Deke for Van Horn, McCollough... What do you think

[Diesel]

Can Philly now compete with us?

Snow, AI, Van Horn, DC, McCollough

How about NJ?

Kidd, Kittles, Jefferson, Martin, Deke...

I think us getting Big Dog has started the whole east to reevaluate their rosters.

[Hawksfreak]

I think ESPN needs to pay more attetion to us not the Suxers and Nets!

[TomahawkChop]

I think this trade makes way for the signing of Keon Clark, he's a nice young talent and they can give him good minutes.

Snow/Ivy/KVH/Clark/Mac is much better than Snow/Ivy/Harpring/Coleman/Mutombo

[Blunt91]

I think the trade favors the New Jersey Nets. Richard Jefferson gets to start and Mutombo will provide the defense in the middle.I wouldn't mind watching a 7game series between the Hawks & The Nets. It would be a great series.

[Hawksfreak]

We face the Nets first game of the season! That is going to be a great game! Can't wait for it!

[Traceman]

I think Philly just assured themselves that they won't be winning the EC Title this year. How can you trade Mutombo to a team in your division? That was suicide! I think NJ will be better than Philly at every position except SG. They will be the best defensive team in the NBA by far. How will teams get a shot off in the paint against Mutombo and Martin? The "M&M Boys" will be tough. Jefferson is going to be a GREAT defender too. I remember how he locked Richardson up in the Final Four. He is so athletic that he can matchup with almost any perimeter player in the league. Kidd is a great defender as well. He will be in the passing lanes all game because he knows the M&M Boys will have his back. Kittles is the only one in the starting lineup who is not a great defender and he's not bad.

I look for Mutombo to have his best offensive season in years. Don't be surprised to see Deke dropping in 12-14 points per night as Kidd feeds him like a baby. I think NJ's only problem will actually be the same problem they had last year - scoring in the half court. If they can develop a half court offense that is even remotely effective, I think they will win the East.

[Sage11]

I agree with you Traceman, unless Philly has an inside track on locking up Keon Clark I don't see how this works in their favor. McCull only gives them "another" good backup center. NJ will be better in every position except SG. The team is also battle ready and hungry after being "swept" by the Lakers. Deke will help against Shaq in the finals but I don't see anyone stopping him unless he is hurt.

For us this makes our task of reaching the finals more challeging but we should have expected some other teams to make major moves anyway. Deke will do for NJ what Big Dawg will do for us- solidify an already good team. This trade also makes them the team to beat out of the east. Can't wait to see the first game we play against either team.

[JTFan31]

The Nets yesterday became even better with Mutombo. They get one of the most intimidating centers in the league and one of the top shot blockers. The East is getting so much better now and it wont be as weak as people might think. Celtics, Hawks and Nets upgraded their teams big time and IMO those 3 as of right now ar ethe favorites in the East. Even though 2 of these trades were between East teams, but I believe that Mutombo and Big Dog will fit better with their new squad rather than the old one. If the Payton deal goes down, him going to the Bucks, then the Bucks also become a legit playoff team.

Folks the East just got so much better in the last couple of weeks and I feel that 3 of these teams can give the Lakers and Kings a run for their money. Most dangerous team in the East IMO has to be the Hawks, they have 3......20 point scorers and they can light up any team......any night. I didnt want to sound bias, but I d believe the Hawks are the most dangerous team in the East as of right now.

[Diesel]

Could the Sixers be looking to move AI now?

AI cannot coexist with other scorers. I was wrong before on the matchups.

Sixers probably matchup with no trade is:

TMac

Van Horn

Mckie

AI

Snow.

If they pickup Clark, they will play:

Clark

Van Horn

McKie

AI

Snow.

However, if there was to be a trade for AI, I was thinking they get an allstar quality SF.

What if, they traded AI/DC to Seattle for Lewis/GP?

Look out.

Seattle could play:

AI/Barry/Mason/DC/James

and next yr, when they get all that money back from DC... They can invite Duncan to be a part of their destiny.

Philly would have:

GP/McKie/Lewis/Van Horn/TMac...

