Put Them Over The Top Semi-finals: Flaco vs Laimbeer

[Snakebites]

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**

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[flaco]

Best of luck, Laimbeer!



Rotation
PG: Derrick White (36) / Alex Caruso (12)
SG: Jaylen Brown (36) / Alex Caruso (12)
SF: Paul Pierce (36) / James Posey (12)
PF: Jayson Tatum (36) / James Posey (12)
C: Al Horford (32) / Kevon Looney (16)

Offense
We run a 5-out motion offense. All 5 starters are volume 3pt shooters! All starters can put the ball on the floor and create their own shot. All of them but Brown are reliable facilitators. White and Horford are low-usage, team-first players. They can thrive either on or off the ball. Exactly what I need alongside 3 high-scoring (s)wings. A few words on Looney since everybody else on the roster needs no introduction. The idea is to use him primarily as a screener. He sets picks on the perimeter and rolls hard to the basket. Ranks 1st in the league in screen assists per 36 this season among qualified players. Averaged 5.5 screen assists per game in his selected season.



Defense
Plan is rather simple: We switch pretty much everything. All players on the roster are between 6'4'' and 6'9''. Oversized guards and undersized bigs are the perfect mix for a switch-heavy scheme. I'd argue we have a size advantage in the backcourt which may seem marginal at first glance, but is amplified after switches.

• White 6'4'', Brown 6'6'' (7' wingspan), Pierce 6'7'', Tatum 6'8'', Horford 6'9''
• Billups 6'3'', Bane 6'5' (6'4'' wingspan), Kawhi 6'7'', George 6'8'', Perkins 6'9''

Bane at 6'5'' with a T-Rex wingspan can't really switch on big forwards, whereas Brown at 6'6'' with a 7' wingspan is regularly switching on bigger players.

FGA
2023 Jayson Tatum 21.1
2023 Jaylen Brown 20.6
2023 Derrick White 9.2
2023 Al Horford 7.6
2008 Paul Pierce 13.7
2023 Alex Caruso 4.3
2006 James Posey 5.9
2023 Kevon Looney 4.7

Total: 87.1

[Laimbeer]

Sam Perkins ( 1995 ) 9.0 - All-D Votes, 39.7% on 4.2 3PA
Kawhi Leonard ( 2021 ) 17.5 - All-NBA, all-D, 39.8% on 4.9 3PA
Paul George ( 2021 ) 17.6 - All-NBA, all-D votes, 41.1% on 7.7 3PA
Desmond Bane ( 2023 ) 16.2 - All-D Votes, 39.7% on 4.2 3PA
Chauncey Billups ( 2008 ) 11.2 - DPOY Votes, 40.1% on 4.4 3PA

Robert Williams ( 2021 ) 5 - Highest PER of career, 3.3 blocks per 36
Nic Batum ( 2021 ) 6.1 - Excellent D, 40.4% on 4.1 3PA
Terrance Mann ( 2021 ) 5.2 - Highest PER of career, 41.8% on 1.4 3PA

87.9 / 88.0 87.8


Sam Perkins (36) / Robert Williams (12)
Kawhi Leonard (38) / Nic Batum (10)
Paul George (38) / Nic Batum (10)
Desmond Bane (28) / Terrance Mann (12) / Nic Batum (6)
Chauncey Billups (38) / Desmond Bane (10)

Good luck, flaco.

Offensively, we've got three elite scoring weapons, eye-popping spacing, and the perfect floor general for this group in Chauncey.

We have solid counters to them in Perkins/Horford, George/Tatum, Kawhi/Pierce, Bane/Brown, and Chauncey/White.

In the end, I feel like I'm looking in the mirror. So I'll call out why we've got a bit of an advantage.

- Pierce doesn't add a lot to the Celtics. Really redundant with Tatum and Brown. Brown is forced out of position. None of the three are really backcourt players and just kind of triplicate a similar skill set. Meanwhile, Bane thrives at the arc and is the best three point shooter here.

- Pierce, Tatum and Brown are good defenders, but we have two absolutelty elite defenders in Kawhi and George while Bane is very solid. We should be able to offer a bit more resistance.

- I like Derrick White a lot, but he's a combo guard/role player who isn't really able to run the show quite like Chauncey. Our offense should flow a bit better because of this and Bane playing a more natural position than Brown.

- And I have to add I don't trust any statistic that shows James Wiseman as tops in the league.

[Dr Positivity]

Both teams are constructed pretty similarly, with 23 Horford not being much of an upgrade over Perkins. I like Billups-Bane-George-Kawhi more than White-Brown-Pierce-Tatum with the upgrade at PG and Kawhi being better than Tatum. Vote Laimbeer.

[Snakebites]

Yeah, it’s hard for Flaco to create positive separation here.

These are similar 5-out teams but I just trust Laimbeer’s go-to scorers more.

Vote Laimbeer

[Colbinii]

I prefer the Wings and Backcourt of Laimbeer while the bigs have little separation.

Laimbeer

[flaco]

In the end, I feel like I'm looking in the mirror.

We had practically identical teams!

GG, Laimbeer! Good luck in the Finals!

[Snakebites]

Laimbeer advances

[Snakebites]

I actually had Kawhi/PG with some combination of their supporting casts number one on my board, btw.

[Laimbeer]

In the end, I feel like I'm looking in the mirror.

We had practically identical teams!

GG, Laimbeer! Good luck in the Finals!

Thanks! I was sweating this one, GG.