NYK vs NJN "Battle of the Atlantic" The Nets swept the Knicks with their thunder last season during the playoffs, but with K-Mart gone, it looks like the thunder has been taken away from the New Jersey Nets. The two guys the Nets basically have left is RJ, who is fresh off a new contract, and Kidd, though he might not return till' somewhere around December. That is, if he isn't traded before that. On the other hand, the Knicks have improved, not majorly, but have improved. If Allan Houston returns to 100 percent health, then the Knicks can be deadly. But that is doubtful, so we have the young JCraw at the SG. Though he might not start. But in conclusion, in my eyes, the NJN have rolled down the hill, and the NYK have climbed up the hill, even if it is only by a little. So I think the Knicks will win the Atlantic battle in the 04-05 season.
The Knicks have a big advantage over the Nets with Starbury, Kurt Thomas, Crawford and maybe Houston if he's 100 percent healthy. The Nets made a big mistake trading K-mart which will hurt their line-up and Jason Kidd wh may not return until December, so i'm guessing the Knicks will win the season series 3-1 here
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ming637:</div><div class="quote_post">The Knicks have a big advantage over the Nets with Starbury, Kurt Thomas, Crawford and maybe Houston if he's 100 percent healthy. The Nets made a big mistake trading K-mart which will hurt their line-up and Jason Kidd wh may not return until December, so i'm guessing the Knicks will win the season series 3-1 here</div> Yeah the K-mart trade was possibly the BIGGEST MISTAKE in the Nets franchise in YEARS.
I doubt even 3-1 I think we will have a sweep. I think that losing K-mart Rogers and Kittles is a BIG loss. They lost 37.6 ppg 17.9 rpg and 5 apg and barely made up for it by signing Eric Williams and Ron Mercer 15 ppg 5.3 rpg 2.3 apg combined so the nets lost altogether 22.6 ppg 12.6 rpg 2.7 apg. A lineup of: Jason Kidd Ron Merecer Richard Jefferson Aarron Williams Jason Collins will always get beaten with a lineup of Stephon Marbury Allan Houston Tim Thomas Kurt Thomas Vin Baker not to mention our bench
The Battle of the Atlantic is practically done. Your Knicks win.. I'm a diehard Nets fan, but I just can't see them getting over 500 this year, it's disappointing.
The knicks will walk all over the nets, but I think the "battle <u>FOR</u> the Atlantic" is not going to be between the knicks and nets, it will be between the knicks and the celtics! the celtics have got there rates alot higher then the nets do.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GjonC:</div><div class="quote_post">The knicks will walk all over the nets, but I think the "battle <u>FOR</u> the Atlantic" is not going to be between the knicks and nets, it will be between the knicks and the celtics! the celtics have got there rates alot higher then the nets do.</div> Yeah, it might come down to the Knicks and the Celtics. Cause I honestly dont see anyone better than the Celtics in the Atlantic division. But I still think the Knicks will win the Atlantic division.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Tha Knick:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah the K-mart trade was possibly the BIGGEST MISTAKE in the Nets franchise in YEARS.</div> That is no mistake. The Nets traded KMart with the future in mind. If they're going to move to Brooklyn, they would have needed money, which would have been wasted on Martin if they re-signed him. They spent the money on KMart on Richard Jefferson; whom they hope to build around in Brooklyn. Once they get to Brooklyn, they'd have a young, high-flying team with a bunch of picks to turn into future NBA stars. The move was not dumb at all.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">That is no mistake. The Nets traded KMart with the future in mind. If they're going to move to Brooklyn, they would have needed money, which would have been wasted on Martin if they re-signed him. They spent the money on KMart on Richard Jefferson; whom they hope to build around in Brooklyn. Once they get to Brooklyn, they'd have a young, high-flying team with a bunch of picks to turn into future NBA stars. The move was not dumb at all.</div> Well, I dont think NJ or Brooklyn want a "re-building" process.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Tha Knick:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, I dont think NJ or Brooklyn want a "re-building" process.</div> They do. Otherwise, how do you explain trading KMart and Kerry Kittles for picks? They know that although they will be good in the East for years to come with that roster, they won't be title contenders. That's why they traded KMart and started building around Jefferson.