[MoonKnight]

I have some doubts about the trade for the Nets. Deke may slow down the teams fast break tempo. While Deke is no faster the Mac, he has never been good after a rebound at making the quick pass to initiate a fast break. I would be concerned that he slows the Nets pace down. If he does slow the pace down, where is the O going to come from in a half court game? Kittles is the only reliable jumper shooter on the squad now that KVH is gone unless Jefferson has improved his Jumper over the summer. Both Martin and Deke are erratic scorers at best in the half court. While the Nets D should be incredible, I just have questions about their O capability. The Sixers will play good D regardless of who is manning the middle b/c of Larry Brown. Alvin Jones and Delambert may get bigger roles this year in the post if Clark is not signed. While KVH may be overrated, he should be in good shape in Philly as a catch and shoot jump shooter to play off AI's penetration game. I don't really think this trade effects Philly much while it will be feast or famine for the Nets.

[Diesel]

Theo vs. Deke vs. Shaq vs Vlade.

This matchup will be interesting. Shaq is the most dominant player in basketball and probably in the History of basketball. The reason being is that he is allowed to be. Refs normally turn a blind eye to the BIG SHOULDER... However, this yr, the Kings ran a successful campaign to get the refs to see it. Especially with Vlade Flopping.

Deke plays one on one vs. Shaq.. That will free up the rest of the Nets to play standard defense. Tmac just let Shaq have his way. The difference is that defensively Deke won't quit.

Deke vs. Theo... Interesting. Deke is bigger, Stronger, more experienced. Neither will score much so it doesn't make a difference. However, with Kidd dropping dimes, I wonder if Deke's offense will be something other than Nonexistent?

Martin vs. SAR vs. Horry vs. Webber.

Webber is the most dominant PF for 3 qtrs. He usually folds in the 4th. Some say the same about SAR. Martin is definitely tough but offense = None. Rebounding wise, Webber holds an advantage.

SAR vs. Martin. This is where Atlanta needs to focus during a playoff with NJ. IF we do, we will move past them.

Jefferson vs. Big Dog vs. Fox vs. Peja.

A class of shooters... and JEfferson. The scary thing is that Big Dog is better than fox and Jefferson offensively but he and Peja are almost rival material. Peja shoots well from outside and scores 20.. so does Big Dog. Neither plays defense all that well and I think BD has a rebounding advantage. It will be interesting.

Jefferson vs. Big Dog. This matchup is a little scary.. Jefferson is an awesome defensive player. IF he comes into his own.... Ouch. Big Dog can be shut down by good defensive players. Remember TMac? However, I don't see Jefferson with that ability yet.

Kittles vs. DJ vs. Kobe vs. Christie.

Kobe reigns supreme in the W. The question will be how much has DJ improved. If he can be counted on for 14, 5, 5, 3 (s), and 2 (b) then he will be in that all around area where it doesn't matter about one on one matchups.

Kittles vs. DJ. Kittle is more experienced on the offensive end. DJ is the better defensive player (already). It will be an interesting matchup.

Kidd vs. JT vs. Fisher vs. Bibby.

Nice Class with Kidd taking the lead.

[tmac]

I agree..NJ is gonna struggle to score points in the halfcourt, and Deke is not much of an outlet passer to start the fastbreak. Compound that with the fact Deke usually cannot catch a pass and you might lose offensively more than you gain defensively.

[chillzatl]

Everyone is saying that Jersey will have such great D. Well who the hell cares. They had great D last year. Defense ISN'T their problem. Offense was their problem and is an even bigger problem now. Besides the fact that Deke is slipping more and more every year. He is still a presence. But that presence is FAR diminished from what it was just two years ago. New Jersey changed, they didn't get better.

Now on to philly. They got more talented out of this deal. But did they really get better? They got players that can run the floor and players who can score. The question is did they get anyone that Iverson will actually coexist with. KVH can score, no doubt about it. But he's soft as freshly chewed gum and he's an injury risk. Also remember that when he was drafted he publicly said that he didn't want to play in Philly with Iverson. How's that going to go over now? Iverson is one who takes "disrespect" like a typical street hood would and KVH disrespected him.

Philly got the better end of this deal talent wise. Simply because Deke is a shell of what he used to be. It will take time to see which team actually got better from this trade though.

As far as philly competing with us. I think they'd be tough for us regardless. But I think we are still a much better team on PAPER. They have nothing to compete with our front court, period.

