A lot of people acted like Ray Felton was head and shoulders above Chauncey, which never made a lot of sense to me.
Good point.
Billups is a better player, but for D'Antoni's system, fast paced and with a very stretched floor, Felton is just as good, if not better. As he's also a better defender, the Knicks would be better with him.
The team was a .500 team with Felton. Felton had a good start, but I don't think he is in Billups' league. Let's see if Felton ever again approaches his stat bubble from the beginning of the season.
Adjusted it for pace, the stretched floor in half-court sets and the level of ball-dominance and there's nothing particularly notorious about that stat bubble.
Billups is still a much superior player to Felton in a half-court offense. As a decision-maker, setting up his teammates for plays, deciding where to go, to the post in this possession, attack the break on this one, time to take a shot here, give a shot to that cutter there. I agree about his savvy.
In a fast paced offense + pick'n'roll + patterned ball movement, they're players of similar value and Felton's superior defense makes him the larger contributor for NY.
I'd pick Billups, but I'd also use a different offense than D'Antoni.