So, a little mental exercise here. Let's just assume that LeBron decides to consider leaving in free agency. I know he is not, and I am not sure I would want him, but its the off-season, so we are speculating here. He looks at the Suns roster vs. the Cleveland roster. Who would you rather have in these comparisons? Forget salaries. Just who do you want to play along side?
Kevin Love or Devin Booker
Kyrie Irving or Eric Bledsoe
Tristan Thompson or Tyson Chandler
Iman Shumpert or Brandon Knight
Channing Frye or Mirza Teletovic
JR Smith or TJ Warren
Timofey Mozgov or Alex Len
Mo Williams or Archie Goodwin (or the top 5 pick from this year's draft)
I am sure there are alot of varied opinions on this. Interested in your take.
I think the Suns win a lot of those match-ups, but only if you factor in future trajectory. If I was LeBron and wanted to win now, the Cavs would be a much better option.
As much as I love Booker, he's not the player that Love is right now, and his best years are not on the right timeline for a player like LeBron.
Bledsoe would be more fun to play with, I think, but he's not as talented as Irving. Irving is immensely talented, though his ball-hogging and lack of defense are huge negatives. Bledsoe's injuries are also a huge negative though.
I think Thompson offers more than Chandler at this point, and he should get better as Chandler declines.
Knight is basically a less talented Irving. He's better than Shumpert, but he wouldn't be more fun to play alongside.
Mirza and Frye are similar. I think Mirza is better at this point, but Frye is more likely to be judicious in his shot selection.
JR Smith is probably better than TJ at this exact moment. He also knows how to play a very definable role. Warren is better to have for the Suns, but not for a team that wants to compete next year.
I'll take Len over Mozgov, but I'm not sure how much of that is because Len is better than Mozgov, and how much of it is that I really want Len to be better than Mozgov.
I wouldn't want to play with Archie, and the top 5 pick is really hard to predict at this point. So I'll grade this one for the Suns because I'm a homer.