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#Post#: 31--------------------------------------------------
A New ArRivalry
By: adityalakhani1 Date: August 18, 2012, 4:36 pm
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New York. The city that never sleeps. Whether it’s sightseeing,
taking a cruise on the Hudson, dining at some fancy restaurant,
boating at Central Park, or even just hanging out with friends,
New York City is the place to be. But beneath all of that
activity, there are much more serious aspects of the city. The
drug deals and the crime. The businesses and protests on Wall
Street. The hustle and bustle of everyday life in the city.
But in 2012, there will be a new arrival, a case more immense
than the rest. A rivalry will emerge between two multi-million
dollar businesses with the arrival of the new NBA season in
October 2012. It’s the classic tale of old vs. the new in a new
frontier: New York City. The original New York Knickerbockers
(Knicks) will face off against the new and improved Brooklyn
Nets.
Well, let’s begin examining this rejuvenated rivalry by looking
at the offseason moves made by each of these teams, starting off
with the Nets. The New Jersey Nets transformed into the Brooklyn
Nets, encouraged by their famous part owner, Jay-Z and by their
hopes of an energized franchise, starting off the offseason by
acquiring Joe Johnson from the Atlanta Hawks. Although Joe
Johnson is considered to be one of the most overpaid players in
the league, the Nets have the capital due to their rich Russian
owner, Mikhail Prokhorov; this deal greatly benefits them, as
the Nets were searching for strengths at mainly all positions,
especially at shooting guard and small forward.
The Nets continued their active offseason by resigning Gerald
Wallace, a talented and capable small-forward, who will be one
of their few defensive threats, unless the Nets manage to
improve during camp. Although the beginning of the summer for
the Nets was filled with buzz about trades centering around
Dwight Howard, which was going on for almost the entire
2011-2012 season, no deal came through for Brooklyn (Instead,
Howard went to the Lakers in a four team deal), which instead
resigned Brook Lopez as center. As long as Lopez remains
healthy, a state in which he has not been able to stay in recent
seasons, he will be a bright spot for the Nets; the Nets are
counting on him, as they are without a backup center. The Nets
also resigned Kris Humphries, a solid power forward (a bit of
gossip: although Jay-Z’s good friend Kanye West dissed Kris
Humphries in a recent song, Theraflu, Humphries was still
resigned. Some news was released about Kris Humphries responding
to Kanye, but this is the sports section, not gossip.)
Anyways, although the Nets still have a below average bench, to
say the least, they have a starting five loaded with firepower
in Williams, Johnson, Wallace, Humphries, and Lopez. The Knicks
on the other hand, albeit having an interesting offseason, did
not end up with a very successful one. The Jeremy Lin saga to
New Yorkers this summer was as big as the Lebron James decision
two seasons ago to Americans all across the country, and that’s
saying a lot (no offense to Jeremy, but he’s no Lebron). The
entire city buzzed about getting Lin back, and after the Houston
Rockets placed a backloaded offer for Lin, everyone was waiting
on their tippy toes for the Knicks to match that offer. In the
end, it could not be, and New York City was in tears (literally,
it was raining the day after the decision not to match the
Rockets’ offer!), wondering how the Knicks could let Lin get
away, even after signing veteran Jason Kidd, who was supposed to
mentor Lin. Instead, the Knicks acquired veteran point guard
Raymond Felton, who played well in his previous stint with the
Knicks; however, with the addition of Carmelo Anthony, who knows
how Felton will fit in.
The Knicks also managed to bring back J.R. Smith as starting
shooting guard and Steve Novak as an outside force off the
bench. Marcus Camby, an old Knick, was signed to backup Tyson
Chandler at center. So overall, the Knicks are not a
significantly improved team, and are much older than before,
while the Nets are now an energized, new, and improved team.
Clearly, the Nets had a better offseason, and are the more
improved team (they are finally playoff contenders for the first
time in six years). The dynamics of the Knicks this season will
lean on the chemistry that is yet to develop between Carmelo
Anthony and Amare Stoudemire.
All of these offseason moves by these teams sets up a great
rivalry that could potentially last for years to come. The New
York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, each just a subway ride
apart, give New Yorkers something to look forward to in the post
Jeremy Lin area.
It will be exciting to see how long this revved up rivalry,
which transformed from a boat ride across the river to a train
ride on the subway, will last. How each of these teams, with
many solid players and a few stars, will stack up in the Eastern
Conference is one subject to keep your eyes on this NBA season.
The Knicks will play the in Brooklyn for the first game of the
season for each of the teams on October 25th, and it will be
just a preview of what is to come. Be sure to watch out for the
Nets and Knicks during the season, and if they ever play each
other in the playoffs, it would sure be one epic battle to
watch, a new “subway series”.
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