NY Knicks: Which NYK Legend would bring today’s team an NBA Title?

Would Carmelo Anthony help the NY Knicks win a title?

With the addition of Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks would also be losing neophyte, RJ Barrett at the small forward position.

The Knicks actually had an interest in bringing Melo back for another go-around this past offseason.

But while he’s currently a shell of his former self, the one the Knicks would be acquiring in this fantasy scenario would be ‘Scoring Title Melo’.

That means the Knicks would be removing RJ’s 17 points per game and replacing it with nearly 29 a night.

At face value, you’d have to imagine the Knicks lose a bit on the defensive end as well as a marginally worse playmaker.

But I think today’s roster fits better around Melo than 2012’s does, so with today’s cast of characters, Melo increases his 2.6 assists per game a bit closer to, if not ahead of RJ’s 3 dimes per contest.

As far as defense, RJ Barrett is currently the Knicks’ best wing defender and while Melo was never known for his defensive prowess, when he wanted to lock in, he was actually a great defender at times.

I always look back to the Knicks games when they played whatever team LeBron was on. Melo always showed up defensively when going up against his good buddy.

While with New York, or any team for that matter, Melo never played under a coach like Thibs who’s primary philosophy was always defense-first.

The Knicks play great team defense, so I believe Melo would buy into the culture and play every game as if he were matched up against LeBron.

Therefore, the Knicks don’t lose a ton defensively with this addition.

Both are pretty much equal when it comes to the rebounding department so that one’s a wash.

All in all, the only question I’d have is Melo’s fit next to Julius Randle…if the two can find a way to play off each other well, I think this tandem paired with a rejuvenated Kemba Walker could get the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals at the very least.

If they really click and figure everything out in a hurry…we goin’ Sizzler baby!