I think people are getting a bit carried away with their views of both teams. The Knicks arent good enuff to start making bold predictions on who they will or wont sweep during the regular season before the season begans. You cant even honestly make a bold statement like saying the Knicks will sweep the season series vs the Bobcats, why because the NBA season is way to long to make those type of predictions before the season starts. We arent talking about a matter of 4-7 game playoff series played over a week or 2. The 4 meetings between the Nets/Knicks is spread out over 5 months, which means that the same teams that face each other in the 1st match in December will be totally different mentaly/and possibly player wise from the teams that face each other in their last matchup in April. Thats just the nature of the NBA, so to make season sweep or even have a true assetment of all 4 matchups is impossible. Teams go thru so much up & downs suring the course of 82 games, you cant predict wins week to week, yet alone call a season series. So yes the Knicks look to have an edge on the Nets in certain aspects on paper. But the difference in talent far enuff to make season sweep statements. And games arent won on paper in sports especially not the NBA, if they were the Hawks wouldnt have record victories against just about every top team in the league last year. So lets talk more about how each will stack up in the Alantic division race more than who will win indiviual games vs the other because how each stack up in the division is truely the only legit vision on has the potenial of predicting. And my view is that both of these teams will most definately be in the hunt for the division title. The Alantic Division doesnt have any teams good enuff to run away with the crown, which means the team closet or right above .500 will probably walk away with the division title. While the Knicks have the potenial to be very talented on the perimeter positions at the PG,SG and Small Forward, they also have the potenial to have a logjam at those 3 postions which could lead to some chemistry problems. The Knicks have 8 players, some of who are making well into the millions, who will all be looking to play signifant minutes between those 3 perimeter positions. So the Knicks are going to find away to distribute the minutes in away to keep alot of ego's in check. Which will be hard to do with guys who are use to playing major minutes like Tim Thomas, Allan Houston, Penny Hardaway, and even a guy like Shandon Anderson. So thats one question mark for the Knicks right off the bat, minute distribution along the perimeter. Another question clearly has to be the stableness of the Knicks at the 4 & 5 spots. While the Knicks add Crawford to the backcourt they still did not address their major problem, which is their frontcourt. Once again the Knicks look like they will be going into the season with Kurt Thomas as their most reliable bigman. Now I got alot of respect for the effort Kurt Thomas has given the Knicks over the past 6 years. And I think sometimes we in the New York era take his hustle and effort for granted sometimes, with the amount of respect we show him. But its clear as day he isnt enuff along the frontline to put the Knicks back amongst the league's better teams. The Knicks needed to do one of two things this off-season, either add some reliable depth alongside Kurt Thomas or use Kurt Thomas in a trade to up grade the power forward or Center spot, the Knicks did neither of the two. Instead, they re-sign Vin Baker at a bit to much imo. So the Knicks are going into the season with a frontline thats a question mark. I mean yes, the expectations are high for Mike Sweetny. But true be told this is really his rookie year after not finding away off the bench last year until the playoffs, really. So to expect anything overally special from him this year is asking a bit much from Sweet. I am expecting him to have a fare share of up & downs, good and bad stretches all season long as I would any rookie. Consistency will clearly be up & down for Mike this season. Vin Baker is always a question mark because of his off-court situation. He is liable to fall of the edge at anytime in his off-court battle. Everything seem just fine last year Boston for Baker, until one day you turn on the TV and here VB getting suspended from the Celtics indefinately. And thats how it is when battling the off court demons that he is trying to battle. So to count on Baker for an entire season is wishful thinking. And after those to the 4-5 spot probably becomes even more shakey with the exception of Jerome Williams, who we know will bring some scappiness and rebounding when he is in the game playing some at the 4. But Nazr Mohommad, Bruno Sundov(if he even makes it past traing camp) etc. their isnt much there for the Knicks at the bigman spots once you get past Kurt Thomas, as far as reliablty is concerned. The Nets have plenty of question marks that we all know about the loss of Martin at the 4, Kidd's knee, Ron Mercer replacing Kerry Kittles, what Zo is able to bring to the table? but one thing people for get to take into account is the exprience this team as together in adverse situations. The Nets still have more than half their active roster from runs thru the playoffs these last three 3 seasons. They have the exprience of winning games that they have too. Look at the Nets record against the Alantic Division last year, even when they struggled early they made sure to win the important games in the division. And thats due to the exprience, they still have a large part of that expreince still on their roster and they have add on to that will leaders like Eric Williams and the return of Zo. So the experience factor alone is going to allow the Nets to win alot more games then people expect. So like I said with their current rosters neither team is good enuff to runaway with the division(no one in the division is) but they both have factors that will keep them in the race but major question marks that may cost them in the end. The Alantic Division is wide open, something that you really couldnt say for the large part of the Nets 3-time division rain.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">That's why they traded KMart and started building around Jefferson.</div> Boy please ......... RJ is not a player to build around by any stretch. He's not a go-to-guy, and he doesn't sell. We'll see how good he is without Kidd throwing him lobs and dishing off the break. RJ is a great dunker, but nothing more. Just ask Larry Brown.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Boy please ......... RJ is not a player to build around by any stretch. He's not a go-to-guy, and he doesn't sell. We'll see how good he is without Kidd throwing him lobs and dishing off the break. RJ is a great dunker, but nothing more. Just ask Larry Brown.</div> Tell ya something, I'm not really the biggest RJ fan either, but a $70 million contract is not what you'll give to a guy you're going to have as a third option on offense.
Wow, this might be the worst division in basketball. Last year, New Jersey, New York, Toronto, Boston, and Philly won 47, 39, 33, 36 and 33 games respectively. And New Jersey just cut (not traded) Lucious Harris, got nothing for Kittles, traded Martin for draft picks, signed Richard Jefferson to a huge extension (this might be their stupidest move, look at Alan Houston, you have competition for worst contract ever), and Kidd is hurt. So the only 500 team in the conference will be fighting it out with the Bobcats next year, this team will suck. Well, lets look at the other teams. As pointed out, New York made some minor improvements, probably enough to offset declining performances by Thomas and Houston. They could be a little better. Boston, maybe they'll get Payton to play, they could be a little better. Toronto, I kinda like some of their guys, they probably could make a bigger jump than the rest of the teams, if VC is healthy all year. Philly, well, they still have AI, he'll play some games and miss some games, Dalembert is a nice player and should improve. They will probably improve some over last year. So, my prediction for next year: New York - 41 wins Totonto - 39 wins Boston - 38 wins Philly - 37 wins New Jersey - 20 wins
