With the addition of superstar guard Deron Williams (feels so good to say that), the Nets team as a whole is optimistic. However, Mariner Eccles of isportsweb.com takes that optimism to a whole new level by claiming that the Nets can make the NBA Finals as early as next season. Eccles compares the situation that the Nets are in now to the state of the franchise in the early 2000s after the addition of Jason Kidd.
While it is great to express optimism about the Nets, something that was severely lacking before the mega-deal, I think Eccles takes it a bit too far. He calls Kris Humphries a better version of Kenyon Martin, but Martin was an All-Star caliber player during those playoff runs. It is also unlikely that Travis Outlaw turns it around the way Lucious Harris did or that Sasha Vujacic plays the way Harris did (it’s unlikely that Sasha is even on the team next season).
However, I still laud Eccles for giving the Nets more than the pessimistic views that the New York media generally heaps upon the Nets while fawning over the Knicks. I hope that he’s right and I’m wrong…
