Best of Enemies Draft : Finals - ***flaco*** vs Laimbeer

[Laimbeer]

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.

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**

...

[Laimbeer]

Artis Gilmore ( 1975 ) 13.7 - Peak season (RealGM PC forum)
LeBron James ( 2013 ) 17.8 - Peak season (RealGM PC forum)
Jaylen Brown ( 2020 ) 15.6 - All-D Votes, 38.2% on 5.9 3PA
Ray Allen ( 2001 ) 16.0 - MVP (11), All-NBA
Alex Caruso ( 2023 ) 4.3 - DPOY (11), 36.4% on 2.3 3PA

DeAndre Jordan ( 2012 ) 4.9 - 10.9 rebs / 2.7 blks per 36 (2nd in league)
Austin Reaves ( 2023 ) 7.7 - 6MOY (7), 39.8% on 3.4 3PA
Dana Barros ( 1998 ) 7.6 - 40.7% on 3.1 3PA; 17.7 PER

87.6 / 88.0 87.6

Artis Gilmore (38) / DeAndre Jordan (10)
LeBron James (38) / Jaylen Brown (10)
Jaylen Brown (28) / Austin Reaves (20)
Ray Allen (38) / Austin Reaves (10)
Alex Caruso (32) / Dana Barros (16)

Good luck, flaco.

We're pretty loaded offensively with the best player here and three high-level scoring threats around him in Gilmore, Brown, and Allen. LeBron will generally run the show with Caruso as a secondary ball handler. This is young Gilmore who can thrive off lob passes and play from the dunker's spot effectively as needed. Gilmore is one of the strongest players in history and Parish is a bit slender for that.

We match-up well defensively. Gimore/Parish, LeBron/Tatum, Brown/Bird, Allen/Cooper, Caruso/Payton. Cooper is sketchy as a three point shooter and Payton pounds the ball quite a bit for their forward-oriented offense. All in all, the backcourt doesn't seem like a great complement.

I like our bench a lot. Barros is a borderline all-star talent offensively who will bring a Kyrie-type of boost. Reaves is excellent and Jordan was pretty much developed at this point. Their bench is about 13 fga's with McKie playing nearly half the game.

Our depth and firepower give us the edge.

[flaco]

Best of luck, Laimbeer!



Rotation
PG: Gary Payton (38) / Michael Cooper (10)
SG: Michael Cooper (28) / Aaron McKie (20)
SF: Jayson Tatum (38) / Larry Bird (10)
PF: Larry Bird (28) / Robert Horry (20)
C: Robert Parish (36) / Andrew Bogut (12)

Offense
The big 4 of Payton-Tatum-Bird-Parish should complement each other well. The first three are 3-level scorers. Parish lacked 3pt range, but had a reliable mid-range jumper. Cooper, McKie and Horry stretch the floor. Parish sets hard picks for my ball handlers including Larry and Tatum. I assume 7'2'' Gilmore never switches these picks, meaning Larry/Tatum will have loads of open looks from the perimeter. We know for a fact Bird-Parish had great synergy in real life having won 3 rings together, 1 of them in their selected season. When Payton rests, Bird-Tatum are the de facto PGs in the half court. Fwiw, Tatum was never scared of LeBron. Rookie Tatum famously posterized LeBron in the clutch of Game 7 of the ECF. I'd argue the Bird-Brown assignment is a mismatch in my favour. Bird is 3 inches taller. He can shoot over Brown all series long or he can bully his way to the basket forcing a double team. Needless to say, Bird was an exceptional passer. I'd trust him to find the open man if doubled.

Defense
Parish/Bogut anchor the defense. They drop back to protect the rim against Gilmore's postups or LeBron's/Brown's slashing game. Both my bigs are at their best in a drop scheme. Gilmore cannot force them to step out of their comfort zone. Wing D should be strong with 6 switchable defenders on the roster to throw at LeBron. 6'8'' Tatum and 6'9'' Bird in particular have the size and the BBIQ to at least try to slow him down. If LeBron beats his defender off the dribble and attacks the basket, my rim protector comes into play. Parish is widely considered a top 15 Center of all time. I'd argue Bogut is one of the best backup bigs in our games. He was a regular starter for a team that reached the Finals in his selected season and recorded a DBPM of +3.2. On-ball D against secondary ball handlers should be elite with 2 DPOY winners in Payton and Cooper. McKie was a terrific defender in his own right as evidenced by his DBPM of +2.0.

FGA
1986 Larry Bird 19.6
2023 Jayson Tatum 21.1
1996 Gary Payton 15.8
1986 Michael Cooper 7.4
1999 Robert Horry 3.8
1986 Robert Parish 11.9
2016 Andrew Bogut 4.0
1997 Aaron McKie 4.4

Total: 88.0

[durantbird]

Laimbeer is pretty undersized here, especially with nearly half the game playing Reaves at SF and 10 minutes of Brown at PF. That should hurt him against the Tatum Bird combo.

Allen James Gilmore is a pretty imposing trio, and Brown is a great fourth option, but so are Payton Tatum Bird, with Parish as fourth.

I'll give Laimbeer some depth advantage even though Caruso playing that much as a starter somewhat mitigates that.

I think I give flaco somewhat of an edge here.

Vote flaco

[Fadeaway_J]

Seems to me that both teams are overextending their fifth starter, although Cooper is probably closer to meriting that role than Caruso. Laimbeer has better backcourt depth overall with Reaves and Barros though, so it kind of evens out. I'm a bit concerned about Parish being overmatched phsyically against peak Gilmore, especially since much of flaco's ability to protect the rim rests on him. I also don't see a viable counter to LeBron other than Tatum, which is not only an onerous burden for Tatum but also creates potential issues in case of a switch or crossmatch in transition.

Vote: Laimbeer

[Snakebites]

Tough call. Laimbeer has a matchup edge (as I don’t see this team guarding peak Lebron super well) but I broadly prefer Flaco’s overall playmaking. Ray Allen is a great second option but with Caruso as the starter there’s a lot of playmaking burden on Lebron. Flaco feels more balanced with Tatum, Payton, Bird, Cooper- I give that team a slight edge.

Vote Flaco

[Larry_Russell]

I am willing to argue that Lebron isnt the best player in this series.

Allen is in forba tough series with cooper and payton takingbturns in him as caruso really isnt a threat here at all

I think Flaco wins here pretty easily with a very complete roster and excellent balance.

[Laimbeer]

Congrats flaco!

[flaco]

GG, Laimbeer! Thanks for taking the time to run the game!