively healthy, we should do the same for them.

A (relatively) healthy core of Wade, Deng, Bosh and McBob should at least be equal to us if not higher.

We have to remember that 2 of our Big 3 are coming off of surgery: Brook with 2 more major surgeries and D-Will has a long recovery process.

Not only is it realistic to expect them to be rusty out of the gate, but Lopez will almost definitely have a minutes restriction of like 25-27 minutes per game. It was frustrating watching Lopez only get 30mpg so him getting anything less is only going to decrease the amount of PT he has.

The number of variables that have to go in our favor in order to reach our potential is greater than most teams (especially MIA).

I think our ceiling is the 5th/6th seed (if everything goes well).

If we have some small injury-related issues (which should kinda be a realistic expectation for this specific team), we're the ones battling for the 7th/8th seed.

If any of our core players go down for a while, I can easily see us missing the playoffs.

Chalmbers/Cole/Napier
Wade/Ennis
Deng/Granger
McRoberts/Haslem
Bosh/Anderson

The Heat still don't have a true point guard and no three point shooting. Chalmers isn't a real PG. Cole is considered expendable and Napier is still a rookie and they don't seem interested in starting him. We still have a better bench and PG rotation. The current Heat roster is similar to the Pre-LeBron Heat team that won 43 and 47 wins in 2008/2009.

Wade's body is a mess. Bosh at this point is their most reliable player. I like what we have more than them tbh.

[kerry kittles]

I think it's a wide spectrum: I can see us missing the playoffs or making the 2nd round.

If you like at our top 8 or so players there's serious health concerns with about half of them: AK, Lopez, DWill, KG. Then add in Bogdanovic being a real question mark.
Look at the games they played last year:
KG: 54 games
AK: 45 games
Lopez: 17 games
DWill: 64 games.

What is most worrisome to me is how our front court is older/more injury prone and thin.
Mirza/AK/Plumlee
Lopez/KG/Plumlee

If KG, AK and Lopez miss games simultaneously we're paper thin. That is where I think losing Pierce and Blatche hurt. If we're healthy I believe we can overcome some of this, but if we get hit hard by injuries we have Corey Jefferson, mr irrelevant as our backup? That worries me.
I also think we will miss some of Pierce's leadership and toughness and he was still a damn good player.

So I think doomsday scenario would be us getting hit hard by injuries, especially in the front court, and the East teams pegged 2-8 improving.

On the flip side IF the team can stay healthy there is some potential there if you want to compare it to 2012-13:
DWill - real wildcard; but hopefully can bounce back and match his production in 2012-13
Jack - improvement over Watson
Anderson - still better than the corpse of Crash who defenses played 10 feet off
Karasev/Brown/Bogdanovic - don't really know what we're getting; all unproven players, but hopefully better than Brooks/Stackhouse/Bogans; Bogans was solid, but hard to be much worse than Stackhouse/Brooks
Johnson - was better in his 2nd year in Brooklyn than his 1st. I think playing at SF suits him better and having Anderson - not a great 3 point shooter, but a guy teams wouldn't leave wide open and Teletovic really help over the blackholes of Evans/Wallace. It keeps defenses more honest and won't face as many double teams
Mirza - can do a lot more than Reggie, a one trick pony
AK- a healthy AK is much more versatile than Hump
Brook - can't see him playing up to the same level
Plumlee - Blatche had a really solid his first year in Brooklyn; hope Plumlee can build upon a solid rookie campaign
KG - still a plus defender

So with that being said I'd peg us 37-50 wins depending on injuries. 37 would be use ravaged by injuries and 50 us staying relatively healthy with bounce backs years from DWill and AK.

[Hello Brooklyn]

I don't see why you guys think the 2nd round is the best we can do. I don't think we would lose to the Heat in a 7 game series.

IF everyone is relatively healthy meaning Deron and Brook are ready to go for the playoffs and most of the season, I see a lot more.

I think we can win 48-52 games. There is also nobody in the East that scares me. The Bulls don't scare me. The Pacers don't scare me. The Raptors definitely don't scare me. The Heat don't scare me.

The only team I think has the potential to be dominant is the Cavs. But that depends a lot on how the young guys play.

Not out of the realm of possibility for us to make the ECF with Joe/Deron/Brook all healthy.

[jeff1624]

Getting Stuckey on vet min deal is a solid replacement for Stephenson.

There's no way he can do everything that Stephenson did but he attacks the basket relentlessly and can hit from the outside. He'll do a solid job.

