I'm not sure if you heard, but the Nets made a few changes this summer. After playing to a 49-33 record in the regular season, securing the No. 4 seed in the East, and getting bounced in seven games by the Derrick Rose-less Bulls, interim coach P.J. Carlesimo was canned the next day and Brooklyn refused to stop there. Months later, the Nets pulled a deal straight from the Dodgers' playbook, acquiring Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry, and a whole lot of luxury tax.
Many see the souped-up Nets as the best team in the Atlantic and possibly one of the league's elite teams in 2013/14, but don't try telling that to Knicks swingman J.R. Smith, who says that the Nets "weren't good" when he returned to the league in February 2012 and took great pains to point out that they're still "not good." What will propel the Knicks ahead of their cross-borough rivals? Take it away J.R..
“I feel comfortable. People ruled us out last year early, too. We added some great pieces. Unfortunately, we got rid of some good pieces. But we added Andrea [Bargnani], Beno [Udrih], Metta [World Peace]. We have to consistently play like we did the first 20 games last year the whole season. We can’t have a middle-of-season lapse. We have to consistently play the same way,” Smith told ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, despite their acquisitions, it looks like they'll be without Smith for at least the first week or two of the season. When they are at full strength, they'll be jockeying for position in the Atlantic against a starting five of Deron Williams, Pierce, Garnett, Joe Johnson, and Brook Lopez. The Nets also boast an improved second unit, spearheaded by small forward Andrei Kirilenko. The Knicks should still be a playoff team by any measure, but it looks like they'll have their work cut out for them. We know what J.R. thinks, but now we want you to weigh in. Who wins the battle of New York in 2013/14?
3 guys in the starting lineup 32, 36, and 37 years old, a PF that can’t play back to backs, a SG that has a shoot first mentality – but can’t shoot, another SG that’s coming off of his worst career year – and he’ll be 36, a center that can’t defend or rebound, and a rookie head coach that is nearly the same age as some of the players he’ll be coaching?
I just don’t see it. Ignore the names and you have a 5th seed. Remember when the Lakers were going to go 72-10? Age matters.
Stop being logical. Everyone knows that the only time age matters is when the players on the Knicks are old. We also know that the only team’s record that will be affected by Rose’s return is the Knicks record, all other teams, including the ones in their division, will still win as many games or more than last year. But seriously, Pierce, Garnett and Terry were all looking like absolute garbage in the playoffs last year, with no injuries, just oldness, but now they are going to be reinvigorated because…. why again?
Why everyone doesn’t seem to understand this is so far beyond me it’s ridiculous. You add three old, way past their prime players to a squad with a guy who’s never coached any level, to a team that’s already clumsily put together and it’s just supposed to turn into the 95-96 Bulls? Worse yet, everyone actually believes that, it seems.
I really believe it’s the ESPN bias causing a lot of this. They’ve went out of their way to dump on the Knicks time after time while attempting to jump on whatever hot bandwagon they could (Heat, Lakers, now Nets) – and then they report it all as “news” to unknowing NBA casual fans that don’t know the game or the hypocrisy of what they’re saying.
It also doesn’t help that the Knicks and Dolan have shut out the media and have horrible rapport with beat writers like Frank Isola of the Daily News who continuously bash them because they shut him out a few years back.
I can’t upvote this enough.
Ironically the Knicks are a shining example (as are last years Lakers) that you can’t buy an old team and win. Look at nearly every single Knicks team post Ewing until a few years ago and they attempted the same thing with old vets that were long past their prime. Steve Francis, Penny Hardaway, Vin Baker, Mutombo, McGrady. How far did it get them?
The Knicks had a 2003-04 roster that at some point consisted of Marbury, Penny, Kurt Thomas, Allan Houston, Antonio McDyess, Kieth Van Horn, Vin Baker, (a young) Nazr Mohammed and Mutombo. They were coached by Lenny Wilkens and Don Chaney, a NBA champion and a former coach of the year. As dysfunctional as that era was…did everyone not have high hopes that they’d be pretty good ON PAPER?
Such things are true. If nets fans didn’t appreciate last season results then they’re in for a major wake up call this season. The nets aren’t better than the “Knicks!”