Sports fans love to debate and compare teams of different eras. ESPN NASCAR analyst Brad Daugherty was part of some very good Cleveland Cavalier teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s before his career was cut short by a back injury. And as LeBron James leads today’s Cavs toward what could be the franchise’s first NBA title, Daugherty is often asked how his team would fare against James’ team.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Daugherty said with a hearty laugh. “We’d win by 20 or 30.”

Does he really believe that?

“No, but it’d be a heck of a game,” said Daugherty, the top pick in the 1986 NBA draft after a stellar college career at North Carolina. “Of course I’m going to pick my team, especially since we don’t have to play them.

“It’d be very difficult matching up and defending LeBron, much like the problems we had to guard Michael Jordan,” said Daugherty, whose teams were eliminated from the NBA playoffs multiple times by Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. “LeBron continues to groom his outside shot, being able to make 15 to 18-footers, and that’s what’s making the difference in him being the player he is today as opposed to the player he was three years ago.

“If we played them, and he started making 18-foot shots consistently, he’d be a problem. But I think we could have altered some of his shots, and we could have thrown a couple of really top-notch defenders at him. Larry Nance could guard out on the perimeter, he could guard a 3 or a 4, and “Hot Rod” Williams was an excellent defender. When you got past them to go to the basket, the game was still on because they could come from behind you and block your shot.”

Daugherty, who played center for the Cavs, feels current Cavs pivot man Zydrunas Ilgauskas would have difficulty with the combination of Daugherty and point guard Mark Price, one of the best pure shooters in NBA history. “Zydrunas does a very good job at altering shots, but I think that Mark Price and I would have been able to take him away from the basket, and he would have had to play the pick-and-roll game and guard Mark coming off the screen. If you don’t guard Mark coming off the screen, he shoots a 3-pointer instead of just pulling up and shooting a two or passing the basketball, so that would put a lot of pressure on them.”

Ultimately, Daugherty feels the difference maker would have been his teammate Ron Harper, who was traded away from the team in the 1989-90 season. “Ron was a very, very difficult opponent for anyone,” he said. “You can ask Michael Jordan. When we traded Ron, Michael said that’s the best thing we could have ever done for the Bulls. Ron was very good at moving and defending the basketball, he was a good rebounder, and he could score at different angles, outside or inside.

“LeBron offers all kinds of problems for anyone who has to guard him, but I think with our basketball team, especially if we had Ron Harper, there’s just no way that they could have matched up with us to stop our offense because we were too efficient,” Daugherty said. “But like I said, it’s ok for me to sit here now and say this.”