New York Knicks Are Still Better Than New Jersey Nets with Dwight Howard
The New Jersey Nets are soon becoming the Brooklyn Nets. This means that New York will have two NBA teams. The Knicks are easily New York's team, but the Nets are determined to compete with them to become the city's number one team. One way the Nets can up their stock is by acquiring Dwight Howard. Several times during this crazy offseason, the Nets looked as if they had Howard all but locked up but the Magic have recently pulled him off the trade market.
I wrote an article about how the Nets become better than the Knicks with Howard and here is an argument about how the Nets still would not be better than the Knicks, even if New Jersey were to acquire the best center in the game.
Scoring
1 of 4The Knicks offense is centered around the play of Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire. The Nets' two top players would be D-Will and D12. When it comes to individual scoring both Stoudemire and Anthony have more career points per game than both of the Nets stars.
Career Points Per Game:
Amar'e Stoudemire: 21.9 points
Carmelo Anthony: 24.8 points
Deron Williams: 17.2 points
Dwight Howard: 18.2 points
More Complete Team
2 of 4With the addition of Tyson Chandler, the Knicks have become a more complete team. Last year the flaw with the Knicks game was their defense. They struggled to limit teams to under 100 points a game. The addition of Tyson Chandler gives them the defensive presence they were craving. With Chandler dominating the paint by pulling down rebounds and blocking shots, Carmelo and Amar'e can play even less defense than they already do and be even more effective offensively. Chandler also allows Amar'e to play the power forward position and not center, where he is undersized.
The Nets would give up their young star center Brook Lopez in order to get Howard and they would be left with Williams, Howard and players that are not proven players.
Each Team's Starting Five
Knicks Nets
PG Tony Douglas Deron Williams
SG Landry Fields Anthony Morrow
SF Carmelo Anthony Damion James
PF Amar'e Stoudemire Sheldon Williams
C Tyson Chandler Dwight Howard
More Proven Young Talent
3 of 4The Nets acquired rookie shooting guard Marshon Brooks from the Celtics in this year's draft. He looks as if he could be a promising scorer and could be a surprise rookie this season; however, he could also be a bust.
Landry Fields last year was a a surprise rookie. He stood out among the best rookies in the league. The Knicks refused to give him up in any trades and could get a lot of open looks as teams will have to focus on stopping Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire.
Conclusion
4 of 4The chances of Dwight Howard being traded to the Nets seem to drastically change every single day. As of now Howard is no longer on the trade block so Knicks vs. Nets with Howard may not even need to be discussed. The Nets would have to acquire more talent after they get Dwight Howard if they want to compete with the Knicks and the rest of the NBA.
I am a Nets fan. For any Nets fans or NBA fans that want to look at the other side of the argument...
