Team SquareRosterG
Jason Kidd '10:
10/6/9/2, 43% 3P% on 5 3PA/G, +4 BPM, 11th in All-D voting,
All-StarG/F
Terance Mann '23:
14/5/4/1 per 36, 52/39/78 shooting, 62 TS%G/F
Tracy McGrady '03:
32/7/6, 46/39/79 shooting, +11 BPM (led league),
All-NBA 1st, 4th in MVPF
Joe Ingles '16:
39% from three on 6 3PA/36, 10/4/3/2 per 36
F
PJ Tucker '18: 6/6,
37% 3P%, (Playoffs: 9/7 with 2 3PM/G at 47 3P%),
+6 on-off on a 65-win teamF
Kevin Garnett '05:
22/14/6/2/1, +10 BPM (led league),
All-D 1st, All-NBA 2ndC
Shaquille O'Neal '95:
29/11/3/3, 58 FG%,
All-NBA 2nd, 2nd in MVPC
Marcin Gortat '09:
11/13/2 per 36, 57% FG%Picks and FGA:Rotation: G Kidd 36 / Mann 12
G McGrady 40 / Mann 8
F Tucker 26 / Ingles 16 / Mann 6
F Garnett 40 / Tucker 8
C Shaq 40 / Gortat 8
About Team Square:It starts with the Big 3: an elite perimeter #1 who handles and shoots, a dominant interior #1, and one of the greatest defenders of all time who also happens to be a perfect offensive complement. All three are MVP-level and fit perfectly together.
Getting Kidd as the 4th piece was crucial for me. This season in Dallas, he was an all-star and led a 55-win Mavs team in BPM and DBPM. As always, he was a great defender across multiple positions and one of the most creative passers of all time. He had also fixed his jumper by this point and was a high-level three point shooter (43% on over 5 attempts a game).
Our complementary wings – Tucker, Mann, Ingles – bring tough defense and outside shooting, with Mann also proving some north-south dynamism and playmaking off the bench.
Overall, I really want to highlight our rebounding and physicality. Shaq is one of the great offensive rebounders and physical presences of all time. KG is one of the great defensive rebounders and shut-down defenders of all time. Kidd is one of the greatest rebounding guards ever. TMac is huge at 6’9” playing the 2, and Tucker is a brick wall who gets big clutch rebounds every year deep into the playoffs. We’re going to have a massive physical edge on the floor and especially on the glass every night.
Offensively, this team is tough to stop because of the combination of interior dominance, outside shooting (5 players over 37 3P%), and playmaking. The TMac/KG two-man game is not switchable because KG punishes smalls. It’s not trappable, because KG in space is too dangerous in the mid-range, getting to the rim, or throwing lobs to Shaq. You can’t play it straight up because TMac cooks you. You can’t send a third defender off a shooter or off Shaq, because that’s an instant open three or alley-oop. Not a lot to do there.
There’s also no good way to bottle up Shaq here, because between TMac, Kidd, KG, Mann, and Ingles, we have creative passers all over the floor. We can always swing the ball until we find an easy entry pass, a crack behind a fronting defender, or the right angle for the lob.
Defensively, KG probably offers the greatest ever combination of switchability and rim protection. He never got to play with an athletic force like young Shaq at the 5, who makes things even easier on him. Between Tucker, Kidd, and Mann, we also have good options to make life difficult on perimeter players of any size.
vs. uberhikari:All right, uber built a nice team, but I think we can take this.
Offensively, we go through our big 3 as usual. TMac/KG screen-and-roll with Hakeem unable to leave Shaq is tough. We can bring Penny, Lowry, and Korver into it with screens from Kidd and Tucker as needed, etc. Our shooting and passing makes the whole machine hum.
Shaq was also able to score and defend well against Hakeem in the ‘95 finals, despite the narrative that has built up, averaging 28/13/6 on 61 TS% (to Hakeem’s 33/12/6 on 51 TS%). A while ago, colts18 on the PC board even charted the individual possessions where they guarded each other (viewtopic.php?t=1242882):
colts18 wrote:Here are their stats when they were guarded by each other:
Shaq 32-57 (56.1 FG%), 6-8 FT, 67.3 double teamed%, .578 TS%, 17 assists, 1 O-reb allowed to Hakeem
Hakeem: 31-75 (41.3 FG%), 9-13 FT, 60.2 double teamed%, .446 TS%, 8 assists, 3 O-reb allowed to Shaq
So despite being doubled more often head-to-head, Shaq scored much more efficiently and assisted much more often. (A lot of Hakeem's success came against Grant. Some of that finals loss was on Shaq, but I put more of it on the Magic supporting cast losing all ability to shoot, control the ball, or defend against dribble penetration from the Rockets guards. Of course, Hakeem was awesome too, but it was less about “Hakeem vs Shaq” than people remember.)
Defensively, things are pretty good with KG quarterbacking our D. We start Shaq on Hakeem, who again actually defended Hakeem well head-to-head in the ‘95 finals. When appropriate, we can double with KG or Tucker off of Sheed and Anunoby; while we won't make it easy on them, neither is consistent or high-volume enough from outside to scare us, and KG especially is athletic enough to make that recovery scary.
Otherwise, KG on Sheed takes away a big post-up threat. Tucker on Penny – Penny also really liked to post up guards and Tucker’s strength makes that difficult. Kidd will also start on Lowry but take time on Penny if needed, so we have some excellent options there. TMac on Anunoby. These matchups are all flexible and we are not scared to switch 1-4 if needed.
Overall, I just don’t think uber scores efficiently enough on us to catch up on the other end. We have three of the four best players on the floor, and I think that will tell.
