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Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose rank the Nets 7th overall in their NBA Preview

By Reed Wallach
Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose have been rolling out their set of NBA rankings on Grantland for the past several weeks, and today we learned that the Brooklyn Nets are No. 7 on their list.

The video is a bit lengthy, a little more than 18 minutes, so I'll highlight some of the things the two ESPN analysts talk about.

Jalen Rose was big on the signing of Shaun Livingston, "You heard it on this report first, he found a home with the Nets," Rose said, "He's going to be a productive player." Simmons was in agreement noting that he has played fine in the preseason.

The two moved on to talk about their lineup. Rose was again an advocate of the Nets' backcourt, "I love Deron Williams and Joe Johnson," he said before calling them the "best backcourt in the league." Simmons also talked about their depth, saying, "Look at Reggie Evans, he is their tenth best player. He was playing crunch time for the Clippers in the playoffs two years ago."

Simmons believes that Paul Pierce is due for a big year, and he is on the "Duncan schedule," adding that, "(Pierce) is going to keep his minutes under 2,000 this year." Simmons continued to talk about the former Celtic about how he is not used to being so open with the amount of weapons this team has, and that this will make him as efficient as ever.

Simmons was skeptical of Deron Williams, but Rose disagreed. "The best thing to ever happen to Deron Williams at this point in his career was Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Kidd," Rose said.

The duo moved on to talk about how "less is more" with this team. Rose said, "You're asking Kevin Garnett to score less which means your going to get more in defensive intensity, more communication."

They also compared this team to the 1998 Pacers. The analogy comes together with the Bulls vying for a 3-peat, and basically running on fumes while running into a team that was put together to take down the Heat: Rick Smits, Reggie Miller, Chris Mullin and others were apart of that club. Simmons believes, "If Brooklyn is what we both think they will be, it is going to take a monster LeBron game (to beat them)."

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