This summer included a war of words between the Knicks’ hot-shooting, weed-smoking(?) Sixth Man of the Year, J.R. Smith, and a new rival from across the river, Paul Pierce, who will be wearing a color other than green for the first time in his career. Can’t wait until Kevin Garnett and Metta World Peace get in on the trash talk, because both are better spoken than their aforementioned counterparts.
The signing of a Russian (Andrei Kirilenko) by a Russian (Mikhail Prokhorov) brought a league investigation, while two of the other three teams in the division got into the Tankapalooza game, although Philadelphia is doing it much better than Boston. As for the fifth team, let’s just say that Raptors GM Masai Ujiri was somehow able to do in a matter of days what Bryan Colangelo could not do for years – trade Andrea Bargnani.
This is going to be a pretty competitive division at the top, while at the bottom it will be a slow trot to get best positioned for the Andrew Wiggins Sweepstakes.
Here are our five Atlantic Division team previews from SheridanHoops staffers and guest bloggers.
NEW YORK KNICKS
By Mike Scotto
SheridanHoops.com
The New York Knicks were stuck in neutral while other Eastern Conference teams improved mightily this offseason.
Are they still No. 2 as they were last regular season? Probably not.
After a disappointing loss to Indiana in the Eastern Conference semifinals that denied them a shot at the NBA champion Miami Heat, the Knicks essentially replaced Chris Copeland, Jason Kidd and Steve Novak with Metta World Peace, Beno Udrih and Andrea Bargnani. The team also re-signed J.R. Smith, Pablo Prigioni and Kenyon Martin.
Meanwhile, Miami remains the class of the East and added Greg Oden; Indiana gets back former All-Star Danny Granger with a bolstered bench featuring Copeland, C.J. Watson and Luis Scola; Brooklyn made a bold move by acquiring Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry plus signing Andrei Kirilenko; and Chicago gets back former MVP Derrick Rose.
All together now … “Fifth best.”
Oh wait, do we want to piss off J.R. Smith again?
Despite a more competitive conference, the Knicks are still contenders. After all, the core remains intact from a team that was the second seed last season.
CONTINUE READING KNICKS PREVIEW
___
BROOKLYN NETS
By Michael Scotto
SheridanHoops.com
This summer, the Brooklyn Nets transformed themselves from pretenders to contenders. However, the transformation came at a steep price.
Owner Mikhail Prokhorov has the NBA’s only nine-figure team payroll, which translates to an $87 million luxury tax bill. (He can afford it. He is the NBA’s George Steinbrenner).
Nets GM Billy King also mortgaged the future by trading first-round draft picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018 with the right to swap first-round picks in 2017 as part of a trade with Boston to acquire aging stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry.
Despite having arguably the most talented roster, if the Nets can’t answer these five questions below, they can forget about winning a title this season. Or as they say in my borough, Brooklyn, “fuhgeddaboudit!”
___
BOSTON CELTICS
By John Karalis
RedsArmy.com
Six years ago, the Boston Celtics opened what was supposed to be a three-year championship window after the acquisitions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Along with Paul Pierce, the new “Big Three” won one title and could have won two more if they had remained healthy.
Like NASA getting extended use out of an aging Mars Rover, the Celtics trudged along as contenders for a few more years. The three-year window was open for a fourth year. Then a fifth. But the inevitable finally struck last season. The most difficult season since the Garnett trade ended with injuries and great disappointment.
When that last Jenga block holding up the tenuous Celtics infrastructure – Doc Rivers – was pulled from the stack and sent to the Los Angeles Clippers, the entire thing came crashing down.
CONTINUE READING CELTICS PREVIEW
___
TORONTO RAPTORS
By Adam Francis
RaptorsHQ.com
The Toronto Raptors are a team in flux.
Gone is President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo and many of his front office staff. Now in charge – strangely enough – is his one-time understudy in Toronto, Masai Ujiri, fresh off an exceptional run as GM of the Denver Nuggets.
Ujiri was lured away from the Nuggets by new Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke. Ujiri and Leiweke represent not only a changing of the guard for the Dinos but potentially a complete reset for a franchise with a shaky image around the NBA.
But as the saying goes, the more things change, the more things stay the same. Regardless of rebranding or marketing speak, the on-court product still leaves a bit to be desired.
CONTINUE READING RAPTORS PREVIEW
___
PHILADELPHIA 76ers
By Jon Marks
SheridanHoops.com
Just seven players—only four of whom saw regular playing time– remain from the 34-48 sinking ship Doug Collins decided wasn’t worth really salvaging once it got past Christmas and he realized Andrew Bynum was never coming to the rescue.
That means successor Brett Brown, who has spent the last decade getting spoiled watching Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and the rest of Gregg Popovich’s always fundamentally sound Spurs do their thing, has essentially been entrusted with the job of building this thing from the ground up.
And make no mistake, he’s starting at the foundation with the blessing of the new GM Sam Hinkie and owner Josh Harris. They have made no secret of their desire is to be so rotten (not to be confused with guard Tony Wroten) so they will be assured of having a good shot at one of the top picks of what promises to be the most loaded draft in a decade.
In fact, with two first-round picks (the Sixers picked up the Pelicans’ pick in the Nerlens Noel-Jrue Holiday trade), a handful of second-rounders and a load of potential cap space available, getting through the upcoming season is merely an unpleasant means to that end.
CONTINUE READING SIXERS PREVIEW