Same Standing Pairs Draft - R2 - wackbone vs durantbird*

[durantbird]

Here is a quick list of what you need in your writeup.

1. Specific years for each player on your team
2. Rotations and minutes for each player
3. Reasoning as to why your team will win and/or why people should vote for you.

Do not vote in this thread until both managers have submitted their writeups. Please ensure you give a rationale for your vote; votes with no explanation will not be counted.

If writeups aren't posted within 24 hours, we will vote solely based on the players they have drafted (and any rotations they have posted on their roster page).

**First to 3 votes advances.**

[durantbird]

PG: Chris Paul 12' - 14.8
SG: Jrue Holiday 17' - 13.3
SF: Kawhi Leonard 19' - 18.8
PF: Karl Anthony Towns 18' - 14.3
C: Tyson Chandler 13' - 6.1

Bench: Ray Allen 13' - 8.2
Bench: Brent Barry 01' - 6.0
Bench: Ben Wallace 07' - 5.5

87/88

PG: Chris Paul 38 / Jrue Holiday 10
SG: Jrue Holiday 25 / Ray Allen 23
SF: Kawhi Leonard 24 / Brent Barry 24
PF: Karl Anthony Towns 34 / Kawhi Leonard 14
C: Tyson Chandler 34 / Ben Wallace 14

Vs

Jason Kidd (38) / Tyus Jones (10)
Klay Thompson (38) / Dan Majerle (10)
Peja Stojakovic (22) / Dan Majerle (26)
James Posey (32) / Peja Stojakovic (16)
Joel Embiid (38) / Anthony Tolliver (10)

Matchup:
- Defensive assignments: Paul vs Kidd, Holiday vs Klay, Kawhi vs Peja, Towns vs Posey, Chandler vs Embiid.
- We match up well here. We've got a superb defensive backcourt duo with Paul and Holiday, backed with Kawhi at the wing and Chandler/Wallace at the rim. Paul and Holiday match up well against Kidd-Klay, Kawhi against Peja and Chandler/Wallace combo against Embiid. On the other hand, wack will struggle against our Kawhi-Towns frontcourt.
- We got great offensive depth with Paul-Kawhi-Towns-Holiday and Chandler-Allen-Barry as supporting cast. In that regards, I think our team outguns wack's team, especially with regards to overall depth, where Allen Barry Wallace is a great deep bench, to support our five All Star level starters, as compared to a pretty big role to Miami Majerle as the filler of almost all bench minutes, and a pretty big role for Miami Posey as well. Our squad also mesh really well together, with Towns at the 4 alongside Chandler/Wallace expected to maximize his game alongside top defenders, in a similar way to what we see for Minny this year, allowing him to pay all of his attention to be the explosive offensive weapon he can be.

[wackbone]

Joel Embiid - 2023 - 20.1 FGA - MVP, All-NBA 1st, Noted Defender
Peja Stojakovic - 2004 - 17.1 FGA - 4th in MVP voting, All-NBA 2nd
Klay Thompson - 2015 - 16.9 FGA - 10th in MVP voting, All-NBA 3rd, Noted Defender
Jason Kidd - 2002 - 13.9 FGA - 2nd in MVP voting, All-NBA 1st, All-Def 1st
Dan Majerle - 2000 - 6.1 FGA - 36.2 3P% on 4.4 att, Noted Defender
James Posey - 2006 - 5.9 FGA - 40.3 3P% on 4.3 att, Noted Defender
Tyus Jones - 2018 - 4.0 FGA - .117 WS/48, 14.1 PER
Anthony Tolliver - 2019 - 4.0 FGA - 37.7 3P% on 3.3 att
Total: 88/88 FGA

Jason Kidd (38) / Tyus Jones (10)
Klay Thompson (38) / Dan Majerle (10)
Peja Stojakovic (22) / Dan Majerle (26)
James Posey (32) / Peja Stojakovic (16)
Joel Embiid (38) / Anthony Tolliver (10)

Writeup:

Helluva squad db, best of luck.

Defensively we will start with Kidd on CP3, Peja/Majerle on Jrue, Klay/Majerle on Kawhi, Posey on KAT, and Embiid on Chandler. Putting Embiid on Chandler allows him to simply protect the rim.

From a pure talent standpoint, db certainly has the deeper team, with his 5th-8th guys clearly better than mine (Posey/Majerle/Jones/Tolliver vs Chandler/13 Allen/Barry/07 Wallace). However, I think my 1st-4th guys are clearly better than his (02 Kidd/Klay/04 Peja/23 Embiid vs 12 CP3/17 Jrue/Kawhi/KAT), providing a clearly better fit and more firepower. IMO, having the advantage 1-4 heavily outweighs having the advantage 5-8.

