RealGM

Let's vote below! Don't vote for your own team (of course), but you may state your case.

First time getting 4 votes proceed to next round.

Lemme know if the depth chart is not updated - I just directly copied and pasted from your roster page.

1. Grizzlies vs 4. Suns

Grizzlies:
PG Lawson /Lin /McCallum/ Harris
SG Dudley /Gordon/Harris / CJ
SF Durant /C.J /Dudley / Early
PF Z Bo /Mason /Durant / Lauvergne
C Pau /Miles /Mason / Sacre
HC: Kevin McHale

Suns:
PG - ....Jeff Teague.........//.......C.J.Watson..............//.......J.J. Barea
SG - .....Danny Green.......//.......Marcus Thornton.......//.......Jordan Adams
SF - .....Khris Middleton....//.......Mike Dunleavy Jr......//.......James Jones
PF - .....Anthony Davis......//.......Jonas Jerebko.........//.......Matt Bonner
C - ......Tiago Splitter.......//.......Alex Len.................//.......(Walter Tavares)
HC: Rick Carlisle

2. Nuggets vs 3. Blazers

Nuggets:
HC: Doc Rivers
PG:Damian Lillard l Rajon Rondo l Nate Robinson
SG: Avery Bradley l PJ Tucker l Kent Bazemore
SF:Trevor Ariza l Wilson Chandler l Danny Granger
PF:Paul Millsap l Robert Covington l Shawn Marion
C: Hassan Whiteside l Marreese Speights l Ian Mahinmi

Blazers (Depth Chart not available, so here is my guess):
HC: Brad Stevens
PG: Stephen Curry /Shaun Livingston / Beno Udrih / Isaiah Canaan
SG: JJ Redick / Marco Belinelli
SF: DeMarre Carroll / Kyle Singler
PF: Dirk Nowitzki / Pero Antic / Kris Humphries
C: Andrew Bogut / Jordan Hill / Aron Baynes

Votes:

Suns over Grizz. Tough call. Grizz has a heck of front court (better at SF and C), but nobody can guard AD. Suns have a better backcourt, and the key factor is Carlisle over McHale.

Blazers over Nuggets. Another tough call. Nuggets have many wing defenders which can neutralizes Blazers' shooters. I think it will come up to the front court, which I trust Dirk and Bogut's experience over Whiteside.

Griz vs Suns. This is a really close matchup, but I'm gonna have to give the slight edge to the Suns. It's a pity, because I love the Grizzlies roster, but the Suns are just a slightly more complete team and Carlisle gives a slight coaching edge.

Nuggets vs Blazers. Another close matchup with two quality lineups, hard to really pick a winner. Millsap/Whiteside are probably a marginally better front-line, but overall I'd give the bigs edge to the Blazers because of their depth of quality bigs compared to the Nugs backups of Covington and Speights.

I think the Curry/Dirk PnR could not be handled by Denver at all here, but conversely, I think would say the Nuggets have slightly better wings and a great 2nd unit. Also, Stevens an edge over Rivers in the coaching department.

This one's definitely going to 7 in my books but I'm going to have the go with the Blazers, just. A bit more experienced, a bit more star-power and a bit better coaching.

Wow, these matchups are seriously close. Unlike Round 1 where I felt confident in all my calls, these are nail biters and could both go 7.

For my Suns, I like the fact that I'm built to defend superstar wings and can throw multiple good wing defenders at Durant - Green, Middleton and Dunleavy all have good length and instincts. Also being able to attack the somewhat heavy footed Randolph and Gasol in the PnR/PnP is a big edge for me. We're also going to really run in transition and push the pace whenever the starters are in as we have an athleticism advantage (obviously nullified once the Plumlee come on, but that takes them out of their game plan)
I also really like having Carlisle - his chessmaster style is much more suited to playoff games where schematic/gameplan advantages are emphasised, and motivation should be more of a given. However, the Girzzlies offense is formidable and Durant is capable of winning games on his own, and they will likely be able to score inside. In the end though I think we can score enough that our defense can win the game for us.

