can they really beat them

[lightspeed5]

joe johnson will cross over wade like he did to pierce.

[SparzWizard]

The Heat CAN be beat next year, but not by Brooklyn's hand. Eric Spoelstra will outcoach Jason Kidd lol.

I think Miami threepeats thanks to their most recent addition of Greg Oden, resigning Birdman and Ray Allen, and LeBron James getting more deadlier. But Wade will be their killer.

[indeedproceed]

I think they have a decent shot for these reasons:

1) Deron Williams and Brook Lopez will be better options at the 1 and 5 than anything the heat can offer, unless Oden regains his total faculties, which is an impossibility to me.

2) Joe Johnson and Kevin Garnett should mitigate if not negate any contributions Bosh and Wade can offer. Wade in particular I think is due for a precipitous fall next season.

3) Paul Pierce and AK-47 will offer 48 minutes of solid if not elite defense on Lebron James. That's not to say he won't go off for video game stat lines and stellar games, but where any mortal human can carve out production, they'll have as good a chance as any.

But if pierce, Garnett, Lopez, Williams, or Ak-47's health is compromised in any meaningful way, it goes out the door. The question was 'can' not 'will' the Nets beat the Heat.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I wish they could, but I say no, for one crucial reason: LeBron.

what is the point of having ak47 and reggie evans who is a hustler, kg at pf vs lebron who can stretch the floor with lopez on center or blatche or plumlee

lebron is not the problem here, if you force lebron on lets say 32/57 field goals, that is ok now
like bass is doing before

another concern is can joe johnson beat a healthy dwayne wade?.... maybe yes and maybe no
we can force pierce to sg maybe he can guard d-wade, not terry or anderson

Yeah people speak in absolutes way too often.

Miami easily and should have lost to Spurs in 6 games last year. They went seven games against the Pacers. Lebron or any player is certainly mortal

I don't know that I'm speaking in absolutes. The original question was a "yes or no" proposition and asked for an explanation, so I said "no" and gave my reasoning. I never said that Miami absolutely, positively WILL win the title next year; the question was, "CAN the Nets beat the Heat next year (meaning, in a 7-game series), and my answer was (and remains) "No, I don't believe they can."

LeBron James is the best player in the game, bar none. Sure, "anything can happen," in theory, but unless LeBron suffers a major injury next season, I can't see the Heat losing. I want them to, believe me, but LeBron is in his prime, and will remain so for a few more years, and I really believe that whichever team he's on over the next few seasons will win the title every year. He's that good.

Sure, the Pacers could've beaten them this year, and the Spurs most certainly should've, but each team left a tiny opening, and that's all LeBron needs. You've literally gotta play perfect to beat this guy, and nobody plays perfectly. Boston gave LeBron a tiny opening in the 2012 ECF, and LeBron singlehandedly brought the Heat back from the brink of elimination to a series victory. The Pacers and Spurs screwed up just enough this season to allow James (with a little help from his friends) to again emerge victorious.

LeBron's not perfect, or immortal, but he doesn't have to be. Give him an inch and he'll take a mile. He's dominant. He's far and away the best player in today's NBA. And he has the officials on his side (not to mention some good shooters around him to take a little pressure off). I love KG and Pierce, but they can't play big minutes anymore, and Joe Johnson's a one-trick pony (and only a career 44%-shooting pony, at that), and JET's over the hill, and Brook Lopez is mediocre (at best) at defense and rebounding, and ditto for Andray Blatche. I've no doubt KG's D will help the Nets a lot, but we all know what happens to the team D when KG's off the floor.

All that said, I hope I'm wrong, and that SOMEONE can knock off the Heat next season.

[Who]

I think the Bulls have the best shot at knocking off Miami.

[Clench123]

Jason Kid is the deciding factor here in my opinion.  He would make or break them.  I still don't get that move.  To hire a rookie inexperienced coach for a team that is that stacked is unbelievable to me or well, we'll see

[Onslaught]

I think they can do it if healthy. I think getting home court in the playoffs will be a must of them.



And if they do get home court and we don't stink as bad as many think we will then you know what the first round of the Playoffs could look like...............

[celticdog]

I feel like the Pacers and then the Bulls have a better shot of knocking Miami out. 

Nets may be able to do it.  I just have this worry that Pierce and Garnett may have a significant drop off in their skills before the new season starts.  Father time and all. I'm not all that impressed with the rest of the Nets, Williams hasnt been impressing me the last couple of years.  Kidd may have a fantastic first season as a coach or it could be a "crawl before you walk before you run" situation.  Spoelstra gets better every year IMO.  I remember when I used to laugh at that guy.

[ManUp]

Yes, absolutely.

