NY Knicks: Which NYK Legend would bring today’s team an NBA Title?
Would Clyde Frazier help the NY Knicks win a title?
In this last scenario, the Knicks would be trading Kemba Walker for the voice of the Knicks, Clyde Frazier.
Clyde is a Hall of Famer, a 7-time All-Star, 6-time All-NBA, 7-time All-Defensive player, and most importantly, a 2-time world champion.
Now, as far as which Clyde I’d choose, of course, I could easily go with 1971-72’s version which averaged over 23 points per game, but instead, I’m going with 1973-74’s version who averaged just under 7 assists per game compared to 5.8 in 1971-72.
The Knicks have scoring from several positions, including the bench unit, but what they don’t have is an elite-level playmaker and facilitator.
The 3 points less per game could be made up elsewhere but to get a guy who averages 7 assists per game would do wonders for a Knicks team who severely lacked it last year.
Additionally, the Knicks are getting an elite rebounding guard, especially when compared to Kemba Walker.
Walker is 6-feet-tall on a good day and doesn’t grab a ton of boards whereas Frazier had the size and strength needed to grab contested rebounds away from other players of a similar size.
He averaged just under 7 boards per game that year and 6 per game for his career.
The most significant upgrade the Knicks would receive above everything else would be on the defensive side.
Kemba is an average to below-average defender. Clyde, as mentioned earlier, made 7 All-Defensive teams out of 13 years playing in the NBA.
The NBA didn’t record steals as a stat up until Clyde’s 7th season as a pro, but once they started, he averaged around 2 per game for the next 5 seasons.
An absolute pest on and off the ball, Frazier would routinely lockdown guys even bigger than him on a nightly basis.
All of that said, with the Knicks’ bench unit the way it stands today along with a starting lineup of Clyde at the point, Fournier to stretch the defense, RJ and Julius attacking the rim and playmaking a bit as well, and Mitchell Robinson as the defensive anchor down low, the Knicks could possibly win a title within a season or two.