Also, are we also believing that Paul George has plateaued offensively and isn't getting better this offseason?

Everyone knows that the Pacers offense was absolute crap. I expect Vogel to be a bit more creative than just pass the ball to the open guy and let's watch something happen.

Despite their ridiculous moments of epic fail-ness, they still managed to get the 1st seed and they still managed to get to the ECF.

Is Lance Stephenson, the difference between having the #1 seed and completely missing the playoffs? I don't think so.

If they develop any semblance of an offensive system (which I'm sure Larry Bird has and will continue to discuss with Vogel), Stuckey plays as he normally does, and PG grows just a tad more as a better offensive player, they'll make the playoffs.

I honestly think the 2nd half of the season were the pacers' true colors, you know the one where the pacers struggled to be a .500 team in the steaming pile of crap that was the 2013/14 Eastern Conference. They had a flawless first half that saw EVERY little thing click for them. Stephenson was playing like a legitimate allstar racking up Triple Doubles in impressive wins. Roy Hibbert was playing like a top center defensively and was acceptable offensively. We saw Paul George playing like the third best player in the league and despite their average offense they were posting up a historically excellent defense which won them many games.

Lance is gone now and Stuckey isn't anything close to the distributor or scorer. Roy Hibbert was exposed completely. He'll be good defensively, but do you really expect him to average more points than he did last season? Because the Pacers need to pick up some of the scoring now that Stephenson is gone. West will be 34 by the start of next season. George is an allstar player, but he'll never be an elite scorer because he isn't great at posting up or getting by his to attack the rim strongly. He'll always take contested threes.

Stephensons departure isn't the only thing that is gonna drop them from the first seed to missing the playoffs completely. I think the Pacers' first half of last season was one of the luckiest teams ever. No injuries aside from Granger who wasn irrelevant at that point. Stephenson and George playing beyond their means. Roy Hibbert playing like an actual basketball player and so on. The east has gotten better and people just aren't afraid of playing the Pacers anymore. Players know they can bully Hibbert and turn him into an emotional wreck. Players know that they can outscore the pacers because they will have one of the worst offenses in the league. Coaches aren't gonna be afraid to throw double and triple teams at George because they aren't afraid of Stuckey beating them. The Pacers are done.

[MrDollarBills]

I don't see why you guys think the 2nd round is the best we can do. I don't think we would lose to the Heat in a 7 game series.

IF everyone is relatively healthy meaning Deron and Brook are ready to go for the playoffs and most of the season, I see a lot more.

I think we can win 48-52 games. There is also nobody in the East that scares me. The Bulls don't scare me. The Pacers don't scare me. The Raptors definitely don't scare me. The Heat don't scare me.

The only team I think has the potential to be dominant is the Cavs. But that depends a lot on how the young guys play.

Not out of the realm of possibility for us to make the ECF with Joe/Deron/Brook all healthy.

The Bulls are better than the Cavs imo.

I think that the Nets have a puncher's chance if they have decent health.

[Prokorov]

I agree that there are a lot of "if" factors which are mostly based around health, but how can you have Miami below us?

If you're assuming the Nets are relatively healthy, we should do the same for them.

A (relatively) healthy core of Wade, Deng, Bosh and McBob should at least be equal to us if not higher.

We have to remember that 2 of our Big 3 are coming off of surgery: Brook with 2 more major surgeries and D-Will has a long recovery process.

Not only is it realistic to expect them to be rusty out of the gate, but Lopez will almost definitely have a minutes restriction of like 25-27 minutes per game. It was frustrating watching Lopez only get 30mpg so him getting anything less is only going to decrease the amount of PT he has.

The number of variables that have to go in our favor in order to reach our potential is greater than most teams (especially MIA).

I think our ceiling is the 5th/6th seed (if everything goes well).

If we have some small injury-related issues (which should kinda be a realistic expectation for this specific team), we're the ones battling for the 7th/8th seed.

If any of our core players go down for a while, I can easily see us missing the playoffs.

Chalmbers/Cole/Napier
Wade/Ennis
Deng/Granger
McRoberts/Haslem
Bosh/Anderson

The Heat still don't have a true point guard and no three point shooting. Chalmers isn't a real PG. Cole is considered expendable and Napier is still a rookie and they don't seem interested in starting him. We still have a better bench and PG rotation. The current Heat roster is similar to the Pre-LeBron Heat team that won 43 and 47 wins in 2008/2009.

