Brook's-lyn

The Nets' transition to Brooklyn has been a successful one. Regardless of how their showing in the 2013 playoffs ends up (with emphasis on ends), a polarizing, win-at-all-costs owner (with emphasis on costs), who's one ushanka hat short of a Russian presidency, has joined forces with a media mogul who has made the most of his one-fifteenth of a percent ownership before moving "on to the next one" (with emphasis on giving these obnoxious parentheses a rest), and a fan base ripe with the passion and swagger found in all major sports towns from Philly, to L.A., to their neighbors across the bridge in Manhattan. A, well let's face it, pulse noticeably absent from East Rutherford, New Jersey, even when the Nets were perennial Eastern Conference Champs in the heydays of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson etc.

With that said, it takes more than an understated makeover and an even more understated "Brooklyn" chant to revitalize a franchise. At the end of the day, it comes down to the product you put on the floor. With several  acquisitions over the past couple of seasons, highlighted by Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, Mikhail Prokhorov and GM Billy King have shown that the Nets' face lift is much more than aesthetic.

Joe Johnson's trade to Brooklyn for a band of misfits lost in basketball obscurity and Deron Williams' decision stick with the Nets long-term with a five year deal gave validity to a vision of Brooklyn being New York's new mecca for highly touted free agents. While things have not exactly gone to plan quite yet, as Brooklyn prepares for a more than probable first round exit, this postseason has gone a long way to show that the true future of this franchise is the man who's been in the middle during the lows of an embarrassing 12-70 2009-10 season and this recent rise to relevance, Brook Lopez.

The ever optimistic Prokhorov has recently gone on record as saying the Nets are one more acquisition away from contention. In reality, rather than search for a new piece, Nets management should probably get to work on a new puzzle.  Saturday's triple-overtime loss to the Bulls after leading by 14 with just under four minutes left reaffirms that sentiment and all but puts the nail in the coffin for interim coach PJ Carlesimo, who for a time, brought this team back from the brink of disaster after taking over for the deposed Avery Johnson.. The Nets are a gritty squad, for sure, but they've proven to be a group of mismatched skill sets that play entirely too slow to be effective in today's NBA.

Joe Johnson, after all, is nicknamed Iso-Joe for a reason. As he prefers the ball in his hands to create his own shot. Johnson has limited his game to almost exclusively jump shots, a lot of them contested, limiting his ability to get to the line. As brilliant as Johnson can look in spurts, his finesse based play has been an achillies heel in his playoff showings his entire career. If anything, Johnson's ability to get 15-22* (22 taking three overtimes) points per game given his shot selection is a testament to his skill level and few players have proven as clutch as Johnson this season, but, at least with this squad, he's playing nowhere near an all-star level and is, at best, the best of the NBA's B-list.

While the days of Deron Williams and Chris Paul being equated to each other equals at the top of the NBA's ever expanding mountain of elite point guards are long gone, Williams is still a more than formidable point guard in the league, and given the length of his deal and impressive ability, he should still be a part of this team's future going forward.

The remainder of Brooklyn's roster is a series of question marks. Reggie Evans does what he does and that's hustle and provide every intangible you could possibly imagine, Gerald Wallace, who's already not great shooting touch appears to have bounced like a bad check, has little more to do than rebound and play defense in a slower system that he still seems to be lost within. Wallace has become the recipient of a lot of drive and dishes and "Crash" just has nothing to crash into in Brooklyn; totally nuetralizing his otherwise unique ability to create contact and plays. Blatche has adapted to Brooklyn ball nicely and appears to have found a niche there, as has CJ Watson, but both are bench players. Even with both players flourishing they're not going to bring this team to the next level. Brooks appears to be the one person capable of jump starting this stagnant offense, but is such a liability on defense that he can't and won't get the run he needs to prove his worth. Once dominant rebounder, Kris Humphries game appears to have disappeared ever since his mercifully brief stint on reality television.

Amidst this cluster of unfulfilled potential is Nets center, Brook Lopez, emerging as the one constant this team has during the 2013 playoff run. While his Chicago counterpart, Joakim Noah, is at anything but 100 percent, Lopez's ability to put up about 22 points per game against a highly regarded Bulls defense is certainly praise worthy. Lopez's great touch around the rim and great range for his size is not news, necessarily, but his consistency and new found assertiveness is of note, especially as he steps up his defensive game as well with 3, 3, 7, and 4 blocks in each of the last four games respectively, it is Lopez, not Williams or Johnson ensuring that the Nets don't go quietly.

Lopez's game is not without fault. He's not nearly as skilled of a rebounder as a man of his size should be, but he's also never really had to be that presence on that team. With players like Evans and (in his time) Humphries on the team specifically to rebound, it's hard to critique Lopez too hard for something that's never been in his job description, though one would think by virtue of height alone he'd grab a couple more than six or seven a game.

