Same Standing Pairs Draft - R2 - uberhikari vs MadNess*

[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.**

[MadNESS]

Team Wurry

PG: Steph Curry (40) | Gary Payton III (8) Dwayne Wade
SG: Dwyane Wade (40) | Gary Payton III (8) | Steph Curry
SF: Shawn Marion (16) | Royce O’Neale (32) | Dwyane Wade
PF: Kevin Love (28) | Shawn Marion (20) | Reggie Evans
Cc: Rudy Gobert (34) | Kevin Love (6) | Reggie Evans (8)

(14’-15’) Steph Curry - 16.8 FGA
(22’-23’) Royce O’Neale - 7.8 FGA
(09’-10’) Dwyane Wade - 19.6 FGA
(22’-23’) Rudy Gobert - 7.8 FGA
(06’-07’) Shawn Marion - 13.4 FGA
(15’-16’) Kevin Love - 12.7 FGA
(21’-22’) Gary Payton II - 4.8 FGA
(12’-13’) Reggie Evans - 3.3 FGA

Total: 86.2 | 88.0

Write up:

Plan on keeping line up as is, even though we are versatile and can make changes.


This team is built around Curry and Wade.
Curry plays off the ball, with Wade having the ball in his hands. No team Can defend this combo of a back court.

We put great role players around them including Marion, Love, Gobert, Royce, etc.

No holes with this team. Defense, offense, fast pace, half court, plenty of shooting plenty of defense.

Against Uber we will let Rudy face guard Jokic.
He doesn’t really have paint attackers so keeping Rudy out of the paint is fine.

Wade will relentlessly attack the rim against this team. Curry will eat Harden alive.

Love also helps space the floor and Marion can guard any wing.

Good luck

[uberhikari]

PG: 2021 James Harden: 25-8-11, 7.6 3PA, 36.2 3P%; All-Star
SG: 2020 Khris Middleton: 21 ppg, 5.7 3PA, 41.5 3P%; All-Star
SF: 2018 Robert Covington: 13 ppg, 6.9 3PA, 36.9 3P%; All-Defense 1st
PF: 2016 Draymond Green: 14-10-7; All-NBA 2nd, All-Defense 1st, DPOY(2)
C: 2023 Nikola Jokic: 25-12-10; All-NBA 1st, MVP(2)

Bench
PG/SG: 2023 Austin Reaves: 13-3-3, 3.4 3PA, 39.8 3P%
SF/PF: 2015 Kyle Korver: 12 ppg, 6 3PA, 49.2 3P%; All-Star
C: 2022 Damian Jones: 8-4, 70 TS%

Rotations
PG: James Harden (37) / Austin Reaves (11)
SG: Khris Middleton (37) / Austin Reaves (11)
SF: Robert Covington (34) / Kyle Korver (14)
PF: Draymond Green (38) / Kyle Korver (10)
C: Nikola Jokic (40) / Damian Jones (8)

Matchups: Middleton on Curry; Covington on Wade; Green on Marion; Harden on Love; Jokic on Gobert.

Overall, my team is significantly deeper, more balanced, and has much better spacing and synergy. After Jokic, Wade, and Curry, the next 3 best players are Draymond, Harden, and Middleton. I also have a significant bench advantage with Korver/Reaves.

Gobert, Marion, and Wade are all non-shooters who can't space the floor, so I can pack the paint against Wade. Covington can play off Wade while using his size/length to make it difficult for him to finish at the rim, and Draymond can play off Marion and be a free safety.

However, the fatal flaw of MadNESS' team is the lack of passing/playmaking. While Wade can run the offense as an on-ball scorer, he shouldn't have this duty full-time. He has a score-first mentality and he doesn't have the passing ability to optimize Curry's off-ball gravity. Even Marion is a dependent scorer whose efficiency in PHO was driven by Nash.

On offense, I have a Jokic dream team. My offense starts with the rebound where Harden, Jokic, or Draymond can all run the fastbreak with Covington, Korver, Reaves, and Middleton trailing for 3's.

In the halfcourt, the amount of dynamic passing and shooting allows me to attack from anywhere on the court. At any time I can have multiple players who can run the P&R as either the ball handler or screener or go in motion via cuts. And I can use Jokic to stretch Gobert all over the court to open up passing lanes or isolate weaker defenders like Love or Curry.

With MadNESS' lack of shooting/space I don't think he can keep up with my offense.

[Fadeaway_J]

I'm always a bit leery of Harden in a role where he isn't the clear #1 creator, which might be unfair since he seems to keep producing good offensive results in a number of different roles. With that said, I prefer the shooting, passing, and general offensive IQ of uber's group, but defensively they match up pretty poorly with the Steph/Wade backcourt. I think Gobert can defend Jokic relatively well in the post, but it doesn't look like uber will be relying much on straight post-ups. Once again the benches make a difference for me, especially as I'm fairly low on O'Neale over the last two or three years. This shapes up as a shootout and for me uber definitely has more firepower once you consider the entire rosters.

Vote: uberhikari

[durantbird]

Middleton vs Curry, RoCo vs Wade and Harden vs Love isn't a good matchup for Uber. I also prefer Steph Wade a little bit more than Jokic and Brooklyn Harden.

Vote MadNess

[Dr Positivity]

I think uber has the talent advantage duet due to the bench but I have mixed feelings like Harden lack of off ball ability with the Draymond/Jokic combo and Middleton/Curry and Harden/Love defensive decisions are absolute no gos to me. As a Raptors fan I feel one of the reasons they had such trouble with the Cavs is the combo of shooting and how you can't play a perimeter player at PF, I remember Dwane Casey in his last stand desperately trying CJ Miles there and Love just scored him on the post every time for 2 minutes until he called timeout. Vote MadNESS.

[wackbone]

The defensive matchups and the overlap on offense makes me vote for Ness.

Vote: MadNESS

[durantbird]

MadNess advances