*Take 3* GMAT: West Round 2

[pelifan]

RULES:

vote fair
have fun
first to 4 votes advances
do not vote for yourself
write ups if wanted: 100 words or less.

1.) UTH

John Wall / Norris Cole / Isaih Canaan
Luol Deng / Nick Calathes / Martell Webster
Danilo Gallinari / Anthony Morrow
Blake Griffin / Nick Collison
Demarcus Cousins / Pero Antic / Jeff Withey

VS.

4.) SAS

Mike Conley / Leandro Barbosa / Will Bynum
Courtney Lee / Manu Ginobili / Tyler Harvey
Tony Allen / Matt Barnes / Livio Jean-Charles
Zach Randolph / Boris Diaw / Matt Bonner
Marc Gasol / Tim Duncan / Amar'e Stoudemire

__________________________________________________________

2.) GSW

PG: Stephen Curry (36) / OJ Mayo (12) / Seth Curry
SG: Dwayne Wade (28) / Dion Waiters (10) / Tim Hardaway JR. (10)
SF: Jared Dudley (30) / Vince Carter (18) / Jabari Brown
PF: Chris Bosh (12) / Amir Johnson (36)
Cc: Roy Hibbert (28) / Chris Bosh (20) / Cliff Alexander

VS.

3.) NOP

Dame (34) / Augustin (10) / Reke (4)
Eric Gordon (30) /Reke (18)
Leonard (36) / Snell (8) / Reke (4)
Draymond (34) / Portis (6) / Dieng (4)
Koufos (28) / Dieng (20)

_____________________________________________________________

[pelifan]

I feel like Utah is better than the Spurs at every position. And Pop and a 40 year old Duncan really don't close the gap.

More importantly, the Jazz will push tempo with Cousins, Blake, Gallo taking the ball up on rebounds, because they are great ball handlers. SAS can't run with us. And they don't even have the advantage on the glass that Memphis usually does.

[SimonFish]

I feel like Utah is better than the Spurs at every position. And Pop and a 40 year old Duncan really don't close the gap.

More importantly, the Jazz will push tempo with Cousins, Blake, Gallo taking the ball up on rebounds, because they are great ball handlers. SAS can't run with us. And they don't even have the advantage on the glass that Memphis usually does.

I think Spurs match up well with Jazz. Jazz can't push tempo against us with their ball handlers being effectively defended by us.

Conley is an elite defender and defend well against Wall.
Gasol is an elite defender and defend well against Cousins.
Duncan and Diaw will play heavy minutes at PF this series with Duncan starting (Zach will be our backup C), and both can defend well against Griffin.
Tony Allen will shut down Gallo.
Deng is a non-factor on offense and will struggle against Lee who is a elite 3&D player.

Jazz will have difficulty to bring the ball past half court without our suffocating defense.

Spurs will win simply based on 1. better chemistry; 2. better defense; 3. better depth.

[pelifan]

I feel like Utah is better than the Spurs at every position. And Pop and a 40 year old Duncan really don't close the gap.

More importantly, the Jazz will push tempo with Cousins, Blake, Gallo taking the ball up on rebounds, because they are great ball handlers. SAS can't run with us. And they don't even have the advantage on the glass that Memphis usually does.

I think Spurs match up well with Jazz. Jazz can't push tempo against us with their ball handlers being effectively defended by us.

Conley is an elite defender and defend well against Wall.
Gasol is an elite defender and defend well against Cousins.
Duncan and Diaw will play heavy minutes at PF this series with Duncan starting (Zach will be our backup C), and both can defend well against Griffin.
Tony Allen will shut down Gallo.
Deng is a non-factor on offense and will struggle against Lee who is a elite 3&D player.

Jazz will have difficulty to bring the ball past half court without our suffocating defense.

Spurs will win simply based on 1. better chemistry; 2. better defense; 3. better depth.

