New York Knicks: Where the Knicks stand in the Atlantic Division, Part 2

With the 2017-18 regular season approaching, the New York Knicks can now assess the competition within their division. Today we examine how they match up with the Brooklyn Nets.

Despite what skeptics or other carnival barkers may have to say about the New York Knicks, they have an intriguing roster for 2017-18. Carmelo Anthony still being in blue and orange seems to constantly be in the news, but as long as he is, he does improve the team’s chances of winning some games.

The biggest obstacle the Knicks face with Anthony still on board is the same question on everyone’s minds: How much longer will he stunt the growth of Kristaps Porzingis? However, it becomes a weak excuse to say that Carmelo makes the Knicks any worse of a team, since nearly every teammate has given praise to his work ethic and knowledge of the game.

Any way you slice it, the Knicks are nowhere near in as bad shape as their Atlantic Division rivals, the Brooklyn Nets.

The Nets’ old regime made just about as poor maneuvers as an organization could make, whiffing at their efforts to build a competitive team within their own division, let alone the Eastern Conference.

Lets take a look at how the Knicks match up to the Nets, and in case you missed part one of this series, you can find it here to catch up.

How they match up

At point guard the Nets have an interesting duo with ex-Knick Jeremy Lin and the recently acquired D’Angelo Russell. Both players’ contracts expire in two years after the 2018-19 regular season, and Brooklyn will likely go forward with Russell in the future if he can prove to be more consistent than Lin has been. Lin is entering his prime in his eighth season with a career slash line of .433/.350/.804, and is looking to prove his value and put an end to the journeyman portion of his career.

It will be interesting to see how the two players split time on the court, but both are decent options at the 1. The Knicks now have a plethora of guards and two-way wings, young and old, to figure out how to use themselves.

New York Knicks

Caris LeVert is coming off a mediocre rookie season with a slash line of .450/.321/.720 and will be splitting time in the backcourt Something similar to the Knicks current situation, they seem to be grooming young talent under the watchful eye of seasoned veterans. However, Carroll and possibly Allen Crabbe at the 3 is certainly an lopsided matchup compared to Mindaugas Kuzminskas/Anthony. To be even more bold, if Anthony skips town, Micheal Beasley is a decent quick fix at the 3.

Beasley is coming off the 2016-17 season with a slash line of .532/.419/.743 compared to Carroll’s slash line of .400/.341/.761, as his numbers have continued to fall the past three seasons.

The Nets moved out Brook Lopez and in return now have Timofey Mozgov as their big man. Certainly not the greatest of swaps straight up, but it was necessary to clear cap space and bring aboard Russell at the same time.

Mozgov is closer to making an exit from the league than he is turning the Nets dumpster fire into any sort of improvement. Behind him is rookie Jarrett Allen and Tyler Zeller. It should become evident as these two teams face off that they will have no answer for stopping Kristaps Porzingis or Willy Hernangomez.

Final Thoughts

In all fairness, both teams in New York may have terrible seasons. The Knicks have had plenty of decent rosters and have flopped before. However, this time around the Knicks should fare better than they did last year when they split the four-game series through the season. The New York Knicks won the first two games, but then lost both in March in two awful defensive performances.

While it is far too early to tell, the Knicks appear to have done well this offseason improving their depth at several positions, hopefully making the right choice in drafting Frank Ntilikina.

The circus has yet to be shut down concerning where Carmelo Anthony will go, but the Knicks already have their backup plan installed with Micheal Beasley.

With that being said, they should be able to bury the Brooklyn Nets’ chances for any optimism and sweep them in the season series. Yes, it seems highly generous to grant this to the Knicks, since they do have to show up and play defense. But all in all their situation still looks and sounds a whole lot more promising than the Nets’.

Next: Complete 2017 NBA offseason grades for all 30 teams

The New York Knicks should come out of the Atlantic Division at worst fourth and at best in third place over the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.