Lopez is hands down the best center KG has ever played with and the two make for a top 5 frontcourt imo. Heat will most likely finish #1 in the east but 2-4 is toss up at this point. Health is everything for the Nets.
The Heat are going to have to slow down at some point, at least during the regular season. No team since the 80s Bird/Magic teams has been in 4 Finals in a row. It's just too taxing physically and mentally, not enough rest. And LeBron takes part in FIBA too. I could see a deeper team like the Bulls or the Nets get the top seed next year, if they avoid major injuries.
Heat haven't done anything to get better. And if people are concerned about age for Brooklyn, why isn't there the same concern with Miami? Anyone stopped to look at the Heat roster lately? Battier is 34, Anderson is 35, Allen is 37, Haslem is 33, Miller is 33, Wade 31. Bosh will be turning 30 this season, and looked totally useless in the playoffs (may be showing his age).
I think they'll be very good. Very deep bench which should help limiting minutes in the regular season for guys like KG and PP which should help with the injuries.
Spend that money hunny...Hey, if you are a baller of that magnitude then you probably "aint worried bout nothin"!!
Considering the crazy depth of this team I don't see how injuries could be a real worry. KG and PP's minutes need to be limited to keep them fresh for the playoffs. Take a page out of the Spurs (they already stole the uniforms, might as well steal their strategy). Imagine with KG and PP limited to 30 mins or 28 mins a game. Who makes up those minutes? PP: AK47 has proven he is still good enough to be a starter. JJ can also easily slot into SF as Terry is also a starter talent at SG. KG: Blatche and Reggie Evans are trong players. We all know Blatche is a machine when he gets his head right and doesn't act like a bafoon (he is a borderline allstar if he stops being a head case). Then there's Evans, who is jut as strong defensively as KG is. At the end of the day, this team is worthy of the ECF and mybe even upsetting Miami. If injuries take place, they will be fine to play strong, however won't be able to beat MIA if both their ex-celts are out. At worst they are a 2nd round team ASSUMING TEAM CHEMISTRY WORKS. They could be upset in 2nd rd or be unluckily to be heading for a series against a great team early (Pacers or Knicks). Ultimately, this team is all about the culture that KG and Kidd can instill into these players. If culture and chemistry DOES NOT work out, then look out for this year's version of the Dwight/Kobe/Nash Lakers. At this point though, there is no one on this team who is going to hog like Kobe does. KG and PP know where they are at in their careers and will play the roles required to win. JJ might go for big shots, but ultimately defers to Deron. And Deron is now being coached by possibly the greatest PG of the past 15 years.
Interesting article by AdrianWoj, apparently other owners are concerned over the fact that AK47 took 7 million less to sign as backup for Brooklyn. They think/assume that there was some backroom, under the table deals to make him sign. Lets see what the NBA will do...
No chance against Miami. That's all you have to say about any team that's trying to contend, especially in the East.
They will own Miami at their 2 weakest spots. Bosh will probably suck it up against kg. Lebron will have his, and if wade doesn't get healthy jj might be the better 2. But Lebron is Lebron.
Alot of you are selling NJ short. They have a roster made up of top 5 players at every position in their conference and arguably the league. At PG. D.Will is behind only Rose & Irving. At SG JJ is behind only Wade & PGeorge. Pierce, KG, Lopez are easily top 5 in the conference and they are supported by a deep and talented bench led by Terry, AK47 and Evans. People seem to not have noticed or forgotten that paul pierce was damn good last year after rondo went down. In NJ he wont have to play 35 -40 min + a night and carry the entire offense like he did last year, but instead he'll get to play 25-35 minutes, picking his spots and spotting up. Pierce is 35, he isnt over the hill nor has he shown hes going to be next year, and while he isn't going to age as gracefully as kobe, he sure as hell isnt Tmac either. KG much like Pierce will benefit from playing less and with more talent. KG reportedly wanted to limit himself to 25-30 minutes a nite last season, so I'd expect him to play about that this year. While he clearly has started declining due to age, he is still one of the 5 best defensive interior players in the league and will continue to be a top 5 pf in the east next season.
Well first of all I think Billy King should be scared...really scared with the amount of money he's cost his owner. Sure Prokhorov has tons of money, but he didn't become a billionaire by being stupid and letting his employees spend his money willy-nilly. 186M, isn't that the price of a small market team already? If the Nets don't perform King might find himself being visited by the Russian mob one day. As far as the actual team goes, I think they will perform well this year and the next thanks to KG, Pierce and especially AK47 adding some much needed punch to their team. Their main problem last year was that D-Will, Lopez and JJ are all soft players who don't defend and fight for possessions, KG/PP/AK will toughen that team up. Plus, their team is already pretty much complete, I think Pierce will start and AK will be the super sub who can play 4 positions effectively (even center when going for small ball). I see them winning a lot of games and becoming the 2nd best team in the L. As good as they are though, they still won't get past the King.
Lopez really isn't very good from a winning perspective. Yes he has a great offensive game, but having a terrible defender and rebounder at center is just bad when those two skills are more important from a winning pov, it's not just about what you do, or your opponent does, it's about how much other people are allowed to do, which is in essence why the bench of chicago rolled them, the procession line he creates. What I'm expecting them to do is play Lopez at pf and Garnett at center, that will probably work since not having to anchor the defense might actually cover up for how damned terrible he is there
I think they'll be the #2 team in the East next year behind Miami. One of the deepest teams in NBA history.
From a financial pov, Prokhorov makes some ridiculous amount of money from his share of the Barclay center and the associated mini city they built around it. King's been given the same direction as Roman gave Chelsea, money is no object, theyb ultimately hold money in fairly low value, because they didn't really do a lot to earn it (they paid things like $1m with bribes of tens of millions they'd borrow to purchase billions of dollars worth of govt assets in the communist sell off). On top of that, this would have all been approved by him anyway.
