I just wanted to do a quick comparison of the Knicks and the Cavs rosters just to show how LeBron is pretty much responsible for every single one of the Cavs’ wins this year and what he could do for the Knicks.
(Note: I’m not just saying LeBron should come to the Knicks. Of course, it’s been well-documented that Brooklyn could be the landing point for LeBron so I’ll be bringing the Nets up as well.)
POINT GUARD
From a talent standpoint, it is pretty obvious that the Knicks have the edge. Delonte West is a nice player but Starbury has proven that he can put up 20 points and dish out 10 dimes (and have 7 assists) on any given night. Damon Jones and Eric Snow just waste space on the bench and make it uncomfortable for everyone else. I’d take Nate Robinson and Mardy Collins over them any day.
SHOOTING GUARD
This one is closer than you might think but it’s still not that close. Jamal Crawford is clearly the best player at this position for both teams but Booby has shown how valuable he can be to the Cavs and Sasha Pavlovic gives you a solid 3 or 4…possessions a game. I’m not sure why Devin Brown hasn’t been getting some burn in the playoffs. He was pretty good in the regular season. This triumvirate of Cavs shooting guards gives Jamal (and Fred Jones I guess) a run for his (their) money but I gotta give the edge to the Knicks.
SMALL FORWARD
I was there for that. He’s just…too good…
POWER FORWARD
I gotta be honest…I wasn’t a big fan of trading for Ben Wallace but I suppose Danny Ferry had to get him in order to be able to dump all the other contracts. He is still alright but clearly only a shadow of his former self. Everyone knows he gives you nothing on offense but that’s about as much as Zach Randolph will give you on defense. With that said, Zach is better on offense than Ben is on defense at this point in his career so I’ll give the edge to Zach. But that wouldn’t even matter anyway because David Lee (for reasons unknown to me has been coming off the bench his whole career) is probably the only player Knicks fans would want to keep on this team and Joe Smith is probably one of the most disappointing #1 overall picks in NBA history. Even though that draft blew the Warriors still could’ve gotten KG or Rasheed but there’s another time and another post for all that. Hearing Joe on interviews though, he seems like a nice guy so I don’t want to bash him. I think he’d be a solid role player and veteran presence on any team.
CENTER
The one position where the Cavs have a clear advantage. Big Z is getting up there in age but he’s one of the best scoring centers in the league and his ability to keep the ball alive for offensive boards is unreal. Anderson Varejao plays hard and apparently went to the Vlade Divac school for flopping so that’s always worth something. Eddy Curry on the other hand went to the Kwame Brown school for blowing. Nah he’s not that bad (I don’t think anyone can be…as a matter of fact if I was Pau Gasol I’d be insulted that Kwame was one of the players I was traded for) but how can you be 6-11 285 and average less rebounds than Monta Ellis?????????????
So after going through both rosters it looks like the edge goes to the Knicks. I suppose there’s never been a question as to how much talent the Knicks have as much as team chemistry and players sticking to their roles, which the Cavs do very well. I think even the Knicks players would do a good job of standing around and watching LeBron dominate.
