Nets Are Scorching

Nets should be better than Washington I don't think they are that good. I actually think Philly is going to be good and might make a run for the last spot with the Nets.

@ Matt directed towards 'tt'.

I second everything you said.

@ tt

You're not breaking any news pal, and you're overly pessimistic. Favors is a major project and Cousins is NBA ready? No kidding. We knew that when we drafted Favors. In one line you talk about Murphy being slow footed on D, in the next you say we should have taken Cousins to play along side Brook. Favors has the highest defensive potential of anyone in the draft!

I don't understand the Favors bashing.

Dwight Howard averaged 12 and 10 his rookie year. Amar'e averaged 13.5 and 8.7, and Bosh averaged 11.5 points and 7.4 boards.

So say with a reasonable expectation, we look for 11 and 7 from this raw project as a rookie, how is that any worse than the 5 and 3 Bobby Simmons gave us last year? Meanwhile the kid continues to grow into a franchise player along side Brook Lopez, giving us the nastiest inside 4 and 5 in the league.

The Nets stand a very real chance of being a playoff team this year. They improved at every position, and they improved their coaching. We'll assume that Miami, The Bucks, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and Orlando all make it back to the post season.

So that's the top 6 teams in the East in any given order. Now let's look at who's left.

Can we just agree to eliminate Cleveland and Toronto, because both of those teams lost their best player who their entire team was centered around. I think we should also go ahead and elimnate Charlotte who lost their starting PG and Center. I think we can win 9 or 10 out of 12 games against these 3 teams.

That leaves Indiana, NY, Detroit, Washington, Philly and NJ.

Detroit won 27 games last year and added nobody. They're counting on the same guys to not underachieve this year. I'm going to go ahead and call them a longer shot then us. I think we'll end up 3-1 against them.

Philly also won 27 shipped out Dalembert, and added Evan Turner, who's going to conflict with Iggy. So I'm going to cross them off as well. I think we'll go 3-1 vs them.

So we're left with NY, Indy, Washington and NJ with 2 playoff spots left.

Washington added Wall, and Arenas will return. They'll be better this year, so we'll mark them down as improved, but do your really feel the Nets are overmatched by them? I think we can go 2-1 vs them.

NY added Amar'e and Felton, but lost David Lee, after winning 29 games last year. They have limited depth, and Eddy Curry is still their Center. Do you believe Felton and Amar'e add 13 wins over David Lee? I think they can make the playoffs, but put them head to head against us on paper and you've got a coin flip. I have us going 2-2 against them.

Indianapolis traded away Murphy and added Collison and a washed up James Posey. They had some health issues last season, as well and won 32 games. I think they're a potential playoff team this year, after the trade, but again, I think we can go 1-2 against them.

So assuming we're swept by Miami and Orlando, and can steal a win against the other playoff bound Eastern teams, that puts at 25-27 in the East. Then looking at our Western conference schedule assuming we split with Houston, LAC, SAC, UT, and Portland, while getting swept by the stronger teams, and sweeping the Golden States and Minnesota's, you're looking at a team that's going to win between 37 and 42 games, which has us sitting 8th or 9th in the East, and eyeing a playoff spot.

Break down the schedule. 37 wins is a very reasonable and honest estimate. If we can get a few more wins in the right places, as Favors develops, and T-Will emerges. We're suddenly a playoff team.

I meant traded for Murphy.

No way does Favors win ROY. They just signed Murphy who is going to play most of the time.

Just outta curiosity, did you or mark pick Favors to be the ROY? Cuz it'd blow my mind if someone else did and also if you guys did too, i suppose.

It is too bad the Nets didn't sign Shaq. I know he isn't the same player but he is one of the funniest Twitter guys and he is from Newark.

was I not supposed to say who my sources are?

My sources are ESPN News and ESPN.

So my sources tell me that Carmelo wants out of Denver.Knicks are the favorite.

