Are the Nets Championship Material?

HOLLANDER: Even though the Knicks in their year of historic failure are still more interesting than the division leading Nets, we must turn our heads westward and seriously consider whether the NBA team that plays in East Rutherford, New Jersey has the bona fides to go all the way. The answer is “it depends.”

The Nets are not the best team in the NBA. Yet, there is a series of plausible “if, then” scenarios that could get them the ring. The first thing they must do is allow Philadelphia to win the Atlantic Division. 

If the Nets finish in second place in the Atlantic Division, then they will become the 8th seed in the playoffs instead of the 3rd seed. As the 3rd seed they would have to go through Miami (the 2nd seed) who swept them in last year’s playoffs and will handle them again. Shaquille O’Neal, backed by Alonzo Mourning, will dominate the lesser Nets centers. As the 8th seed they will have to go through Detroit. The Nets match-up well with Detroit, who they took to seven games (including an epic triple-overtime loss) in Detroit’s 2004 championship year. If they get past Detroit and if Philly or Indiana can eliminate Miami (both of which have a better chance and better histories against Miami than the Nets), then the Nets will ride their “destiny” to the NBA finals. If an inspired Phoenix, with Amarie Stoudamire back in the line-up, can eliminate San Antonio in the West, then the Nets can win it all against the Suns whose running style matches up with the transition game the Nets like best.

Tortured as my logic may be, it’s verified by some absolute truths. The Nets are a better team than the one that went to back-to-back NBA finals in 2002 and 2003. Vince Carter provides the offense that Kenyon Martin couldn’t, Cliff Robinson and Nenad Kristic give them superior bench depth, and Lawrence Frank wants to win a championship, where Byron Scott was just thrilled to get there. And, as much as this franchise is in a hurry to move to Brooklyn, they have one of the best home records in the NBA this year. That home is New Jersey.

SULLIVAN: Okay, Hollander, in the spirit of this column I will answer the posed question. The Nets are not Championship material.

Do you really think the Nets are better than the 2002 and 2003 East Coast Champs?

Even your eyes can see that Jason Kidd is a step or three slower than he was just a few short years ago. I’ll give you Richard Jefferson has matured and gotten better, but Wince Carter—like Marbury—just ain’t a winner. Also, when K-Mart went, so did the Nets’ chances. Martin was the heart and soul of that team, and the Nets have never gotten over losing him.

I will allow your point that this team is decent and easy to watch. They are New York’s country cousins, and we do root for them—from a distance. They have improved at center, and they might be a long, long, long shot to go to the East finals. But there is no way in hell they are ever getting past Detroit or even Miami.

And if pigs had wings, they could fly. I’m going to go Ali on you and your lawyer-speak: The Nets will not get near smelling distance of the East finals. The Nets go down in the second round and Hollander is a dirty ole hound.

HOLLANDER: However it may appear, the NBA is not an open-shut case. After the All-Star break anything could happen. With Detroit trading Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo, they may have gained another first round draft pick for next year, but they have unwisely disturbed a team chemistry that won 40 games in the first half of the season. The odds are against Shaq staying healthy through the playoffs, and the odds are even worse for San Antonio to repeat. 

The Nets, on the other hand, are gelling. They continue to get stronger and Kidd is more motivated than ever. He’s pissed about the all-star game snub, and he knows that he is not the future of this franchise. He may never even see Brooklyn in a Nets uniform, and, therefore, he wants badly to win the only NBA title New Jersey will have a shot at. 

The Garden State has a new marketing slogan in 2006: “New Jersey: Come See For Yourself.” I advise you to hurtle yourself through the Lincoln Tunnel and get a glimpse at the only source of NBA post-season action this area will witness this spring. 

Oh, and there’s one thing I forgot that works in the Nets favor: karma. Wouldn’t it be sweet justice if the Nets’ new play-by-play-man, Marv Albert, was calling the NBA finals?

But what do you know about fairness or New Jersey, C.J., except what you got traded for a half-pack of Marlboros during your short, lovelorn stay at Rahway?

SULLIVAN: Chemistry, gelling, all these code words conjure up only one thing: hope. And I understand hope. Yes, it would be marvelous if Marv could call an NBA Final for the Nets. And you’re right—anything can happen in the NBA except your team of just over .500 players getting into the finals.

Kidd might be miffed about the all-star snub, but that is not going to bring back his quick first step. Father Time is catching up with him and giving him an inner, domestic beating. RJ likes the NY nightlife a bit too much, and you know no team can win with a ball hog like Wince Carter.

That trade in Rahway was for a full pack of cigs, and I’m sorry I had to hand you over to the Aryans. You were a good earner for me, but my pimp days were ending and I had to cut my losses, just like you should. Do not bet that the Nets will get within smelling distance of the finals—unless you get something like 100-1 odds. Then it might be worth it.