What? Duncan, Diaw, Zbo, Gasol can't run with Blake and Cousins in the open floor, a few of those guys are good defenders but that doesn't mean they aren't too slow to get back in time. Also you are putting way too much emphasis on 1on 1 ball. Which I really should win if you want to put the focus on that anyway. The Jazz simply have the spacing and the talent the Spurs lack, I trust Wall, Griffin, Gallo, Cousins pick and rolls to find the open guy as they can all pass well, Deng can shoot from the corner and move offball, offense should be humming.

[PaKii94]

UTH NOP

[Note30]

UTAH GSW

[damecurry]

2.) GSW

PG: Stephen Curry (36) / OJ Mayo (12) / Seth Curry
SG: Dwayne Wade (28) / Dion Waiters (10) / Tim Hardaway JR. (10)
SF: Jared Dudley (30) / Vince Carter (18) / Jabari Brown
PF: Chris Bosh (12) / Amir Johnson (36)
Cc: Roy Hibbert (28) / Chris Bosh (20) / Cliff Alexander

VS.

3.) NOP

Dame (28) / Reke (12) / Augustin (8)
Eric Gordon (30) /Reke (12) / Dame (6)
Leonard (36) / Snell (12)
Draymond (34) / Portis (6) / Dieng (4)
Koufos (28) / Dieng (20)
*adjusted rotation for this series

DEFENSE
I worry a lot of people are gonna look at this series and see steph vs. dame and vote warriors. I admit stephen is gonna torch us no matter what we do, and dame can't guard him (though I will point at the fact that dame's advanced defensive metrics and overall impact are quite neutral/average rather than negative.) Honestly I envision at least some defensive assignments with kawhi and/or draymond on steph, and hide lillard on dudley whom he can't guard but isn't enough of an offensive threat to hurt us much.

But steph is not going off for 50 every night, even with open looks he'll have his nights and he'll struggle occassionaly, he's not that kind of player. And I don't see anyone else that can torch us. Wade will be 34 and if his knees allow him to play (a significant if imo) than we can stick kawhi on him whenever he starts getting hot. Dudley's not a threat offensively, EG and Reke will be able to limit him fine. Draymond can match up with an aging bosh. Hibbert is not a threat but koufos is a great defender anyway and can help out all over constantly, same with Dieng. We have the team defense to limit everything around steph and force him to beat us alone which he doesn't do, steph is a team player he needs great players around him and I think his teammates here are too old, injury prone, and mediocre in many cases to do anything against our fantastic D pushing everything on curry and they'll crumble offensively.

OFFENSE
Steph has improved his defense over the years but he's still not a plus defender. I fully expect Dame at this point to be capable of putting up 22/7 which won't match what steph will likely do to him but should negate most of it. Wade doesn't have the speed and athleticism to run around the 3pt line chasing EG and I expect him to go off shooting. Leonard will absolutely torch dudley and ancient vince carter. I don't think Hibbert and their team defense will be able to shut down Leonard who can create his own shot and get fed. Draymond will be able to find his spots, Bosh is still a solid defender but not a great one at this age, draymond has a big size disadvantage but that's never hurt him before and he's certainly quicker/more athletic than bosh at this point in their games. Koufos/Dieng won't put up big points against hibbert but that's not a problem.

A big part of ness's defense relies on his bigs to clean things up for his mediocre perimeter defense, I think I'm perfectly suited to exploit this. Everyone except my centers can hit the open 3, Lillard/EG/Snell are all very good 3 pt shooters and Leonard can find his own shot all over, (he shoots over 41% from every range inside the 3) HIbbert's rim protection is really pretty irrelevant against my lineup outside of reke who may struggle but EG should shine. Wade/thj/mayo/carter/dion none of these guys are good defenders and I think my solid backcourt and wings will outperform them more than enough to compensate for the lillard/steph deficiency, giving us the win.