[dimes4life]

DIESEL, YOU FORGOT ONE HUGE ASPECT ABOUT YOUR 4 TEAMS WHICH WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE, AND I FORGIVE YOU BECAUSE IN THE LAST 4 YEARS YOU GUYS HAVEN'T BEEN WATCHING HAWKS BASKETBALL IN JUNE....OR FOR THAT MATTER APRIL OR MAY. YOU GET THE POINT. ANYWAYS, HERE IS THAT ASPECT THAT YOU FORGOT....READY....

LOOK DOWN

EXPERIENCE

3 OUT OF THOSE 4 TEAMS HAVE IT....GUESS WHICH ONE DOESN'T?

[Guest]

Yeah and just one year ago NJ/BOS/Detroit didn't have it.Last year

3 out 5 NJ starters didn't have playoff experience...there goes that

theory.n

[JTFan31]

Good point ARR, do the kings have a message board, I sure want that address so i can be laughing when Webber will be watching the games with Bubba in the prison Lobby. Then we will be playing in June and Webber will be saying " damn I should of told the truth"

You better hope your little superstar player there gets lucky and dont get any jail time.

[Diesel]

Over the past two yrs, neither of the Finalist from the East had "Experience".

You see unlike the story in the West, the Story in the east isn't already settled before the first tip of the first game.

IN other words, It's anybody's to win and everybody in the East has enough talent to compete.

However, in the West, look for the Lakers to be in the finals.

Does it make you mad that everybody has already finalized the Lakers as the West Champions?

so much for Experience. I guess the Kings have the experience of Losing to the Lakers again. I mean, you do it sooooo Well, how long did you guys practice that??

[Guest Walter]

That being said this is not a very good deal for Philly unless Dalembert is ready to shine or Clark is ready to sign. This is what you get for Deke given his play and his enormous salary. Not much. At least we got much more.

I like what NJ did with what they had but interestingly they may be a worse team now that, unless Jason Kidd gets the rebound like he usually does, he will be waiting forever to get an outlet pass from Deke. NJ's offense isn't good enough to work as hard as slow outlet passes will force it to work posession after posession. Still, a better move than keeping V Horn and T Mac.

W

W

[jaywalker72]

That trade smacks of a team taking a big step backward, barring any other major changes....

Van Horn may provide more offense, but at what cost?

The Sixers had a pretty good strategy, but now have tossed the fulcrum of that way of playing towards NJ, for a not-nearly-as-good center solution and KVH.

I think that people who were holding on to the success of two seasons ago and were listing Philly ahead of us can re-evaluate that now...

[Traceman]

I look at the trade reference how it will affect us versus both NJ and Philly now.

Philly: Deke is not quite where he was but he's still the best defensive Center in the NBA. Philly really messed up by making this deal in my opinion. They have no one who can really bother Reef in the low post now and that was the big advantage they had over us with Deke. If they double Reef in the post, Big Dog and JT will light them up. No way in hell Van Horn can guard Big Dog one on one. In addition, Theo will wear McCullough out. McCullough is much too slow to stay with him and he's not athletic enough to regularly block Theo's shot. We are now better than Philly at 4 out of 5 positions. Before the trade, we were better than they were at 3 out of 5 positions.

NJ: Deke is never going to be a scorer but Kidd is going to make him look good just like he does all the other Nets. Kidd will give Deke the ball when and where he likes it. Look for Deke to get a lot of easy dunks. The thing that worries me most though is Deke's defensive presence in the low post. K-Mart couldn't handle Reef one on one and that is the primary reason we beat NJ 2 out of 3 last year. Now, he will have help. Reef won't be able to just take K-Mart, he'll have to see the help coming and get the ball to Theo when Deke leaves him. NJ will likely be better than we are 3 out of 5 positions whereas before the trade, we were better than they were at 3 out of 5 positions.

The biggest thing for NJ though is that if they do get to the finals, they at least have a guy who can somewhat bother Shaq. NO ONE can defend Shaq one on one but Deke and a help defender will give Shaq more trouble than any other team can give him. Deke may not be as good as he once was but I think his decreased production last year had as much to do with the Larry Brown as it did with him aging. Deke is going to give NJ a double double every night as a worse case scenario and he likely will give them a lot more than that. Offensively, they were a jump shooting team before he got there so its not like he will be clogging the post. Van Horn's perimeter contributions to the team were overrated in my opinion. He was too inconsistent in NJ to be a major concern. I think Philly is in for a MAJOR disappointment while NJ will be battling with the best teams in the EC for the right to represent the conference again in the finals. I guess time will tell!