I question the fit of 12 CP3 and 17 Jrue, both the primary ball handlers on their teams, neither particularly known for their shooting. I think both are best with the ball in their hands, creating offense for others. Combine that with 19 Kawhi who was at his best being the main playmaker, and I think db's offense is simply not optimal. Combine that with the defense of Kidd/Klay/Majerle/Posey/Embiid, and I think we can cover for Peja's struggles on that end.

I think my offense fits way better, with a super simple offensive gameplan. Kidd is the primary ball handler and has no other competition for that role, Klay and Peja both provide elite spacing as well as secondary playmaking as needed, and Peja specifically was at his peak here. Majerle and Posey both provide great spacing. And we have a dominant, MVP big down low. It's pretty easy to visualize this team on the court together. Kidd and Embiid are both streaky shooters at best, but I think that matters little with elite shooters in Klay and Peja as well as great shooters in Majerle and Posey sharing the court with them. Also, while having KAT+Chandler+Wallace is a lot of size to throw at Embiid, it's also a pretty plotting frontcourt trio that will often have to be defending out to the perimeter against my shooting.

Lastly - I know Embiid continues to get knocked for his playoff performances, and to a degree rightfully so, but in this matchup he is far from the only guy with either lackluster or unproven playoff performance/success. Of the stars, given the chosen seasons, I'd say Kawhi is certainly the best playoff performer, but then the case could easily be made for Kidd/Klay/Peja being the next 3. The only other case is Allen, who at this point in his career is a proven role player, but not really near the overall impact of Kidd/Klay/Peja anymore. I don't recall CP3 having much proven playoff success by 2012, nor Jrue by 2017, and certainly not KAT by 2018.

[Fadeaway_J]

Oh boy, I don't know if wack wants to invoke playoff performance with Peja.

Although I don't love Chandler as an individual post defender (I would have ramped up Ben's minutes here), that's the only matchup I see as an advantage for wack. CP3/Jrue works OK even with Jrue's erratic shooting; both have demonstrated over multiple seasons that they can function alongside other lead ballhandlers. The disparity between the two benches is a yawning chasm.

Vote: durantbird

[wackbone]

Oh boy, I don't know if wack wants to invoke playoff performance with Peja.

Although I don't love Chandler as an individual post defender (I would have ramped up Ben's minutes here), that's the only matchup I see as an advantage for wack. CP3/Jrue works OK even with Jrue's erratic shooting; both have demonstrated over multiple seasons that they can function alongside other lead ballhandlers. The disparity between the two benches is a yawning chasm.

Vote: durantbird

TBF I mostly was referring to team success/deep playoff runs, moreso than individual performance.

[Fadeaway_J]

Oh boy, I don't know if wack wants to invoke playoff performance with Peja.

Although I don't love Chandler as an individual post defender (I would have ramped up Ben's minutes here), that's the only matchup I see as an advantage for wack. CP3/Jrue works OK even with Jrue's erratic shooting; both have demonstrated over multiple seasons that they can function alongside other lead ballhandlers. The disparity between the two benches is a yawning chasm.

Vote: durantbird

TBF I mostly was referring to team success/deep playoff runs, moreso than individual performance.

Peja only had one deep playoff run at this stage and he was injured for half of it.

[wackbone]

Oh boy, I don't know if wack wants to invoke playoff performance with Peja.

Although I don't love Chandler as an individual post defender (I would have ramped up Ben's minutes here), that's the only matchup I see as an advantage for wack. CP3/Jrue works OK even with Jrue's erratic shooting; both have demonstrated over multiple seasons that they can function alongside other lead ballhandlers. The disparity between the two benches is a yawning chasm.

Vote: durantbird

TBF I mostly was referring to team success/deep playoff runs, moreso than individual performance.

Peja only had one deep playoff run at this stage and he was injured for half of it.

Was unaware of the injury, but one deep playoff run is still more than CP3/Jrue/KAT had, IIRC.

Kawhi is really the only one with his level of success by this point, but then Kidd/Klay/Peja also had been a part of a team that made a deep run. CP3/Jrue/KAT hadn't yet.

[Dr Positivity]

I like durantbird having 2/3 best players and better depth, and overall am meh on the Kidd/Embiid combo as it feel it slows down Kidd a bit. Vote durantbird.

[Square]

Both pretty talented teams, but neither super air-tight to me, so a close call. I guess my feeling is that I know what '19 Kawhi can do when paired with an all-star level PG, and I think he could function fine with CP3. Embiid with Kidd and that level of shooting sounds awesome, but I've never really seen it work in a playoff setting. So I'll go with durantbird.

[wackbone]

GG db, best of luck

[durantbird]

durantbird advances