<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">First of all, there's no such thing as a horrible opinion, that's why it's an opinion. It is not subject to judgement, it is certainly subject to verification, or similar contradicting opinion, but saying it is horrible makes you sound silly, please do your intellect (which you obviously have a good deal of) some justice and back up your opinion rather than just saying mine is bad.</div>
Perhaps I was brash, but there are such things as horrible opinions. I stand by that "notion", if you will. Example, John Rocker has/had a horrible opinion of New York and immigrantion in the US in general. True you didn't say anything nearly as bad, and I apologize, but at the time it just struck me as a cheap pot shot at New Jersey.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I was speaking conditionally about this coming season. I said that by looking at Jason Kidd's condition with his knees, he has lost a step.</div>
Lost a step? Maybe if you only considered his speed..But he never rebounded better in his career. He still was good enough to make All 2nd D and if he had not been injured for the first third of the season he would've made that All-Star team. No he's not the JKidd of yesteryear but he sure is still an elite player and arguably the best point gaurd in the league.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">With the Knicks on the mend, the Celtics growing in a positive direction, and Philly having a great offseason, with a different coaching scheme, the Nets have as much reason to worry as anyone.</div>
The Celtics in my opinion have gotten worse. If you want to talk about drop offs, Pierce has fallen off. Sure he plays a better all around game, but he's no longer the scorer he was two or three years ago. I remember back when we played the Celtics in the ECF he was damn near impossible to gaurd.. Even the next year against the Pacers he was still schooling Ron Artest. Now.. I'm not sure. Top 20 player? Yeah he definitely is, but surely not as great as he used to be. But with the Celtics in general, they're just very young and inexperience. Losing a veteran leader in Gary Payton is going to hurt. Delonte, imo is better as a backup than starter. Losing Antoine probably won't hurt as much, but it kills their depth because Al Jefferson off the bench was an absolute beast and tore through second teams. Now going against the big dogs he might not be as affective as well as the frontline gets thinner.
Philly's offseason has been to keep their team in tact. They got Mo Cheeks who's a good coach especially with coachable guys, but if you say J-Kidd is dropping off, it's no where near as bad as Webber. Chris' knees are deterioating fast and Allen Iverson, though he had a great season, isn't exactly getting younger approaching his 30s. True Iguodala will get better but not enough to really push them to being better than what they were last year.
The Knicks...are the same as last year.. bad. They brought in another chucker in QRich and no one really seems to be improving on the team. I have no idea where they are going and what they are doing and given Jamal Crawford's and Stephon Marbury's chronic losing seasons, they pose little threat to the Nets.
The Nets are fine and with a healthy Jefferson along with practice with Carter, they're going to be deadly.. and I didn't even mention how much better Nenad probably got. They'll contend for the Atlantic Title and have a definitely good to great shot of winning it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Shareef Abdur-Rahim was supposed to be the answer to a question asked all last year, namely, what will the Nets do for low post scoring? Shareef Abdur-Rahim is no longer interested in playing for the Nets for immature and silly reasons, as we have seen, that means the question is raised again.</div>
What question? Would the Nets be stronger with him? Yes, of course. However, if I was Bruce Ratner, I would not want to give a big multimillion dollar contract to some guy who might not play..and on top of that pay his medical bills. So if Shareef joins and hurts himself and never plays like Deke or slums it like Rodney Rogers, then it won't matter what Shareef brings.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">As for Jeff McInnis, he is not an answer to J-Kidd losing a step. He is a notable backup, but not a replacement, </div>
Who's trying to replace Jason Kidd? Scratch that...who CAN replace Kidd? I'll tell you what McInnis is...one of the best back up point gaurds in the league. I can only think of Bobby Jackson who's better and he's oft-injured. Antonio Daniels is better, but he'll probably start for the Wizards and depending who you ask, Derek Fisher might be in McInnis league..but not in my opinion. Jeff is a good combo gaurd. He'll score and make some plays, and push the ball all we ask from our point gaurd.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">nor will he be any better than he has been in the past, meaning that his potential has essentially been reached and we know what to expect from him.</div>
What is that supposed to mean? Couldn't you say that about any player who's been in the league for 5+ years?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">He is no better or worse than other subs they have had in the recent past. He does have a notable contract though. </div>
A contract that is at most two years..the second year being an option. If he doesn't pan out he'll go somewhere else. It's not like Orlando locking up Juwan Howard for 6 years or how we locked up Alonzo for 4 years. And Jeff is better than subs we had in the past...the best sub we had in the last four years was Lucious Harris and he was streaky at best. He was solid but wasn't capable as much as Jeff.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Lawrence Frank has coached in mild adversity in the past, but not such that would prove his mettle in a situation like the one he would be stuck in were he have a gimped Kidd, no PF, and just Richard Jefferson for a scoring option.</div>
No offense, but I don't know what you're saying there and it's so riddled in passive voice that I'm not going to attempt to understand it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Jeff being a man who doesn't really create his own shot, and is more a product of a talented and athletic offensive point guard. That is not to sleight his ability. He has plenty of it.</div>
I thought the topic of this paragraph was Lawerence Frank.. Where does Jeff play into this? Jeff might not be your consumate point gaurd, but he did have success in Cleveland for quite some time. The Cavs might have made the playoffs his first year there had not he gotten injured and LeBron was forced to play PG. Last season he was confused of his role on the team and it screwed with their functionality... when your starting and the team brings in another starting point gaurd, in this case Eric Snow, you're going to be weary of what management and the coaching staff is trying to tell you. Jeff should and does know that Jason Kidd is the best player on this team and he leads this team..I doubt Jeff wants to take Kidds position and he'll know his role and play to the best of it. He's taken plenty of people off the dribble and with all the penetration being done by Kidd, Carter, Jefferson, and maybe some by Wright Jeff will get plenty of mid range and some long range shot which he can make.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Nevertheless, I was only stating that the Nets are just as vulnerable as any team in the Atlantic, not necessarily that they would fail.</div>
Dually noted but even if the Nets had Shareef they are still "vulnerable". It's just a matter of degree.
