So far Isiah hasn't made any big moves to improve this team but we just might be good enough to win our division anyway. I'm sure everyone here has been hearing about the Nets and how they might lose Jason Kidd or Kenyon Martin since Bruce Ratner is looking to cut costs and move the team to Brooklyn. The possibility of the Nets losing one either Kenyon Martin or Jason Kidd is getting even greater has they are trying to move Kittles in a effort to keep the team together. Moving Kittles is probably the only way that the Nets might be able to keep "the big three" together.




However, lets just imagine that the Nets do lose Kenyon or Jason. If they lose Kenyon then Jason will probably ask for a trade and if they lose Kidd, they lose arguably the best PG in the league. Here is where the Knicks come in. If the Nets lose either one of their stars the Knicks will most likely have a good shot at winning the Atlantic Division. Lets say for now that the Nets lose either Kidd or Martin, which team will then win the Atlantic? Well, the Knicks would most likely be the favorites. The Heat have moved to the Southeast division so we no longer have to compete with them.




Lets take a look at the other Atlantic Division teams. Boston is in a rebuiliding mode and IMO they did not have a very good draft despite having 3 first round picks (Al Jefferson I thought was their only good pick), so you can count Boston out. Philly is in a similar situation with Boston, both have a superstar that they are trying to surround with talent. Philly IMO is a better team than Boston but I don't think they are a better team than the Knicks at all. Next is Toronto. If the Nets really do self destruct then Toronto will most likely be our only competition for the division title. Toronto is a young and talented team that will probably make the playoffs next year. They have their Center in Araujo and they are set at almost every position except for PG. With a healthy Houston or a couple of acquisitions via free agency I think we are still the better team but it definitely is not a given.




Then there are of course the Nets. Kidd is getting older and his knees are getting worse which is not good at all considering Kidd is at best in transition. K-Mart is a restricted free agent and could possibly go to Denver if they offer him the max and the Nets don't match it or if the Nets just do a sign and trade with the Nuggets. Richard Jefferson will most likely stay with the team but if either K-Mart or Jason Kidd go the Nets take a huge blow and I don't see how they would be able to win the division w/o either of them. That's why when all is said and done we might be the 2004-2005 Atlantic Division Champions.

[Edited by - s3231 on 06/28/2004 16:44:20]

i don't think you can just discount the Celtics & Sixers...they gave us a good run last season...i agree, IF the Nets lose their core & IF the Knicks have Allan Houston back healthy for most of the season next year, they can match up well w/any of the teams in the Atlantic Division...but we have just as many IFs as the Celtics, Sixers, Raptors & Wizards do to guarantee anything...but i liked some of your points as well...we certainly have some reasons to be optimistic for next season...i don't think we can assume this team won't be competitive next year at all.

Posted by TMS:

i don't think you can just discount the Celtics & Sixers...they gave us a good run last season...i agree, IF the Nets lose their core & IF the Knicks have Allan Houston back healthy for most of the season next year, they can match up well w/any of the teams in the Atlantic Division...but we have just as many IFs as the Celtics, Sixers, Raptors & Wizards do to guarantee anything...but i liked some of your points as well...we certainly have some reasons to be optimistic for next season...i don't think we can assume this team won't be competitive next year at all.

I'm not saying that the Celtics or Sixers have no shot at all of winning the division if the Nets self destruct but I think realistically we are a better team with a healthy Houston. Boston is in a rebuilding mode and they haven't done much at all to improve their team so far. The only thing they might having going for them is a healthy LaFrentz but even with him I still think we are easily a better team. The Sixers are definitely going in the right direction but again I just don't think they are ready to be a truly competitive team. We have some holes but the Sixers and the Celtics definitely have more holes than we do. We have a solid starting 5 and a deep bench. As fishmike said, this team has a lot of talent contrary to what some Knick fans believe. If we are a healthy team I don't think any team in our division (if the Nets lose one of their stars) is better than us. With time our team will develop better chemistry, I mean come on, how many games have TT, Marbury, and Houston played in together? 4? 5? Isiah even said that he still doesn't know what he has. I think we will be one of the better teams in the league next year. BTW Washington is not in our division.

[Edited by - s3231 on 06/28/2004 16:59:52]

[Edited by - s3231 on 06/28/2004 17:46:45]

Yea a number of teams in the East are moving in the right direction like Cleveland as you mentioned. That is why we must improve as a team whether we do it internally which I think is possible with the amount of talent that we have or we can improve by making some trades and being a player in the free agent market. I personally, would like to sign one or two free agents that can make an impact in the frontcourt (Stromile Swift, Rasheed, Dampier, McDyess, Doleac, etc) while keeping most of the team together so we can improve chemistry wise. Its hard to make trades when you don't know what you have so hopefully our team will be healthy next year and we will be able to see how good this team really is. Winning the division this year would be very good even though we would most likely be doing it in a weak division, it would still be a step foward.

Briggs there are new divisions, Washington, Orlando, and Miami are all in the southeast.

Atlantic: NY, Philly, Toronto, NJ, and Boston.

You guys are underestimating Philly. They're building a nice defensive squad around iverson. iggy was a great pick for them and they're gonna move snow or mckee. Dalembert is gonna have a monster year...

Good point about Philly, they are definitely going to surprise people with a new coach and some nice pieces like Iggy and Dalembert having an offseason to refine his game. They were just killed with injuries last year.

I think we can count Toronto and Boston out though, both squads look pretty bad.

Posted by fishmike:

contrary to some here I believe we have a lot of talent on this roster. What we need is some post defense and most important of all chemistry. We have scoring and some good ball handlers and playmakers. We have some good young players and some good older ones. We need to get healthy for an extended period of time and I think we will be fine. I wont talk about #s of wins because I dont want to hear Briggs say anything with "rag-tag" or "style of play" in the body.

I agree; I think with reasonably good health and some smart but reasonable additions the Knicks can win 50 next season.

Posted by BRIGGS:

I think NY IF they get a healthy H2O back will jump out of the gate well because of our depth in the frontcourt and the combination of TT h2O and Star. I project us somewhere between 38-43 wins

wow, with a healthy h20 and TT, you think we may actually win fewer games (38)??!?!??! and the upside is only 4 more wins? don't forget we have an expansion team entering the fold as well. i disagree. i think with a healthy h20 and the SAME EXACT unit together, we win 45 games with a possibility of 50. frank, sweets, and nazr are all going to get better. a small addition, even as small as doleac, could net us more wins. and banishing shandon to the bench is addition by subtraction. we could've easily won 2 games versus the defending eastern champs in the playoffs last year IF we even just had TT (not even mentioning h20).

your view of this team is very bleak and mine is very optimistic - two ends of the spectrum but even you could see what we could be with a healthy unit together for an entire season. hey, is lenny the guy to take us to the top? no, i don't think so. but winning 5-10 more games is not farfetched and it is a significant improvement from the season before and step 1 1/2 of a 3 year plan.

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by BRIGGS:

I think NY IF they get a healthy H2O back will jump out of the gate well because of our depth in the frontcourt and the combination of TT h2O and Star. I project us somewhere between 38-43 wins

wow, with a healthy h20 and TT, you think we may actually win fewer games (38)??!?!??! and the upside is only 4 more wins? don't forget we have an expansion team entering the fold as well.

yeah, that was one of the goofiest things I've ever read

I dont' see the west as dominant as previous.

That is not good news.

But we are part of the East improving also!