The Nets' Brooklyn renovation has been successful, but clearly this is a team not content with just being relevant  Nets management faces tough choices going forward, but among a team of stars struggling to find their footing, Brook Lopez's emergence as the centerpiece and rock of this team that they envisioned him to be when he was drafted in 2008 is a promising sign for Brooklyn's future and is perhaps the true beacon for free agents considering settling down.in BK and restoring the franchise to prominence atop the East.

Rocky Mountains

In the George Karl era, the Denver Nuggets have seemingly always been an enigma. Led by a coach with the basketball philosophy of a team being greater than the sum of its parts, with emphasis on ball movement, shrewd defense, and not necessarily deep, but strict rotations. Contrary to the win-by-committee ideology of Karl, Nugget head coach since 2005, the most successful Nugget teams to date under his watch have been led by a phenomenal talent and, indeed, franchise player in his own right, Carmelo Anthony.It should be noted, however, that the Nugget squad never truly turned the corner that took them to a Game Six in the Western Conference Finals until the acquisition of floor general and all-around team leader, Chauncey Billups. Billups invaluably balanced 'Melo's unique and then (still) unrivaled offensive abilities with a commitment to defense and consistent effort to involve others offensively.  

Since Carmelo Anthony's rather controversy-riddled departure for Broadway, The Mile High City has been left with a collection of pseudo household names whom, when coupled with savvy drafting (Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried) have developed a promising young nucleus in a high octane offense that wows NBA fans on a nightly basis. The Nuggets are riding a current home winning streak of 21 games and are fresh off a 15-game tear overshadowed only by the Heat's unprecedented power surge.

Despite their impressive, albeit unorthodox, play this season and their perch atop the Northwest Divsion (3rd in the conference), the Nuggets have been nagged by the lingering question posed by analysts at all levels of professionalism:

"To whom does this team go when the offense is otherwise stagnant and the game is on the line?"

Alas,  upon study of past champions (teams with superstars), history dictates that the house that Karl built is, in fact, made up of cards rather than bricks and will crumble when presented  with the stringent defense of the playoffs. Clearly, the style of play that favors the Nuggets is that of fluidity and finesse, contrary to the grind-it-out slug-fests that playoff games can become. This concern is legitimate and, frankly until they prove otherwise, hard to refute. With that said, bear in mind that this sixth place team of last year that pushed a then very relevant Laker squad to seven games has done nothing but matured over the past ten plus months and will now have at least one round's worth of homecourt advantage to help get them over the hump of first round loses.

As with any team, health plays an important role at this point in the waning regular season as experienced squads rest their players for the playoff run in lieu of jockeying for seeding position. The injury bug has bit the Nuggets hard late in the season and have even the small contingent of Nugget-supporters doubting their playoff expectations.

Many were quick to write off the Nuggets following Danilo Gallinari's season-ending ACL tear. Gallo has flourished in Denver after proving to be a pretty vexing player in New York' alternating between moments of brilliance and outright mediocrity. A Gallo at the top of his game was the popular pick for the one player on the Nugget "team" that could take the torch when times got tough. In a sense, the Nuggets lost their sleeper for the remainder of the year and that understandably dampened the spirits of Denver faithful.

Those who were eager to bury the Nuggets may not want to be too hasty in their assessment of the team heading into the playoffs. The team has continued its blistering play without their star point guard, Ty Lawson, struggling with a lingering heel injury, and have yet to lose without Gallo in the lineup, picking up impressive victories over Houston and San Antonio.

It is unwise to over-magnify essentially meaningless wins over a Spurs team without Tony and Manu and an intriguing Houston team. However, the emergence of the young rookie, Evan Fournier, averaging just under 13 points in his last five contests while contributing subtly, but invaluably, across the board, as well as the resurgence of the injury-plagued Wilson Chandler stepping up in Lawson and Gallo's stead respectively, speaks volumes about how committed to the philosophy of team the Denver Nuggets are. Andre Miller has discovered the fountain of youth of late, Corey Brewer's numbers are off the charts, and even the one-man-enigma, JaVale McGee, has seen more highlights than low-lights during Denver's recent push to be included amongst the league's elite. In addition, the Nuggets lead the league in offensive rebounding, a stat that doesn't appear to be in danger of falling off come late April.

Bottom line: There is no team in league where the phrase "next man up" is more apt and it's foolish and borderline hypocritical to criticize a team for not having a cornerstone and later in the same season, write them off for losing a single, though talented, player in Gallo. Players are rising to the challenge, and if the underwhelming Iggy can come to life late and Lawson can return healthy, this team is equipped to surprise many this May.

It is often said that the regular season is a time for players to play, while the playoffs are a time for coaches to coach. This late season has been anything but smooth for the Nuggets, but George Karl and the team have proven up to the task of navigating this rocky stretch. Heading into the post season, this is a Nugget team as locked in to Karl's ideals as any in recent memory. Even if faith outside of the Denver area has trailed off, the  confidence in the Nugget locker room is at a *sigh* Rocky Mountain High. With a team as invested in his big picture as ever, George Karl will have arguably his best chance yet to put his philosophy to the test and there's not a team in the West that wants to be the guinea pig.