Shaquille O'Neal is not one to mince words when talking basketball and the former Los Angeles Lakers star was emphatic when discussing the NBA in the Big Apple, telling Newsday that the Brooklyn Nets, not the New York Knicks are the team to beat in the city.
According to ESPN.com, O'Neal spoke to the paper about the two teams on Thursday and mentioned that the Nets are the better team than the Knicks "all day every day" and that the addition of Jason Kidd as coach as well as Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce puts the team over the top. O'Neal said that Kidd has a dangerous lineup at his fingertips and that his team is stronger than the Knicks right now heading into the season, including after they added Andrei Kirilenko on a deal as well from the Timberwolves.
The Nets finished five games behind the division winning Knicks last season, but according to the Lakers great, this season it should be reversed and it will be the Nets on top this time around. The team has added a number of players to their core of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and center Brook Lopez and the team looks much stronger and deeper than last season. The Knicks brought back JR Smith and Pablo Prigioni this offseason and are also hoping to add more depth on the roster as the summer moves on.
The Knicks won 54 games and toped 50 for the first time in years and now they will try to make a championship run in New York to bring a title for the first time in decades. The team in Brooklyn has definitely stolen headlines this offseason and are the "hotter" team heading into summer play and training camp. The Knicks lost to the Pacers in the playoffs, while the Nets took the Bulls without Derrick Rose to seven games and now they will have the chance to do even better come next season with the addition of two Hall of Fame players.
The deals for Garnett and Pierce were rumored about for a while and they became official this week after the moratorium on deals was lifted. Last season the Nets went 49-33 and finished 17th in scoring and sixth in defense by points per game and that is likely to improve after the trade as well as the other moves they made and the picks in the draft.