-----

In the other series, it's a pair of quite similar teams - stretchy 4s, 3 point threat PGs and intimidating defensive centers. Each perimeter has a defensive weakness (Lillard/Reddick) but Carroll/Ariza are a plus defender of wings and Bradley is a good guard defender, while Curry is underrated on that end. Inside, I think Dirk may struggle against the quickness of Millsap, but obviously his height gives Paul problems on the other end. Bogut is a much better passing hub and offers a little bit of a post game, but Whiteside is a PnR demon and the 1-5 with Ariza in the corner and Bradley/Millsap spotting up on the wings is deadly. Neither bench is exceptional but they both have solid backup points (Rondo/Livingston) and both the Chandler/Tucker wing pairing and Jordan Hill as the energy big are nice pieces. Coaching is about even - Doc's incompetence as a GM sometimes obscures the fact that he is a very good coach, and he has the experience edge.

I'd like to hear from the teams themselves before I cast my final vote.

1. Grizzlies vs 4. Suns

REALLY surprised to see my team in the hole early against the Suns. We just beat superduperstar Westbrook and his squad and I feel we are well suited to take down superduperstar Davis and all star Teague. Durant would abuse Green and Middleton.

As stated in my write up, I'd be subbing Pau out earlier so that my rotations could be: ZBo n Pau, ZBo n Mason, Mason n Pau with a sprinkling of Miles. Generally we'd have 1 of our more mobile bigs in most of the time which is part of the plan. This'll help counter the Suns scheme.

I think people are putting too much weight on the Rockets 1st round exit last year. McHale is a coach of the year candidate in 14/15 and I believe has really stepped up. He has improved the Rockets defense and played without their 1b/2nd star player for a large chunk of the year, keeping them up there in the West. I like Carlisle A LOT, but I don't think the edge in coaching is as big as other posters have stated.

Green and Middleton would get shut down on O. The wing depth for Suns is not that great in my opinion. Eric Gordon and Jeremy Lin would be able to light up the second unit a bit. With Dudley, Durant, and CJ guarding the wings and shutting down the 3, I don't see where the majority of their offense will come from. I just don't see the Suns being able to stop Durant here even with some respectable wing defenders. Durant is just tooooo good. I think he'd win a couple of these games on his own, not to mention that the post players would still get theirs as Davis can't guard all of them.

adjusted rotation based on matchup (Simon, please use this going forward. The one posted as OP in both matchups has been out of date)

Grizzlies:
HC: Kevin McHale

PG Lawson (36) /Lin (12)
SG Dudley (24) /Gordon (24)
SF Durant(38) /C.J (10)/Dudley
PF Z Bo (34)/Mason (14)/Durant
C Pau (34)/Mason (6)/Miles (8)
reserve bench: McCalum, Harris, Lauvergne

Suns:
PG - ....Jeff Teague.........//.......C.J.Watson..............//.......J.J. Barea
SG - .....Danny Green.......//.......Marcus Thornton.......//.......Jordan Adams
SF - .....Khris Middleton....//.......Mike Dunleavy Jr......//.......James Jones
PF - .....Anthony Davis......//.......Jonas Jerebko.........//.......Matt Bonner
C - ......Tiago Splitter.......//.......Alex Len.................//.......(Walter Tavares)
HC: Rick Carlisle

2. Nuggets vs 3. Blazers

I REALLY like both of these squads. Whiteside's coming out party this year has been impressive. But I think he'd find himself in foul trouble in half of these games playing against this deep post group and I'm not big on Covington and Speights. I'd give the edge to Blazers big men based on depth and Whiteside's potential foul trouble helping cover Dirk on the PnR with Curry. Lillard v Curry would be a lot of fun to see. I'd give the edge to Curry. Bradley/Ariza/Chandler/Tucker wing group beats Blazers wings. The coaches to me are a wash.

This was really tough.

I'd give this to the Blazers in 7 games.

