By C.J. SULLIVAN & DAVE HOLLANDER

SULLIVAN: That is a big question for a perennially good, but not great, team. This season is “it” for the Nets. With the NBA in flux, there is no clear-cut favorite to win it all. I am going to go out on a limb and say that the Nets will be the NBA champs come June 2007.

Now I know I am alone here. Everyone has picked the Nets to win the Atlantic but no one favors them to win it all. That is because, year after year, the Nets get close, but they haven’t been able to finish.

This year, that is about to change. Jason Kidd, 33 and at the top of his game, knows this may be his last shot. Vince Carter is in the final year of his contract and wants one more huge payday. He will only get that if the Nets go deep into the playoffs. Combine Kidd’s ambition with Carter’s greed and the Nets may win it all.

On paper they are not overly impressive. Richard Jefferson continues to develop into an elite player, and Nenad Krstic is coming into his own, but about all you can say about the Nets center, Jason “Big Twin” Collins, is that he plays tough D on the low post.

But if you put it all together, this crew may prevail. If they have no major injuries, the Nets are one of the better teams in basketball. A break here or there and this franchise may finally reverse the curse of Dr. J and bring a championship to New Jersey—something it hasn’t done in over 30 years.

HOLLANDER: Wow, that’s some really heady analysis you’re bringing to the table: “A break here or there” and “[i]f they have no major injuries” so “if you put it all together, this crew may prevail.” Right. And if dogs shit diamonds, we’d all be rich. (Sigh) Where do I begin with you?There are several large and fairly obvious obstacles to the Nets winning it all, namely: Detroit, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix … you get the idea. No team, however, poses more of a barrier to the NBA crown for the Nets than the Nets themselves.   Jason Kidd is in decline. Years of running the floor like an NFL punt returner have diminished this great warrior. Kidd’s two wingmen lack the gravitas necessary to pass post-season muster. Carter is all talent and no heart. His “greed,” which you accurately seize upon, remains his most proficient performance area. Jefferson looks, sounds and statistically resembles an all-star, but he’s not. He’s never had an NBA defining moment, which can also be said for the entire Nets franchise. 

They’ve got a funny bench, too. Funny “ha-ha” and funny “peculiar.” I doubt whether Jason Kidd can make the diminutive 6’1” gunner Eddie House an instant offensive threat like Steve Nash did in Phoenix last year. I like the hustle and brawn displayed thus far by Bostjan Nachbar. The fundamentally sound Slovenian brings a welcomed lunch-pail work ethic and a silky touch from the outside. Slovenia is often referred to as a “New Jersey-sized” country, additionally justifying his acquisition. The Nets list Jeff McInnis on their roster, but he remains persona-non-grata. Charles Oakley still says he wants to kick that guy’s ass.

But nothing provides more amusement than the juxtaposition of 5-foot-5-inch head coach Lawrence Frank and 7-foot-tall assistant coach Bill Cartwright. This Mutt and Jeff routine has them rolling in aisles in Clifton, but nobody in the NBA takes it very seriously. Alas, the Nets remain the “not yets.”

SULLIVAN: With your pedestrian writing, I can’t believe you will take a shot at someone using a few sports clichés. Your whole life is a cliché.

Let us get one thing clear: I am predicting that the Nets will take it all. New Jersey will be home to NBA champs come June 2007. No one else is going to bat for the Nets. I am, and all you write is that they won’t.

This year is “it” for Jason Kidd, and he will pull out all the stops. You forget that the Nets now have a decent bench, and coach Lil’ Larry Frank knows he had better use it if his team is to last into the playoffs. Their new bench will give the Big Dogs a rest so the Nets can take on D-Wade and Shaq in the spring.

With the return of Cliff “Smokey” Robinson from a drug benching, the Nets have a wise, 40-year-old 6-foot-10-inch banger to anchor the youth on the bench. Sit back, Hollander, smoke a spliff with Cliff, and watch the Nets. They will be the only basketball show in this area come June. 

HOLLANDER: You grow increasingly more incomprehensible with each sentence. I know … In less than 24 hours Britney divorced K-Fed, the Democrats took both houses, and Rumsfeld resigned. It’s all been a lot for you. Let’s try to focus. We want to know if the Nets have what it takes to win it all in 2007.  

The NBA suffers from a dearth of good centers. Them that has—Miami, San Antonio, Detroit (Ben Wallace now plays in Chicago, making them a serious contender)—win championships. Them that don’t, won’t. I like Jason Collins. But he’s simply not enough. And, with all due respect to Nenad Krstic, he’s got no help.

When Kenyon Martin was there, he put the “power” in the Nets power forward position. It made Jason Collins’ life a lot easier. They went to back-to-back finals with K-Mart. Since K-Mart, they’ve been an above-average team in a very, very weak Eastern conference. They’re far from being an NBA champion. 

If I were Cliff Robinson, salting my final years in that East Rutherford wasteland, I’d be hitting the 420 real hard. You see, it’s not the curse of Dr. J but the karmic-kickback of Byron Scott. Jason Kidd must answer for this. He ran Scott out of town in a personality clash after Scott coached them to an NBA Final. When push comes to shove out there, you think prima donnas like “Spoiled” Kidd and “Wince” Carter are listening to Lawrence Frank? Sadly, the answer is no. I say sadly because I think Frank is a good coach. 

Nobody knows better than you, C.J., what happens when inmates run the asylum. In your case, it meant a lot of unnecessary simian-human experimentation. In this case, it means the Nets will, despite whatever post-season life they have to offer, bore us into talking about that train wreck at The Garden all season long.