Doctor MJ wrote:StepBackCrack wrote:No more double teaming Harden for the Lakers. And they won't be able to double KD or Kyrie. If defending them doesn't work, then they have to obviously outscore them. Nets are more of an unknown potential due to some questions and for that reason Lakers are reasonably still the faves to win it all. Nets will also have to add new center/defensive players from the buyout market which I believe they will. Needless to say, Lakers/Nets will be BOXOFFICE matchup. Must watch TV.
I would be confident that the Nets experiment would be a success if Kyrie wasn't so unpredictable with his behavior but I will have to see what he does first.
I think it's important to remember that when you have multiple stars, the gold standard is how they'll play together beyond "My turn, your turn".
The Lakers won the championship last year in part because LeBron & AD are natural fits on offense, which makes the lineup better than the sum of its parts. The Nets will have to do this to and go far beyond because their defense is likely to suck.
This is true but remember this isn't their final roster. They have 3 more open spots and they might be able to make their defense from bad to acceptable with some moves. And they will make moves.
In their starting line-up, they have 2 plus defenders in Durant and Brown (this man is actually a steal for them. He is really good defender with high energy and can handle the ball and finish). But it's worth noting that Harden will spend less energy on offense now which will give him more energy for defense and we have seen from him in recent years, that he can be a plus defender when he actually tries.
This is what their starting line-up should be for now:
Kyrie
Brown
Harden
KD
Jordan (or Clax when he gets back and show improvement)
Note: Brown instead of Harris due to need of more defense than offense.
This one below is possible too but I prefer that above one because Brown will be essential for this team's parameter defense.
Kyrie
Harden
KD
Green
Jordan
They just need to find a good defensive center plus another PF that is good defensively and at rebounding. But the center position is the most needed now obviously. With few moves, their defense will be fine imo. Durant/Brown are plus defenders already and Harden will have energy to try more on defense now. Green is also a decent defender. They just lack a good center now and back-up PF.
Offensively, Nash can stagger KD/Harden/Kyrie and that can maximize their output on the court. I'm confident they will be super great offensively if Nash handles this correctly and obviously Kyrie/Harden buy in.