Wade's body is a mess. Bosh at this point is their most reliable player. I like what we have more than them tbh.

they play defense, they have a championship system the players buy in to, and they have alot of 2way guys. Wade is no more broken down then Dwill and bosh is better then anyone on our team.... and again, they play defense.

that team will win 45 games

[Prokorov]

I don't see why you guys think the 2nd round is the best we can do. I don't think we would lose to the Heat in a 7 game series.

IF everyone is relatively healthy meaning Deron and Brook are ready to go for the playoffs and most of the season, I see a lot more.

because a team whose best players are dwill and lopez arent good enough go further. we simply arent a very good team. we are talented enough to where we cant be that bad. too many vets with talent to be a 35-40 win team, even with major healthy issues.

but we also arent good enough to win 55 or challenge a second round opponent.

I think we can win 48-52 games. There is also nobody in the East that scares me. The Bulls don't scare me. The Pacers don't scare me. The Raptors definitely don't scare me. The Heat don't scare me.

and we dont scare anyone either. our pieces dont fit well. if you run out our 5 best guys, then our defense is somewhere between average and poor. move KG to center and you are taking our best offensive player off the floor. Dwill is trash and cant be counted on.

teams would love, maybe even tank in order to face us in the playofs

The only team I think has the potential to be dominant is the Cavs. But that depends a lot on how the young guys play.

Not out of the realm of possibility for us to make the ECF with Joe/Deron/Brook all healthy.

you dont need to be dominant to beat us. we arent a very good team. our best players are fringe all-stars and are extremely soft below average defenders.

we are what we are, a 45ish win team who hopefully gets out of the first round... just like the last 2 seasons

[Prokorov]

Getting Stuckey on vet min deal is a solid replacement for Stephenson.

There's no way he can do everything that Stephenson did but he attacks the basket relentlessly and can hit from the outside. He'll do a solid job.

Also, are we also believing that Paul George has plateaued offensively and isn't getting better this offseason?

Everyone knows that the Pacers offense was absolute crap. I expect Vogel to be a bit more creative than just pass the ball to the open guy and let's watch something happen.

Despite their ridiculous moments of epic fail-ness, they still managed to get the 1st seed and they still managed to get to the ECF.

Is Lance Stephenson, the difference between having the #1 seed and completely missing the playoffs? I don't think so.

If they develop any semblance of an offensive system (which I'm sure Larry Bird has and will continue to discuss with Vogel), Stuckey plays as he normally does, and PG grows just a tad more as a better offensive player, they'll make the playoffs.

I honestly think the 2nd half of the season were the pacers' true colors, you know the one where the pacers struggled to be a .500 team in the steaming pile of crap that was the 2013/14 Eastern Conference. They had a flawless first half that saw EVERY little thing click for them. Stephenson was playing like a legitimate allstar racking up Triple Doubles in impressive wins. Roy Hibbert was playing like a top center defensively and was acceptable offensively. We saw Paul George playing like the third best player in the league and despite their average offense they were posting up a historically excellent defense which won them many games.

Lance is gone now and Stuckey isn't anything close to the distributor or scorer. Roy Hibbert was exposed completely. He'll be good defensively, but do you really expect him to average more points than he did last season? Because the Pacers need to pick up some of the scoring now that Stephenson is gone. West will be 34 by the start of next season. George is an allstar player, but he'll never be an elite scorer because he isn't great at posting up or getting by his to attack the rim strongly. He'll always take contested threes.

Stephensons departure isn't the only thing that is gonna drop them from the first seed to missing the playoffs completely. I think the Pacers' first half of last season was one of the luckiest teams ever. No injuries aside from Granger who wasn irrelevant at that point. Stephenson and George playing beyond their means. Roy Hibbert playing like an actual basketball player and so on. The east has gotten better and people just aren't afraid of playing the Pacers anymore. Players know they can bully Hibbert and turn him into an emotional wreck. Players know that they can outscore the pacers because they will have one of the worst offenses in the league. Coaches aren't gonna be afraid to throw double and triple teams at George because they aren't afraid of Stuckey beating them. The Pacers are done.

Pretty much spot on, last years 55 win pacer team is basically like the prior years 54 win knicks team. sure they won 54 games and were the 2 seed, but we all knew that knicks team had bigger issue and had alot of luck and it was only a matter of time before it came crashing down

this pacers team is the same. they were always a fraud team and having just lost their best player, they are in for a major decline.