Here we go, my friends. The first sign that fall is here and the NBA season is coming soon is the beginning of the NFL campaign. We're already headed to Week 4 there, so it's time for the second sign: the start of the Blazersedge NBA preview. We'll roll through all 30 teams during the next few weeks. We'll examine what has changed, what remains the same, and take wild stabs at what the possible prospects are. Some things to note: --These are not meant to be all-encompassing. The comments are brief, hit the highlights, and are often done with a sense of humor. I think I'd get a headache doing an exhaustively comprehensive preview of every team. If there's something I don't cover that you want to know, ask in the comments. Feel free to add your own stuff as well...disagreements and corrections too! --The "Key Players" list means just that...guys who are significant to the team. They're not necessarily listed in their exact order on the depth chart. --Often I will do the previews and another post during a day, but I usually like to celebrate the first one by letting it stand on its own. Don't worry, there will be other content during the preview period as well. Consider this almost like bonus coverage. Record: 23-59, 5th Atlantic Division, 14th in Eastern Conference Statistical Comparisons Notable: 27th in field goal % 28th in opponent field goal % 27th in three-point % 30th in assists 26th in steals 30th in blocks 28th in opponent turnovers Others: 21st in the league in scoring (96.9 ppg) 22nd in opponent scoring (103.5 ppg) 25th in ppg differential (-6.6 ppg) 13th in free throw attempts per game 23rd in free throw percentage 23rd in turnovers Good offensive rebounding team Low-Average defensive rebounding team Movement Significant Additions: Chris Duhon, Danilo Gallinari (R), Patrick Ewing Jr (R) Significant Subtractions: Renaldo Balkman Roster Coach: Mike D’Antoni Key Players PG: Stephon Marbury, Nate Robinson, Chris Duhon SG: Jamal Crawford, Mardy Collins SF: Quentin Richardson, Danilo Gallinari PF: Zach Randolph, David Lee, Jarred Jeffries C: Eddy Curry, Jerome James Comments Ahhhh…the Knicks. The rebuilding process began this summer with the long-overdue relieving of Coach/GM Isiah Thomas. (Want to simulate his tenure with the Knicks? Go out and hire that guy who captained the Exxon Valdez and put him in charge of an aircraft carrier group. Watch the fun begin…) The process is still in the early stages, however. How can you tell? The biggest move of the summer by far was getting a household name for a coach. In their only significant player move the Knicks got rid of one of the two guys on their roster who actually worked pretty hard at his craft, Renaldo Balkman. Meanwhile they retain Stephon Marbury, Zach Randolph, Eddy Curry, and Jerome James, all of whom were voted “Most Likely to Submarine a Team” by their respective classes. Come to think of it, Jamal Crawford isn’t exactly a prize either. Reach for the stars, I always say. Unfortunately the stars they reached for turned out to be plastic sequins so gaudy that a How do you fix this mess? Blow it up, blow it up, blow it up. The papers go back and forth about whether they’re looking to move NEW Record: 34-48, 4th Atlantic Division, 10th in Eastern Conference Statistical Comparisons Notable: 26th in field goal % Others: 25th in the league in scoring (95.8 ppg) 17th in opponent scoring (100.9 ppg) 23rd in ppg differential (-5.1 ppg) 12th in opponent field goal % 24th in three-point % 6th in free throw attempts per game 20th in free throw percentage 6th in assists 24th in steals 16th in blocks 18th in turnovers 14th in opponent turnovers Average offensive rebounding team Average defensive rebounding team Movement Significant Additions: Bobby Simmons, Yi Jianlian, Keyon Dooling, Eduardo Najera, Jarvis Hayes, Brook Lopez (R), Ryan Anderson (R), Chris Douglas-Roberts (R) Significant Subtractions: Richard Jefferson, Nenad Krstic, Desagana Diop, Marcus Williams, Bostjan Nachbar Roster Coach: Key Players PG: Devin Harris, Keyon Dooling SG: Vince Carter, SF: Bobby Simmons, Jarvis Hayes PF: Yi Jianlian, Stromile Swift, Eduardo Najera C: Josh Boone, Sean Williams, Brook Lopez Comments I’m guessing Nets General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe is a Dylan Thomas fan, as in: Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Facing their dotage, burdened until big names with long-toothed pedigrees, the Nets went for a near-total makeover. Four of their five starters from the beginning of last season (Kidd, Jefferson, Collins, Krstic) are history. Vince Carter is the lone holdout from the smooth, stat-producing Nets of old. Devin Harris, scorer/slasher, is a hot, young commodity aching for a chance to fly. Yi Jianlian had a somewhat disappointing rookie campaign in I see three main problems with this roster as constructed. First, if Vince Carter goes down for any reason this team is in trouble. He’s been fairly healthy the past three seasons and the Nets better keep him that way. Even with him at full strength teams will have more incentive to throttle him this year than before. I’ll take my chances with Harris, Simmons, and YJ trying to beat me for 48 minutes. Second, that front line is probably as bad as it looks. Those power forwards lack power. Josh Boone has shown himself to be a good 26-minute player. There’s no doubt he can rebound and he hits the shots he takes. But he’s undersized and unproven as a starter. It’s a fair bet he’ll take some time to adjust. Finally, where is the outside shooting coming from? A lot of guys on that team just can’t hit. Opponents are probably going to clog the lane and dare I admire what the Nets are trying to do. You have to know when it’s time to change course. They’re just not to the point yet where the change is going to register strongly in the win-loss column. They’ll probably spend the year finding out more about their young players, keeping a sharp eye out for decent Vince trades, and plotting their greatest needs for next year’s draft. --Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)