Luka’s Corner

Today, as I was watching ESPN First Take on ESPN2, sportswriter Skip Bayless made a comment to Scoop Jackson on the segment 1st & 10 that is worth mentioning. To paraphrase it, Bayless said that if LeBron James was on the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant was on the Cleveland Cavaliers this postseason, the Denver Nuggets would be playing the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals this Thursday. I could not disagree more with this statement.

First of all, before blaming "King James" for their third-round exit this time around, just stop and look at his numbers this postseason. In Cleveland’s series with the Orlando Magic this postseason, James averaged 38-8-8 in the major statistical categories. He single-handedly won Game 2 with a miraculous three-pointer at the buzzer and Game 5 as a scorer and distributor. What I’m trying to say is Cleveland lost because nobody even showed up to help LeBron.

Comparing the Lakers and the Cavaliers, it is clear to me, out of Kobe and LeBron, who has more help. Not only does Kobe have arguably the most skilled big man in the league in Pau Gasol (who has averaged 18.2 PPG and 11.3 RPG in these Playoffs), but he also has Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom as big men. You cannot read this and tell me that the combination of Gasol/Bynum/Odom is not exponentially better than the Cleveland duo of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao. In addition, you cannot tell me that the duo of Derek Fisher and Trevor Ariza has been more impressive in these Playoffs than Delonte West and Mo Williams.

More importantly, is the fact that LeBron would take ultimate advantage of these superior pieces. As a point-forward, LeBron James is undoubtedly one of the most gifted passers in recent memory. He has been known over his career to make those around him better. Just look at Varejao, who thrives off of James’ backdoor finds, and Ilgauskas, who lives off of the pick-and-pop with James. Simply imagine what this would look like with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.