East Cross Era Duos - R2 - flaco 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**

[flaco]

Best of luck, Fade!

Rotation
PG: Kyrie Irving (36) / Pablo Prigioni (12)
SG: Eddie Jones (36) / Dan Majerle (12)
SF: LeBron James (36) / Dan Majerle (12)
PF: PJ Tucker (24) / James Posey (24)
C: Patrick Ewing (36) PJ Tucker (12)

Offense
LeBron is the de facto PG. Irving and EJ provide secondary shot creation. Ewing is a dominant finisher. Everybody else spreads the floor, although Majerle can also put the ball on the floor, if necessary. We know for a fact Kyrie and LeBron had great synergy having won a ring together in real life.

Defense
Ewing drops. I assume Wade is the primary ball handler on Fade's team. EJ is my POA defender. Wing D should be strong with 5 switchable defenders on the roster.

FGA
2014 LeBron James 17.6
2001 Eddie Jones 13.8
2022 PJ Tucker 6.0
2006 James Posey 5.9
2015 Kyrie Irving 16.5
1996 Dan Majerle 9.1
1989 Patrick Ewing 16.0
2014 Pablo Prigioni 3.0

Total: 87.9

[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
- Assignments to start will be Price-Kyrie, Wade-Jones, OG-LeBron, Love-Tucker, Zo-Ewing. Zo sags back on pick-and-rolls to guard against LeBron drives/Ewing rolls. Price vs. Kyrie is mutually assured destruction. We go more switch-heavy when Ariza and MoPete come in off the bench.
- Given that Zo outperformed Ewing in the chosen seasons, I'd argue we have the overall edge in top-end talent even with LeBron being the best player. Wade is one of the few perimeter players who can approach LeBron's level, especially with this level of spacing. (The Celtics had no answer for him in the 2010 playoffs despite the horrendous team around him.) Love is much more threatening as a stretch 4 than Tucker while being a far superior rebounder.

Good luck flaco.

[Snakebites]

This is hard. Fade's team has a more sound construction with four stars who pair together well with their sidekicks, and all of them are at their peaks (Wade's absolute peak was a couple years prior but 2010 is close enough).

Flaco cut a few more corners (mainly in the form of downgrades to Ewing and Kyrie). Kyrie had never logged a prime time playoff performance- I do personally think he probably made a meaningful jump after this season even if his regular season numbers are a little wonky. He also has a younger version of Ewing, and I agree with Fade that 2000 Zo is better than this version of Ewing.

I do think the gap between Lebron and Wade as primary movers is pretty large though.

There's nothing particularly egregious about the matchup itself either- neither Kyrie nor Price can guard the other, and I think Price is considerably better. The benches/5th starter are relatively comparable too.

Twist my arm and I think I vote...Fade. But if you ask me in five minutes I might say flaco. So I guess Fade gets the luck this time.

The fit clicks just a little better for me.

Vote Fade

[Dr Positivity]

I like flaco's depth and defense a bit more, and I still prefer 14 Lebron to Wade. Vote flaco.

[uberhikari]

I really like both teams, especially their offensive synergy. However, flaco's team is more theoretical than material because the downgrades to Irving and Ewing are brutal. Irving broke his kneecap in the 2015 playoffs which explains the 30 missed games and wonky numbers in the 2016 regular season, but he was 100% a much better player in 2016 than 2015. If not for the downgrades on flaco's team I'd have voted for him. Vote: Fadeaway_J

[durantbird]

I don't really feel too hard about any downgrade here - those versions of Kyrie and Ewing are both good to me. I'm going with Dr P's reasoning. I think flaco has better depth, and LeBron is the best player. Kyrie LeBron Ewing combo seems pretty good.

Vote flaco

[Larry_Russell]

I agree with ubers assessment here.

Tough tough matchup overall but I think that even though lebron is the best player in the series, fades complimentary talent closes and exceeds that gap.

[durantbird]

Fadeaway_J advances