SUMMARY
Remember this is two years from now, meaning almost all of my players will be in the 25-28 year old range, aka their primes. The average age of ness's starting lineup is around 32, Wade at 35, Bosh 34, Dudley 32 I just don't seem them avoiding health problems that accompany age and be able to keep up with my prime guys. He has selfish offensive-oriented players who struggle defensively like dion/thj/mayo who will try to step up when the old guys get tired and everyone around steph struggles with our team D, they will fail. I have specific depth that works in a team system and fit together well. Steph is a great player but no individual wins playoff series alone, teams and defense do and that's where I have the advantage. Pelicans in 6.

[damecurry]

UTAH in 6; spurs are just too old. In 2014, even 2015 maybe they win for sure imo, but in 16-17 there's no way. All of utah is peaking, and while the team has spacing and fit issues there's just too much prime talent there.

[DroppinDimes]

Jazz
Pelicans


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[pelifan]

UTAH in 6; spurs are just too old. In 2014, even 2015 maybe they win for sure imo, but in 16-17 there's no way. All of utah is peaking, and while the team has spacing and fit issues there's just too much prime talent there.

Out of curiosity where do you see the spacing issues? Wall is poor, but Deng is average and Gallo, Blake, Cousins are very good for their positions. I definitely see some of the fit issues. I think Cousins and Blake can probably be a little redundant. Ideally I'd start Morrow. But I feel like people only look at starting 5.

[pelifan]

GSW/NOP is really close for me. I'm seeing Kawhi on Curry and Lillard on Dudley or Waiters. Curry/Bosh is a really good combo though. Curry has to be doubled on the pick and roll. But Kawhi and Draymond are the perfect defensive combo to guard that...

seeing as this decides my next round opponent as well and I prefer to play one team over another, I think I'll sit it out.

[damecurry]

UTAH in 6; spurs are just too old. In 2014, even 2015 maybe they win for sure imo, but in 16-17 there's no way. All of utah is peaking, and while the team has spacing and fit issues there's just too much prime talent there.

Out of curiosity where do you see the spacing issues? Wall is poor, but Deng is average and Gallo, Blake, Cousins are very good for their positions. I definitely see some of the fit issues. I think Cousins and Blake can probably be a little redundant. Ideally I'd start Morrow. But I feel like people only look at starting 5.

I watched blake trying to force that jumper, he's not a stretch four. If there were spacing issues in a cp3/reddick/barnes/blake/jordan lineup they'll be here too, cousins is good for the 5 and gallo can shoot, true, but he's the only guy that's capable of really knocking down 3s and he's no korver. In the new nba, that's pretty limited spacing.

[pelifan]

UTAH in 6; spurs are just too old. In 2014, even 2015 maybe they win for sure imo, but in 16-17 there's no way. All of utah is peaking, and while the team has spacing and fit issues there's just too much prime talent there.

Out of curiosity where do you see the spacing issues? Wall is poor, but Deng is average and Gallo, Blake, Cousins are very good for their positions. I definitely see some of the fit issues. I think Cousins and Blake can probably be a little redundant. Ideally I'd start Morrow. But I feel like people only look at starting 5.

I watched blake trying to force that jumper, he's not a stretch four. If there were spacing issues in a cp3/reddick/barnes/blake/jordan lineup they'll be here too, cousins is good for the 5 and gallo can shoot, true, but he's the only guy that's capable of really knocking down 3s and he's no korver. In the new nba, that's pretty limited spacing.

I don't think you are giving Blake enough credit for his improvement. The Clippers were one of the top offenses in the NBA. Deng is also a decent 3 point shooter. Wall is really bad though but that's not his role.

[Domejandro]

I have to go Utah and the Pelicans.

[Blazer50]

SAS in 7

NOP in 6

[Blazer50]

SAS in 7

NOP in 6

[damecurry]

Utah advances 5-0
NOP advances 4-1

I'll go ahead and set up the Conference Finals threads. I'm choosing to require 6 votes for the finals, if Ness wants to override that he can obviously but despite how dead it is here and everything I just don't feel it's right to have the CF and finals decided by only 4 votes.