If you thought the our team in 10 and 11 could beat the Heat how do you not think Brooklyn can? Pierce and Garnett have a much better supporting cast and have to do less work. If the Celtics had that roster most fans here would be predicting the parade date already. The only thing that concerns me about the Nets is coaching, but I think Lawrence Frank will keep thing under control for Kidd.

[LilRip]

Yes, absolutely.

If you thought the our team in 10 and 11 could beat the Heat how do you not think Brooklyn can? Pierce and Garnett have a much better supporting cast and have to do less work. If the Celtics had that roster most fans here would be predicting the parade date already. The only thing that concerns me about the Nets is coaching, but I think Lawrence Frank will keep thing under control for Kidd.

this is so true! if news broke that the Nets traded Deron, JJ, Brook Lopez, AK47 and Blatche for Rondo, AB, Lee, Green and Bass, we'd be ecstatic.

[D.o.s.]

Honestly, I think it really depends on what kind of defense Brooklyn runs.

Offensively, I have no doubt that the Nets can put up points with any team in the league--they have great scorers at every position in their starting lineup, and three solid contributors off the bench, but a lot of what makes Miami so effective is their incredible team defense. I don't know that Brooklyn is going to be able to match that.

Tie that to the fact that the Nets will probably round out the bottom half of the league in terms of pace, and their defense is going to have to be top-notch in order for them to get enough stops to outscore any other team, much less the Heat.

[syfy9]

Yes, absolutely.

If you thought the our team in 10 and 11 could beat the Heat how do you not think Brooklyn can? Pierce and Garnett have a much better supporting cast and have to do less work. If the Celtics had that roster most fans here would be predicting the parade date already. The only thing that concerns me about the Nets is coaching, but I think Lawrence Frank will keep thing under control for Kidd.

this is so true! if news broke that the Nets traded Deron, JJ, Brook Lopez, AK47 and Blatche for Rondo, AB, Lee, Green and Bass, we'd be ecstatic.

I'm not sure if you're serious...but any reasonable trade that pairs up Lopez with KG should only benefit us.

[Moranis]

I voted no as I took the question to be can the Nets REALISTICALLY beat the Heat, and in that I don't believe so.  Of course they could, anything could happen, but I look at these type of things in a more realistic view.

Brooklyn was pretty healthy last year and lost to a Chicago team without Rose in the playoffs.  Now sure they didn't have Pierce, KG, or AK47, but if you are relying on a bunch of old men to drastically change your team, you are in trouble.  I don't believe there is any way the Nets don't have a lot of injuries throughout the season. 

I also don't know how well that team is going to mesh and it will have a big identity problem.  Guys like KG and PP are coming into an established team with established roles by players playing very similar positions and roles.  I think there will be a fairly large learning curve for Lopez and KG down low and for Johnson and PP on the wing.  I'm not sure they have still have the athleticism to make it work. 

And the demise of Wade is greatly exaggerated.  I mean his regular season he went for 21/5/5 on 52% from the field.  He tailed off a bit in the playoffs, but you can't just ignore the regular season.  Pierce on the other hand has been drastically getting worse every single year and is coming off his worse season in at least a decade which is continuing that trend.  Joe Johnson big time down ward trend.  Even the great KG has been on a down ward trend for years. 

The Nets could do it of course, I just don't see it as a realistic possibility.  As crazy as this sounds with the Heat being the 3 time defending Eastern Conference Champions, I do think that Chicago (assuming Rose is healthy) will be the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.  Indiana will also pose problems for both Chicago and Miami next year as well.

EC playoff seeding projections (as of right now)
1. Chicago
2. Miami
3. Indiana
4. Brooklyn
5. New York
6. Detroit
7. Atlanta
8. Cleveland
with Washington right in the hunt

[LilRip]

Yes, absolutely.

If you thought the our team in 10 and 11 could beat the Heat how do you not think Brooklyn can? Pierce and Garnett have a much better supporting cast and have to do less work. If the Celtics had that roster most fans here would be predicting the parade date already. The only thing that concerns me about the Nets is coaching, but I think Lawrence Frank will keep thing under control for Kidd.

this is so true! if news broke that the Nets traded Deron, JJ, Brook Lopez, AK47 and Blatche for Rondo, AB, Lee, Green and Bass, we'd be ecstatic.

I'm not sure if you're serious...but any reasonable trade that pairs up Lopez with KG should only benefit us.

my point was that if we had the roster the Nets currently had, we'd most certainly be saying that we have a very high chance of dethroning the Heat and becoming champs.

[KGs Knee]

Not only can they, they will.

I called it the day the trade went down, and will continue to believe so until otherwise proven wrong.