East Cross Era Duos - R1 - Snakebites vs Fadeaway_J*

[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.

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 wins the championship**

[Fadeaway_J]

Starters
C - Alonzo Mourning (1999-00)

Spoiler:

21.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.5 spg, 3.7 bpg, .551 FG%, .711 FT%, .596 TS%
- Led the NBA in bpg
- NBA All-Star
- Defensive Player of the Year
- All-NBA Second Team
- All-Defensive First Team

PF - Kevin Love (2017-18)

Spoiler:

17.6 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 1.7 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.4 bpg, .458 FG%, .415 3P%, .880 FT%, 137 3P (2.3 pg), .614 TS%
- NBA All-Star

SF - OG Anunoby (2019-20)

Spoiler:

10.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.7 bpg, .505 FG%, .390 3P%, .706 FT%, 89 3P (1.3 pg), .600 TS%

SG - Dwyane Wade (2009-10)

Spoiler:

26.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 6.5 apg, 1.8 spg, 1.1 bpg, .476 FG%, .300 3P%, .761 FT%, 73 3P (0.9 pg), .562 TS%
- NBA All-Star
- All-NBA First Team
- All-Defensive Second Team

PG - Mark Price (1991-92)

Spoiler:

17.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 7.4 apg, 1.3 spg, 0.2 bpg, .488 FG%, .387 3P%, .947 FT%, 101 3P (1.4 pg), .610 TS%
- Led the NBA in FT%
- NBA All-Star
- All-NBA Third Team

Bench
F - Trevor Ariza (2012-13)

Spoiler:

9.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.3 spg, 0.4 bpg, .417 FG%, .364 3P%, .821 FT%, 76 3P (1.4 pg), .538 TS%

F/G - Morris Peterson (2003-04)

Spoiler:

8.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.1 spg, 0.2 bpg, .405 FG%, .371 3P%, .809 FT%, 126 3P (1.5 pg), .539 TS%

G - Antonio Daniels (2006-07)

Spoiler:

7.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 3.6 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.1 bpg, .442 FG%, .302 3P%, .832 FT%, .572 TS%

Rotations
C - Mourning (38), Love (10)
PF - Love (26), Anunoby (12), Ariza (10)
SF - Anunoby (22), Ariza (16), Peterson (10)
SG - Wade (38), Peterson (10)
PG - Price (37), Daniels (11)

FGA Per Player

Spoiler:

Dwyane Wade - 19.6
Alonzo Mourning - 15.0
Mark Price - 12.5
Kevin Love - 12.4
OG Anunoby - 8.2
Morris Peterson - 7.2
Trevor Ariza - 8.1
Antonio Daniels - 4.9

Total: 87.9/88.0

Wade can be tricky to build around, but we managed it pretty well with elite shooters at PG and PF, plus a clutch of solid 3-and-D guys in OG, Ariza, and MoPete. That opens up the lane for Wade's slashing game as well as Zo's exploits in the mid-to-low post. Price is a great PG to pair with a Wade type as he's a dynamic creator who also generates an off-ball threat with his shooting. Love gives us plenty of options as he can run pick-and-pops/DHOs with Wade or Price, or simply spot up and space the floor, plus he can still crush smaller defenders on the block. Defensively, Price and Love are the weak spots, but we have amazing help defenders in Zo and Wade, along with the aforementioned trio of wing stoppers, to plug the gaps.

Matchup
- We'll start off with Price on Blaylock, Wade on Petrovic, OG on KD, Love on Batum, and Zo on Embiid. Snake is set up to primarily play through Embiid and KD who are both fairly iso-heavy, and Drazen also likes to create with the ball in his hands, so we should be able to avoid too many problematic matchups. Our wing-heavy bench group will allow us to do more switching in those minutes.
- Snake has a big problem with his starting group as far as matching up with our backcourt. Both Wade and Price are lightning quick penetrators who can get into the lane and create all kinds of mayhem, but Snake is only starting one viable point-of-attack defender in Blaylock. Petrovic will get cooked by either, and Batum at this stage is a guy to throw at bigger wings and combo forwards like himself, not explosive guards. Wright can help off the bench, but his limited offensive game (along with Blaylock's) just puts more pressure on Embiid and KD.
- A lot is riding on Embiid here: he's shouldering a heavy offensive load against an elite defender (something he's rarely succeeded at in previous playoffs), and at the other end he has to worry about containing our dribble-penetration while also having a capable scorer in Zo as his primary assignment. With superior playmaking on one end and stronger individual matchups (Wade/OG/Ariza/MoPete to throw at KD/Petrovic) on the other, we're putting Zo in a much better position to succeed here.

