Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony has taken quite a bit of flack over the course of his career for his failure to carry any of his teams to the NBA Finals. With the Knicks in the midst of yet another retooling, the prospects for that to change this season seem remote. While Anthony certainly could benefit from more talent around him, another player who was selected in the 2003 NBA Draft who goes by the name LeBron James, carried a Cleveland squad with arguably lesser talent than this year’s version of the Knicks all the way to the NBA Finals during the 2006/07 season.
This brings me to the question of the day: Could LeBron James lead this season’s Knicks roster (sans Anthony) to the NBA Finals?
Here’s the Knicks’ (fictional) projected 2015/16 depth chart that includes LeBron:
- PG: Jose Calderon/Langston Galloway
- SG: Arron Afflalo/Jerian Grant
- SF: LeBron James/Cleanthony Early/Lance Thomas
- PF: Derrick Williams/Kristaps Porzingis/Louis Amundson
- C: Robin Lopez/Kevin Seraphin/Kyle O’Quinn
Now for reference, here’s the depth chart for the 2006/07 Cavaliers:
- PG: Eric Snow/Damon Jones/Shannon Brown
- SG: Larry Hughes/Sasha Pavlovic
- SF: LeBron James/Ira Newble
- PF: Drew Gooden/Donyell Marshall
- C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Anderson Varejao/Scot Pollard
What do you think the Knicks’ record would be this season with James on the team? Would they make the playoffs, and if so, how deep would they advance? Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the matter. We look forward to what you have to say.
The difference between Melo and Lebron is Lebron is a leader that leads by example and Melo isn’t. JR and Shumpert have said as much. That doesn’t make Melo a bad player but he’s just not leadership material. He’s not the Lebrons, Wades, Dirks, Duncans, of the leagues.
So are this year’s Knicks a playoff team with LeBron instead of Melo? If so, how deep in the postseason would they go?
Hang the Banner!!
The Pistons should have beaten the Cavs that year, but aside from them, man, the Eastern Conference was weak in 2007. This year’s real-life Knicks, with Carmelo, would be a fourth, fifth or sixth seed that year. But if LeBron were on this year’s Knicks and competing against an improved Eastern Conference, I think they’d wind up somewhere in the same range — four, five or six. Maybe No. 3. They’d be behind the Cavs, Bulls, and competing among some combination of the Hawks, Wizards, Raptors and Bucks.
But remember in this scenario that LeBron isn’t on the Cavs. I’m not sure where that roster without him ends up being seeded.
So does this mean that Carmelo is in this scenario taking Lebron’s roster spot on the cavs?
Hmm, good point. I still think that Cavs team would be talented enough to grab one of the top two seeds. Carmelo, Irving, Love, plus Mozgov and (ostensibly) Thompson. Not bad.
In that case then the Knicks with Lebron would be a 5 seed in the East behind the Bulls, Wizards, Cavs and Raptors, and ahead of the Heat, Bucks and Celtics. In the first round they would have a seven-game series with Toronto, which the Raptors blow at home in Game 7. They then face the #1 seeded Bulls and are carried almost entirely by Lebron, yet lose the series in 6. In this hypothetical the Spurs beat the Wizards 4-1 in the Finals and Lebron is League MVP.
Today’s East has quality teams in Miami, Toronto, DC.. even Millwuakee and Atlanta. In 2007 (the year the Cavs went to the Finals) the team widely expected to win the East was Miami. They collapsed with a devastating injury to Dwyane Wade. The Pistons were on the tail end of their run, and outside of that.. the east had almost nothing else. The Raptors were the 3 seed that year.. a team with Chris Bosh and…….lol. This is a big red herring topic to me.
LBJ needs shooting PF like Donyell Marshall or Kevin Love, the line up of knicks now doesn’t have now…
So do you think Love will bounce back this season? He sure didn’t look like himself next to LeBron this past year.