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The Yankees hate the Mets, the Mets hate the Yankees and everybody in New York hates Boston. Giants and Jets supporters have been at each other’s throats for years — while hating New England, of course. Now there is a new, legitimate rivalry not for area but city bragging rights, the Brooklyn (formerly New Jersey) Nets and the Knicks.
So who is better? In an exclusive survey, The Post, following Jeremy Lin’s Tuesday departure for Houston, polled current and former general managers, coaches, team executives and scouts around the league, and in a sampling of the NBA universe, found remarkably close balloting. Of 29 people who responded under the condition of anonymity, 14 said the Knicks, 13 said the Nets and two — both current rival GMs — felt it was too close to call.
For decades, orange-and-blue-clad supporters delighted in turning Nets games into Knicks home contests. Now, bedecked in Brooklyn black and white and backed by Mikhail Prokhorov, the Nets are invading Knicks territory, armed with a starting backcourt of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson that some say is the best in the game. They also re-signed Brook Lopez, Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries.
“We’re better,” Nets fans say.
VOTE: WHO HAS THE BETTER TEAM, KNICKS OR NETS?
The Knicks lost Lin but added Jason Kidd, whose image still is worshipped in New Jersey. The Knicks made the playoffs riding one of the game’s best, Carmelo Anthony. They have a frontcourt worthy of envy.
“Go away, Nets, you’ll never be the Knicks,” proclaim the Spike Lee faithful.
Why pick the Knicks?
“Because of Carmelo being best player on the floor from either team and his end-of-game ability,” said one Western Conference assistant coach.
Why pick the Nets?
“Because their guard play is going to be much better with the addition of Johnson. Having Lopez back and healthy makes a big difference along with Humphries returning. And with Wallace being able to guard multiple positions, it is going to make them a much better team,’’ said a rival head coach.
Why not the Knicks?
“I still think their defense is really suspect, a fraud,” said an Eastern Conference scout. “They don’t guard. Deron Williams is a triple-double waiting to happen against them.”
Why not the Nets?
“Basically, they added Joe Johnson and C.J. Watson and re-signed all their own guys,” said one long-time scout. “And they’ve been losing with those guys.”
It should be noted Lopez and Williams have played a total of 17 games together. Lopez, Williams and Wallace have not been together for a single game. And the chemistry factor is a huge determination for some of the respondents. One Eastern GM insisted it simply is too close to call right now and claimed “whoever becomes a team first” would get the nod.
“The Nets are stacked. They have as good a backcourt as anybody in the game, including [Steve] Nash and Kobe [Bryant of the Lakers]. Billy [King, Nets GM] seems to have covered everything,” the GM said. “On the other side, the Knicks have great talent. I think Raymond Felton will do a great job. Carmelo is a great player, but I thought [Tyson] Chandler was the key addition.”
The other GM who also declared it a dead heat, flatly proclaimed the “Nets have the better backcourt, by far” but raved about the Knicks’ interior defense potential, noting “in Chandler they have a guy great at guarding the rim and now they have another guy, [Marcus] Camby, great at guarding the rim.”
Along the flip-a-coin philosophy, one Eastern head coach feels the talent is close on both sides but believes the Knicks, even without Lin, have a slight chemistry edge.
“Chemistry is the X-factor,” the coach said. “The Nets have a better backcourt — two All-Stars. The Knicks have a better frontcourt. The Nets, really, are being thrown together. The Knicks went through five seasons in one last year and there are still questions: Will Amar’e [Stoudemire] and Melo mesh? I don’t know if they miss Lin as much as some think.”
Chemistry cannot be measured on paper. Another Eastern GM picked the Nets “because of two established All-Star guards, a defensive stopper in Wallace, a rebounder in Humphries and a scorer in the middle in Lopez.”
Yet when it comes to chemistry, the Knicks, some say, may have an edge because of an element that tips the scales: Jason Kidd.
“Carmelo Anthony just got light years better because of Jason Kidd,” said one former coach and current scout. “Anthony won’t want to let Kidd down. Players want to impress peers who are stars, more than [they do] coaches or fans.”
Others see the chemistry factor favoring the Nets.
“The Nets have five players who fit their [starting] roles perfectly — a point guard, a shooting guard, small forward, a power forward, a center,” said one former Eastern coach.
“I go with the Nets because they are filling in pieces to become more of a team,” said a Western Conference playoff team executive.
“The Nets are better because their players will jell easier and quicker,” said a former Eastern executive.
“Not so much the starters, but I think the Nets are deeper and have a better bench,” said an Eastern exec.
One Eastern executive sarcastically picked the Nets citing “two words: Raymond Felton.”
But the Knicks had supporters who were just as convinced the city game will reign in Manhattan, because of what they see in the Knicks and don’t see in the Nets.
“I know he’s older but I think Jason Kidd will really flourish,” one former assistant coach said. “I don’t know if Deron Williams is as good as everyone says, and he has minimal playoff experience. Gerald Wallace’s best days might be behind him, Joe Johnson is on the decline, and Brook Lopez is coming off a major injury.”
A former Western GM echoed those sentiments, insisting “players the Nets traded for are in decline. … Carmelo is a star and Chandler is a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. If Amar’e bounces back from a tough year, watch out.”
A Western Conference team executive chose the Knicks even with the loss of Lin because “I still think they have the core that is more established.”
A former Western head coach voted Knicks “due to a better balanced roster,” while assessing that the Nets will be “nothing special.”
The Nets found the most favor because of their backcourt, Johnson at 6-foot-7 is a versatile six-time All-Star and Williams, rated as “in the elite level among the elite” by one scout, is a three-time All-Star and Olympic gold medalist.
“The Nets are better because the Knicks have two big questions: Who is the shooting guard? Who is the point guard? Compared to the Nets’ backcourt, the disparity is astonishing,” said a consultant to an Eastern Conference team.
Another veteran scout agreed with the Nets having a clear-cut backcourt edge.
“Jason Kidd can play for me any day but matched against Deron Williams it can be a different story,” the scout said, “plus I don’t like Raymond Felton.’’ But the scout felt the Knicks’ frontcourt size and productivity swayed the balance to Manhattan.
Finally, the most truthful answer came from a Western Conference coach who said simply, “The Knicks. And why the hell should I care, exactly?”
Maybe the East River rivalry isn’t making waves out west, but fans in the city, even those on the fringe, are about to get a hoops war worth watching.
fred.kerber@nypost.com