Comparing apples to oranges
Anybody who’s a regular out here in cyberspace has come across those little NBA game previews with the mug shots of the starting five.
Just for kicks, lets do a side-by-side of the Knicks and Lakers.
And lets go with the lineup Isiah Thomas believed was going to force a couple of bad match ups for opponents, using only past history to judge the advantage.
Point guard
NYK: Stephon Marbury
LAL: Derek Fisher
Advantage: Knicks
Shooting guard
NYK: Jamal Crawford
LAL: Kobe Bryant
Advantage: Lakers
Center
NYK: Eddy Curry
LAL: Andrew Bynum
Advantage: Knicks
Power forward
NYK: Zach Randolph
LAL: Lamar Odom
Advantage: Knicks
Small forward
NYK: Quentin Richardson
LAL: Luke Walton
Advantage: Knicks
Let’s get those fingers moving. While the Knicks are better at four positions, they come into tomorrow’s game with a 14-29 record. Go figure. And what about the Lakers? They’re a surprising 27-15 and looking to add talent.
• Fred Jones practiced today and is expect to play tomorrow. He’ll probably be part of the contingent of defenders chasing Bryant around. Quentin Richardson and Jared Jeffries will get a crack as well.
• What’s anybody thinking about that zone defense you’ve seen the last two games. I’m thinking it’s a way to rest Jamal Crawford, who clearly saves energy for offense.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Having Kobe on your team doesn’t hurt either
January 28th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Mike
Agreed with your comment on the Zone being a way to provide some in game rest for Crawford.
Also Collins getting some burn also addresses the same topic.
Seems like Monty/Zeke is using smoke and mirrors… let’s hope he doesn’t walkt into the mirror shattering it and having the shards slice his throat!
January 28th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
For all the props that Isiah gets for his drafting skills (as opposed to his trades and MLE signings which have been off the charts bad), he blew the one high pick he had by taking Frye instead of Bynum, even though many of us wanted Bynum at the time.
Isiah, Grunwald, and Mills must GO!
January 29th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Eddy Curry over Bynum? Um, I don’t think so. I’ll take boards, D and toughness over good Offense. Mike, this is how Isiah thinks, you’re usually better than that. You don’t believe me, poll your readers, forgetting salary (though again, advantage Bynum) who wouldn’t trade Curry for Bynum straight up?
January 29th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Mike you do watch the Knicks dont you? First of all Bynum is definitely better than Curry. Second of all Marbury’s year is over with elective surgery. Third, Crawford is playing point guard for us now and much better than Marbury has all year.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Fourth, Andrew Bynum is out at least until March with a dislocated knee cap.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Mike, has your computer been hacked by Isiah? Fisher is a better point guard than Steph has been since he left KG. He’s a POINT GUARD. Steph’s not. At ALL. How can Steph be better than Fisher by definition of the position?
Randolph over Odom is based only on girth when you look at what each contributes to their team.
Richardson over Walton is ridiculous when you consider that Q hasn’t had consecutive good games since last season.
But Curry over Bynum takes the cake. Curry can’t even get up and down the court three times before needing an IV.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Do you watch the Lakers?
January 29th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I think this thread goes to the idea that this is a league based around stars. Mikes point, I think, is that, you might have the edge at four positions but one great player can trump that.
As to Bynum, I was sure that Turiaf / Brown would put up the same numbers when he went down. In other words, Andrew benefits from Kobe and Eddy has not had the same benefit of a transcendent team mate. Now, the Lakers have not been as good since Bynum went down, so that’s something in his favor. Isiah certainly should have picked him over Frye and never done the Curry deal (God, think where we’d be right now!). However, I’m still not sold that he’s head and shoulders above Curry. Then again, for about a half season, when they were both Rookies, I thought Bill Cartwright was better than Magic Johnson. History will judge, but I don’t think that this situation is quite the same slam dunk for LA.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I love the responses, it’s good to see that people are paying attention. I knew somebody was going to call me out, but in determining where the advantage lies I only went by the numbers. Bynum might have more upside. Fisher might be more adept at running a team. Odom has always been underrated in my book, but they have never put up the same numbers a their Knicks counterparts. Dan gets the prize for recognizing how one star can make all the difference, which is why the Knicks might be willing to gamble they can land a prized player in the coming years.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Kobe might just go latrell spreewell on Eddy Curry.
See what Andrew Bynum did this summer to improve? He did some SERIOUS conditioning and worked with the Captain (Kareem) to improve his game as well.
What does Curry do during the summers to arrive in such great shape? I’m unsure of whether he’s just
a) naturally chubby
b) just not motivated to improve his conditioning
c) scared of pushing his heart too far (in which case..he should really just take the millions he’s made and hang it up..for his own safety)
Bynum and Curry are actually interesting to compare. Both are physically gifted centers drafted right out of high school but there career paths seem to have little in common other than that.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I have had both Bynum and Curry on my fantasy hoops team this season. Needless to say, Curry is gone, but I still have Bynum and am willing to wait out his knee-injury for the playoff run.
Bynum shoots a high percentage, gets lots of rebounds and is a better shot-blocker than Curry. Those aren’t just “stats” either – it shows effort and game changing plays: the kind of things that set Kobe up for 40 point games and Lakers victories.
I trade Curry for Bynum right now and don’t think twice if I am the Knicks.
January 29th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
it’s not just that the knicks have been worse than expected. Bynum has been a rock star. While he is not the offensive player that curry is, he is (arguably) having a better season than curry ever has had. He is blocking over 2 shots a game, rebounding in double digits, and is a far superior passer than Eddy… A superior passer to almost all centers.
Add to that that kobe is and has always been leagues better than Crawford. Crawford is a decent but flawed player, but Kobe is probably the best player in the NBA, and if he isn’t, he’s in a league of a few players (duncan, nash really) who, no matter how bad their remaining roster, can carry their team to .500. In other words, kobe just needs some decent help around him and you’ve got a good team. Hand that sheet of head to head matchups to someone before the season and I think you get pundits saying, “well it’ll be close, but I’ll go with the lakers.”