Ron Artest
Asked before the Lakers played the Knicks Friday night if the Cavs would be a playoff team without LeBron, Artest didn’t hesitate. “Actually I thought about that [Thursday],” Artest said. “If you take LeBron off that team, no. They’re not. They’re nothing. Not that they’re nothing, they’re still human beings. But you take him off that team, no. I guess that’s why they got me, to take him out of the game. [Thursday] it didn’t work. They got us this year, so all we can do is move on from that and see what happens in the playoffs.” The today, Harvey Araton of the New York Times tweeted, "I agree with Artest....Cavs without LeBron might be worse than Knicks. That's how good LeBron is" They're all correct. Mo Williams can ball and Sideshow Bob is a rotation player on a playoff team as are a couple others, but they are all made exponentially better by the open looks LeBron gets them. Even on the defensive end, LBJ erases mistakes with blocks and deflections all game long. The Knicks beat Cleveland without LeBron handily, if for no other reason than Mike Brown would have to do some actual coaching for the first time in 5 years and he's not particularly good at that. Araton's succinct comment put it best "That's how good LeBron is" and he's only getting better. As Bill Simmons wrote earlier this week for ESPN, the King has not come even close to reaching his full potential yet and the ceiling for LeBron's talent remains downright scary. |
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