Accolades 90s to 2015/16 draft - Playoffs Round 1: janmagn vs LA Bird

[BdeRegt]

First to 5 votes wins. Post rotation and roster.

[janmagn]

Team SuperFriends

PG - 89-90 Isiah Thomas .438FG% .309 3PT% 9.4APG 1.7SPG 18.4PPG 4 points
SG - 90-91 Michael Jordan .539FG% .312 3PT% 6.0RPG 5.5APG 2.7SPG 1.0BPG 31.5PPG 10 points
SF - 14-15 Jimmy Butler .462FG% .378 3PT% 5.8RPG 1.8SPG 20.0PPG 2 points
PF - 91-92 Larry Nance .539FG% .822FT% 8.3RPG 2.9APG 1.0SPG 3.0BPG 17.0PPG 2 points
C - 13-14 DeAndre Jordan .676FG% 13.6RPG 1.0SPG 2.5BPG 10.4PPG 3rd in DPOY voting 0 points
Bench - 96-97 Mookie Blaylock .505 2PT% .366 3PT% 5.3RPG 5.9APG 2.7SPG 17.4PPG 2 points
Bench - 07-08 Caron Butler .466FG% .357 3PT% .901FT% 6.7RPG 4.9APG 2.2SPG 20.3PPG 4 points
Bench - 08-09 Troy Murphy .475FG% .450 3PT% .826FT% 11.8RPG 14.3PPG 0 points

Rotation

PG: Thomas (34) - Blaylock (14)
SG: Jordan (40) - J. Butler (8)
SF: J. Butler (26) - C. Butler (22)
PF: Nance (28) - Murphy (14) - C. Butler (6)
C: Jordan (38) - Nance (10)

24/28 points


I feel like my team stacks pretty well against LA Bird's excellent side, congrats to him for that.

Offensively, our offense revolves around Isiah Thomas, who had one of the best crossovers in the history of the NBA, and the GOAT, Michael Jordan. This alone is a difficult matchup for LA Bird, because his backcourt has one good defender, Alvin Robertson, and he probably will try to slow MJ down with him. But what if I told you MJ averaged 36/7/4 against Alvin in the 90-91 season, which we both chose for our guys. As for the forwards, my both guys starting can shoot atleast a midrange jumper pretty easily, and both are excelleny scorers who timt to time can be the go-to scorer. His remaining starters are two great defenders, Marion and Olajuwon, but who will they guard? Will LA just leave DJ for Bird? That's a matchup where we can just lob the ball up and DJ can go and get it over shorter and less athletic Bird. From the bench, I got Mookie who can score and set up others, Caron who is a great scorer and a good playmaker (5 apg) for a forward. Murphy is a guy who can shoot threes with ease and rebound the ball very well. When his bench comes on, we will just attack Harden with some screen plays, where he will become very confused and give easy baskets. My attack is designed so I can run my offense from many different spots, and I just don't think LA has the personel to counter that.

Defensively, I will stick MJ to Tim Hardaway, cleary the better offensive player of LA's backcourt. Isiah can hold Alvin, since Alvin wasn't a great shooter nor a scorer. When Mookie comes to the court, he takes Hardaway. Both of my shooting guards (MJ and Jimmy) can stop Harden. As for other guys, LA has Bird and Olajuwon to score the ball. Larry Nance is athletic and big enough to stop Larry, and DJ has the size and defensive instincts to slow Hakeem down.

Really looking forward to this matchup, best of luck LA!

[LA Bird]

Roster (Regular season stats)
1995 Hakeem Olajuwon (28/11/4/56)
2003 Shawn Marion (21/10/2/54)
1990 Larry Bird (24/10/8/55)
1991 Alvin Robertson (14/6/6/54)
1991 Tim Hardaway (23/4/10/55)
1990 Bill Laimbeer (12/10/2/56)
2008 Ron Artest (21/6/4/54)
2016 James Harden (29/6/8/60)

Rotation
C: Olajuwon 38 / Laimbeer 10
PF: Marion 32 / Bird 16
SF: Harden 30 / Bird 18
SG: Artest 34 / Robertson 14
PG: Hardaway 34 / Robertson 8 / Harden 6

Writeup
Hakeem destroys DeAndre Jordan. All the other players on my team except Bird shot at least 36% from 3 so janmagn can't afford to double Hakeem and we have seen what Hakeem can do against even the best centers (35/13/5 in WCF vs DRob). OTOH, we have a very good defense for Jordan with Hakeem protecting the rim and former DPOYs in Artest and Alvin Robertson to chase Jordan around on the perimeter. We also have the advantage in every position other than SG (Hakeem >>> DJ, Tim Hardaway > 90s Isiah, Harden > Butler, Marion > Nance) and a major difference maker in prime Larry Bird off the bench. Bird is not at his peak here but he still put up 24/10/8. janmagn has the best player in (Michael) Jordan but we are better everywhere else. Vote LA Bird!

[8on]

I'm going LA Bird. Offensively, he has one of the best squads in the game. Sure, janmagn has the defenders to stop him, but LA Bird's got pretty good defenders, too. I don't think Hakeem destroys DeAndre Jordan, but DJ's not equipped to go out as far as Hakeem can step out. I think LA Bird has more options, great scoring, and enough defense in the right places (e.g. Artest on Jordan, Robertson on Jordan, Marion on Nance) to make it all about Jordan on that end. Jordan needed a little more help; I could see LA Bird putting up 115 PPG in any series.

[BdeRegt]

Vote: LA Bird

I think will be in trouble if runs into a PF but don't see Nance dominating. Don't love the fit of IT and MJ. Really don't understand the Troy Murphy selection.

[Fadeaway_J]

Hmm. I'm not in love with the MJ-Butler-Isiah trio. They all prefer to hold the ball, and none of them is really a great or high-volume long-range shooter (although Butler was pretty good in 2014-15). MJ is still MJ but between the iffy spacing and the Artest-Hakeem combination he'll certainly be in for a challenge.

At the other end I don't really see DeAndre being able to hang with Hakeem. I mean he's obviously a good defensive anchor who protects the rim will, but he doesn't have the savvy or mobility to deal with Dream's endless bag of tricks in the mid to low post. LA Bird's bench group will also be more impactful in my opinion - I'm definitely not a fan of Troy Murphy, and the prospect of him guarding even this version of Bird is a scary one.

Vote: LA Bird

[CellarDoor]

Vote LA Bird. Jordan's the weakest starter by a country mile in my estimation and I also worry in general about spacing. All three of Jan's scorers are slashers.

Side note: Larry Bird on the bench for Shawn Marion and James Harden. That's a sentence I never thought I'd utter!

[Laimbeer]

I'm afraid it's a sweep. LA Bird has a really impressive offensive lineup and Hakeem, Artest, and Marion make him decent defensively. I can't say I care a lot for the team around Mike. He and Isiah are both somewhat ball dominant while Deandre and Nance are ordinary in the context of this game.

Vote: LA Bird

[BdeRegt]

LA Bird advances with 5 votes