Good luck Snake.

[Snakebites]

PG: Mookie Blaylock (Hawks) 93-94 13.3 FGA
All Star, All Defensive First, 14/10/3

SG: Drazen Petrovic (Nets) 92-93 16.2 FGA
All NBA Third, 52/45/87, 22/3/3, 60% TS

SF: Nic Batum (Hornets) 18-19 7.5 FGA
9/5/3, 45/39/86, 59% TS

PF: Kevin Durant (Nets) 22-23 18.3 FGA
All Star, 29/7/5, 56/40/92, 67% TS

C: Joel Embiid (Sixers) 2020-21 17.6 FGA
All NBA 2nd, 2nd in MVP Voting, All Defensive 2nd, 29/11/1, 64% TS


Bench:

Bobby Jones (Sixers) 82-83 6.2 FGA
All Defensive First, 6MOTY, 9/5, 60% TS

Delon Wright (Hawks) 21-22 3.5 FGA
45/38/86, 58% TS

Jared Dudley (Bobcats) 08-09 4.8 FGA

Rotation:

Blaylock (38)/Wright (10)
Petrovic (36)/Wright (12)
Batum (32)/Durant (8)/Dudley (8)
Durant (30)/Jones (18)
Embiid (37)/Jones (11)

GL Fade.

I think the biggest strength of my team is the efficiency and volume of my top scorers. KD and Embiid complement one another as high end scorers quite well, and both score nearly 30 ppg TS% in the mid 60s. Embiid has had playoff struggles in recent years, but was strong as an individual performer in this season, and has never had a co-pilot with the kind of gravity that KD has, and KD has performed consistently well in the playoffs in recent years. Drazen Petrovic is also a top end third option, and in my opinion the third best scorer in this series behind KD, Embiid, Wade (in that order, as Wade’s lack of outside shot makes his efficiency fairly average at 56% TS).

Embiid should be extremely effective with this amount of spacing around him, and he plays a different offensive game than many of the bigs Mourning guarded in his prime. How you view that matchup depends on how well you think Mourning’s defense translates and how much you think Embiid benefits from the space we can give him here.

I’ll openly acknowledge a mismatch at the 2 guard here. We can mitigate this to a degree with Delon Wright, and I’ll also point out that this shouldn’t distract from the fact that Mookie Blaylock is the perfect defender for Fade’s floor general while also being a problem on the other end for Price as well.

[Laimbeer]

Embiid and KD are the best two players here as I like Embiid a lot more in these than most. Wade will indeed have a big series (I'd have gone Batum there I think) but Embiid should be able to provide some back-up.

Vote - Snakebites

[Fadeaway_J]

I'm sorry but 2023 KD is by no stretch of the imagination better than 2010 Wade.

[uberhikari]

At first glance, KD & Embiid looks like a super duo but I don't trust Embiid and KD's eye-popping regular season numbers have masked the fact that he has struggled mightily to be the dominant post-season scorer he once was. That means Wade is clearly the best player in this series but a significant margin. I really like Fade's frontcourt and backcourt duo; each player covers the other one's deficiency. I'm concerned about Fade's overall scoring but I think there's enough for Wade. Vote: Fadeaway_J

[Dr Positivity]

I would have given Snake the slight edge but I'm troubled by Hornets Batum starting and I think this is an especially bad matchup against Wade, I can see also see Mourning doing well guarding Embiid. Vote Fade.

[durantbird]

I have some issues with Snake here. Charlotte Batum starting, Wright playing too big of a role in my eyes, and no good answer for Wade. With Durant being post prime and not the same dominancy, I prefer Fade. I also think Zo will make life hard for Embiid.

Vote Fade

[Snakebites]

GG

I thought my initial 4 guys had potential but wasn’t thrilled with the final product. Didn’t get the right wing defender.