Hardwood Paroxysm editor, Knicks fan, and friend of The Brooklyn Game Jared Dubin broke down Brooklyn’s summer, giving the team’s moves a generally positive rating while noting the very real question marks.
A snippet:
The firepower on this team is SERIOUS. The Nets sported a top-10 offense last season even with black holes like Reggie Evans and Gerald Wallace soaking up a ton of minutes; they should easily do the same this year, and could vault into the top-5 or even threaten the top spot overall. Williams will run the show, of course, but the low post play of Lopez, the defense-stretching jumper of Garnett, the herky-jerky all-around game of Pierce (and Kirilenko) and Joe Johnson-ness of Joe Johnson should prove too much for even the staunchest defensive units to slow down on most nights.
The problems for Brooklyn last year were on the defensive end, where it ranked 18th in points allowed per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. The addition of Garnett alone should change that. KG is basically a top 5-10 defense by himself, as he proved throughout his tenure in Boston, where the Celtics were an average of more than 5.0 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court than off. Kirilenko is another fantastic defender to add to the mix, and he will also serve as the swing guy between small and big lineups depending on who he’s spelling at any particular time.
It should also be noted in this space that Jared and I went toe-to-toe in an invented Nets-Knicks 2K playoff series and the Nets won, so it’s hard to tell if he really knows anything.
Read the full breakdown at Hardwood Paroxysm here.
