Brooklyn Nets
○ Well, what an offseason it was for the new look Nets. They come in to this season bursting with enthusiasm, and most importantly, they've managed to hold on to their best players with little regard for expense, and added some solid, reliable vets.
○ With an impressive starting 5 of
Lopez, Humphries, G Wallace, Joe Johnson and DWil, the Nets, to their absolute credit, managed to keep
Marshon Brooks, an excellent 2 guard that turned a lot of heads as a rookie last year.
○ To their credit again, the Nets went out and brought in big bodies
Reggie Evans and Andre Blatche via FA. I think Evans will be the thorn in our side when we face the Nets. He's a savage rebounder and defender, an intimidator and a huge energy boost off the pine. The addition of
Sheed was a relief to me regarding this. Blatche is still a capable player, but is a bit of a mess mentally. He also has a propensity to get above playing weight.
○ They also added
Mirza Teletovic, last year's leading scorer in the Euro League as their very own
Novak. Teletovic, however is a far, far more rounded offensive threat, and at 6'9 - 255, could be the Nets X factor in taking the season series from us. Great addition.
Head to Head: I'd have to give it to the Nets because of Derron Williams. Our match ups are quite even,
with the exception of the unpredictable Stoudemire, except for at the 1. The big, able DWil is going to kill Felton, Kidd and Prigioni this year, and unless Shump comes back 100% cured and plays some 1 for us against him, the Nets have the up on the Knicks for that one blaring mismatch.
○ Humphries is an excellent rebounder, and the 1-2 punch of him and Evans VS STAT and Sheed at the 4 is a huge glass cleaning advantage for the Nets.
○ Our benches will be reasonably on par, but if Camby has a healthy season, that is to our advantage against Brooklyn.
East seeding prediction: 5th ~ with the ability to move up as far as 3rd
In the end, I think a lack of cohesion and familiarity will have the Nets losing some winnable games. That, however, is not necessarily a safe assumption. They are very talented.