@ carlos- excellent point. nobody is jumping to get the players we let go. there is a major reason for that. jarvis hayes and bobby simmons are both slow and glued to the floor (no athleticism). Josh Boone has no skill. he is just a big body. keyon dooling is a chucker. and chris quinn is soft. we have made major upgrades.

I think Matt is pretty much spot on. Although guys like Keyon Dooling etc. conducted themselves as professionals and seem like great guys, they just weren't that great of basketball players.

How many other teams have been going afrer Chris Quinn, Jarvis Hayes, Bobby Simmons, Keyon Dooling, Josh Boone during free agency?

Our starting lineup will be better this yr, has better role players/depth and better coaching. No, we didn't get any big name free agents, but we still improved our team.

Did we overpay for some guys? Probably, but not by so much that those guys are untradeable or we're stuck with them for that long.

tt - question...if you have 12 wins last year and you get 24 wins this year isn't that 100% improvement?

Also, I think most players, writers, coaches "experts" etc would say they Nets are quite a bit more talented than last year, have a better coach, and will play harder. I am not saying they will be world beaters, but if they can stay healthy they could sneak into that 8th seed. I love the Murphy trade when you consider the alternatives.

@ matt- thank u for speaking common sense. we improved at the 2,3, and 4 position. we even improved at the 5; because brook lopez will be better than he was last year.

@tt first of all almost every player we signed is an improvement over the replacement. farmar is younger and more playofff/championship experience, petro is a backup C who is better than Boone and Battie we didnt even have a backup C outlaw is an athletic wing who can knock down shots yeah he is no lebron but he is better than hayes and hassel, Morrow shoots 46% from the 3p line thats amazing! troy murphy is an experienced three point shooter 4 who will pull down 10 reb a game and its good for favors to develop and he will develop. Stop being so negative no one cares that you sat down with former nets, most of them probably don't follow the nets anymore.

The Spurs aren't "getting up in age". The team's average age is 26.8-- the same as the the Hawks-- only 3 players are over 30, and they have 8 players who are 25 or younger.

The reason last season sucked is because their perennial All-Star and Finals MVP PG got hurt playing for France and it screwed his season-- he played at maybe 50% all year. This offseason, the team replaced pretty much all their old guys with younger, better players.

Roger Mason (29) -> Gary Neal (25)
Theo Ratliff (37) -> Tiago Splitter (25)
Michael Finley (37) -> James Anderson (21)
Keith Bogans (30) -> Alonzo Gee (23)
Marcus Haslip (29)-> Garrett Temple (24)

The Spurs also have five starting-quality big men in Duncan, Splitter, McDyess, Blair, and Bonner (career 41% 3-point and no longer a defensive liability). If RJ gets the Spurs system this season, this team will win 65 games.

i agree that if they win 24 games-this would be a 50% improvement--the other way to look at it is the team still sucks!!

sebastian,
i am still waiting for you answer to my earlier reply--i believe my response was quite focused--in contrast what do you mean by "expecting big things from the nets next season"?and how do you think these big things will be achieved looking at the nets roster?i will be fascinated to read how you believe this nets team can do this!!!

voted*

Hey I like the bold statement, he just wants fans outside of the nets to understand the possibility of this team being a legitimate playoff contender. Is Sebastian saying we'll be amazing no but he's expecting big things and as am I. We were voting second on biggest turn around next to the heat so I'm content

to sebastian,

what do you mean "expect big things from the nets next season"?
morrow was not resigned from offense- happy golden state--they could have resigned him if they wanted to!!
second,farmer is not a large improvement over steady keyon dooling!!

third,petro is not going to make a big difference!!
fourth,outlaw is a decent role player-nothing more!!
fifth,from what i am told favors is a major project to the point that insiders are questioning whether cousins would have made more sense at number 3 in the draft!!
lastly,murphy was obtained as a stopgap for 1 year--he has never made a big difference in terms of wins and losses prior to this year--why do you think his presence will be different now?
he plays defense poorly--not the kind of power defender you would put next to slowfooted lopez!!

in summary,a touch of reality would help you immensely and give you the credibility you need when writing!!