Adding a declining Joe Johnson to a team that was projected to be trash ( even with Brook Lopez returning), doesn't "clearly" make them a better team.The Knicks are the more talented team and towards the end of last season showed the potential to be a top tier team, not to mention they have more depth. Offensively, the Nets definitely get better with J.J. and Lopez back, but defensively they won't be much better than last year ( Bringing in Wallace helps a bit though ), and I just can't see any team being a contender with a defense rated near the bottom of the league. I'm trying to be as objective as I can, but I don't see the Nets being rated any higher than a 6 or 7 seed; barring the development of Brooks and Lopez, or some player coming out of nowhere to help the team. The Nets are more hype than anything now, and these analysts seem caught up in the hype and big names, and aren't really doing much analyzing. Any thoughts of the Nets being the better team seem to be dependent on the premise that the Knicks will underachieve more than anything.