Celizic: Optimistic Knicks, Nets have long roads ahead

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The aging barn known as the Izod Center is maybe half full, and it’s likely that a decent chunk of that crowd paid little or nothing to get in. But now that they’re in the house, the New Jersey Nets are working as hard as they can to get them to come back.

No one in the building, including the players, is looking at this as a real contest whose outcome is worth caring about. It’s early in the preseason schedule, and this is about players showing how much they can score, not how well they can defend.

None of that matters to the Nets’ mascot, who’s standing on a railing, working the crowd as if it’s a playoff game. The mascot’s costume is gray and shaggy and canine. From the front, the big, toothy grin/snarl leaves no question that this is a wolf. But the mascot’s name, printed on the back of his jersey, is Sly Fox — a fox in wolf’s clothing.

Somehow, that makes sense on this night. The mascot isn’t the only one in the building that looks like one thing and claims to be another. There are also the two teams that are scheduled to do preseason battle, the Knicks and the Nets.

Both say they’re looking to get back into the playoffs, a place the Knicks haven’t seen for years and the Nets are one year removed from. But both teams have been slashing payroll with an eye toward clearing plenty of salary cap room for 2010, when LeBron James will head a free-agent class that will also include Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. James is the big prize, and there has been buzz for more than a year about his love of New York and his close friendship with entrepreneur, rap impresario and Nets co-owner Jay-Z.

The Nets got rid of Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson last year, leaving just Vince Carter from when they were a decent team. The Knicks are similarly low in wattage from star players, the offense now expected to be run by point guard Chris Duhon, who has taken over from Stephon Marbury, who has another year on his monumental contract and has fallen to fourth among the guards on the depth chart.

So both teams have some selling to do to their fans, and this was a night for both teams to make the middling crowd in the Izod Center believe that they’ll be worth the price of admission during the coming season.

There’s no real buzz in the building about either team. The fans are curious to see what the new-look, run-and-gun Knicks might become under their new coach, Mike D’Antoni, recently of the Phoenix Suns. And fans of both the Knicks and Nets want to believe that either or both teams have the talent to return to the playoffs.

Underneath the stands, an hour before tipoff, Nets coach Laurence Frank would insist his team would be right in the thick of things. "I think without a doubt," he says about being playoff-caliber team.

After the game, a 114-106 Knicks win gained with the help of 12 crowd-pleasing treys, D’Antoni would echo those sentiments for his own team.

"I’m looking forward to this year," he says without blinking. "I’m looking forward to these guys and seeing how good we can get."

These are the things coaches must say. With the season yet to begin, they're even allowed to believe them. That's what they're paid to do. And both coaches can take hope in knowing their teams are playing in the Eastern Conference, where you don’t need to play even .500 ball to make the postseason.

But even the East’s lower-tier playoff teams may be too good to be threatened by either the Knicks or the Nets this year. Other than Carter, neither team has an established superstar, and Carter’s motivation has come into question over the years, especially when his team is doing poorly. And as much fun as it is to watch D’Antoni’s Knicks charge up and down the floor, they are a team that is not interested in defense. They’d rather work on offense, where D’Antoni’s  philosophy boils down to this: The open guy takes the shot.

“There’s no pressure on any shot,” says veteran forward and team leader Malik Rose. “If you’re open, take it.”

Asked if the Knicks are a playoff team, Rose says without hesitation, “The playoffs are a definite possibility.”

On Frank’s side of the building, the Nets are working on the dribble-drive offense that has been increasing popular in the NCAA. His new point guard, obtained in the trade that sent Kidd to Dallas, is Devin Harris, a 25-year-old with good quickness and the ability to penetrate and dish.

The supporting cast is unproven. Center Josh Boone was held out with an abnormal heartbeat and is waiting doctor’s clearance to play. His backup, Brook Lopez, is an athletic center who lacks bulk. One forward is Yi Jianlian, obtained in the Jefferson deal. A seven-footer from China, Yi is remarkably quick and athletic, but he makes up for that with a lack of assertiveness that makes him all but invisible on the court.

The key for the Nets is how interested Carter remains. On this day, he says he likes the youth movement. “I believe in this team,” he says. “I’ll continue to believe in this team.”

Everybody — coaches and players alike — say they’re not thinking about LeBron and 2010. You can believe them when they say that. Players are interested in right now, not two years down the road when they may be somewhere else. Coaches are interested in right now because if they’re not, in two years they can count on being somewhere else.

That’s for the front offices, and the management of both teams continues to set things up to make a pitch for LeBron — when the time comes.

They know it’s a long shot. The Nets were counting on a new arena in Brooklyn to lure King James. But the recent credit crunch and budget problems in New York City make it increasingly likely that instead of Brooklyn, the Nets will end up down the road in Newark, sharing the Prudential Center with the Devils of the NHL.

And the Knicks have to hope LeBron will take less money to play in New York with a team that may not be as good as the one he would be leaving.

Meanwhile, both teams have to sell seats. The Nets are doing it by making the game just part of a night’s family entertainment. Even in tough economic times, the Nets are an affordable treat: upper deck tickets start at $20 and the team is offering a two-for-one season-ticket package. At those prices, a fan can see a lot of good basketball, even if it’s provided by the visiting team — plus dancing girls, audience-participation contests, the fox that dresses like a wolf and no end of whistles, bells and flashing lights. Win or lose, they put on a show.

The Knicks will get a boost from D’Antoni’s presence. He’s the first real head coach they’ve had in years, and his run-and-gun style is fun to watch. But the Knicks also charge an arm and a leg to get in the building, and some of the Wall Street firms that used to buy big blocks of tickets don’t exist anymore. If the team goes south, the fans will, too. At those prices, they want more than a show; they want victories.

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