AustinCarr61 wrote:Wow, these matchups are seriously close. Unlike Round 1 where I felt confident in all my calls, these are nail biters and could both go 7.

For my Suns, I like the fact that I'm built to defend superstar wings and can throw multiple good wing defenders at Durant - Green, Middleton and Dunleavy all have good length and instincts. Also being able to attack the somewhat heavy footed Randolph and Gasol in the PnR/PnP is a big edge for me. We're also going to really run in transition and push the pace whenever the starters are in as we have an athleticism advantage (obviously nullified once the Plumlee come on, but that takes them out of their game plan)
I also really like having Carlisle - his chessmaster style is much more suited to playoff games where schematic/gameplan advantages are emphasised, and motivation should be more of a given. However, the Girzzlies offense is formidable and Durant is capable of winning games on his own, and they will likely be able to score inside. In the end though I think we can score enough that our defense can win the game for us.

-----

In the other series, it's a pair of quite similar teams - stretchy 4s, 3 point threat PGs and intimidating defensive centers. Each perimeter has a defensive weakness (Lillard/Reddick) but Carroll/Ariza are a plus defender of wings and Bradley is a good guard defender, while Curry is underrated on that end. Inside, I think Dirk may struggle against the quickness of Millsap, but obviously his height gives Paul problems on the other end. Bogut is a much better passing hub and offers a little bit of a post game, but Whiteside is a PnR demon and the 1-5 with Ariza in the corner and Bradley/Millsap spotting up on the wings is deadly. Neither bench is exceptional but they both have solid backup points (Rondo/Livingston) and both the Chandler/Tucker wing pairing and Jordan Hill as the energy big are nice pieces. Coaching is about even - Doc's incompetence as a GM sometimes obscures the fact that he is a very good coach, and he has the experience edge.

I'd like to hear from the teams themselves before I cast my final vote.

how much time do I have to state my case? I'm working all day today...

Context wrote:

AustinCarr61 wrote:I'd like to hear from the teams themselves before I cast my final vote.

how much time do I have to state my case? I'm working all day today...

I'll check in at half time in the Cavs game tonight (so about 9pm ET). So anytime before then is fine for me.

Grizzlies

Blazers

AustinCarr61 wrote:

Context wrote:

AustinCarr61 wrote:I'd like to hear from the teams themselves before I cast my final vote.

how much time do I have to state my case? I'm working all day today...

I'll check in at half time in the Cavs game tonight (so about 9pm ET). So anytime before then is fine for me.

i dont even think its worth my time to be honest I'm 0-3 now...

I just don't understand comments like:

"Stevens an edge over Rivers in the coaching department."
"The coaches to me are a wash."
Can someone remind me of how many play-off games Stevenson has won?

"perimeter has a defensive weakness (Lillard/Reddick)"
Riddick: Def rating: 111, Defensive Win shares: 0.7
Lillard: Def rating: 104, Defensive Win shares: 3.0

"they both have solid backup points (Rondo/Livingston)"
Rondo is a champion. Rondo in the play-offs against Lebron just 2 years ago put up in 53 minutes:
44pts, 8reb, 10 ast, 3stl, 3 fouls, 16-24, 2-2 from 3, and 10 for 12 from the FT line...
Livingston shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence to Rondo.

"Blazers because of their depth of quality bigs compared to the Nugs backups of Covington and Speights."

3-Pt Field Goals
1. Stephen Curry ▪ GSW 233
2. Klay Thompson ▪ GSW 200
3. Kyle Korver ▪ ATL 197
4. James Harden ▪ HOU 174
5. Wesley Matthews ▪ POR 173
6. Damian Lillard ▪ POR 170
7. J.J. Redick ▪ LAC 169
8. Danny Green ▪ SAS 167
9. Trevor Ariza ▪ HOU 161
10. Robert Covington ▪ PHI 144

.38% from three...can defend def rating: 103/ Def win shares: 2.1, hits 80% from FT, 55%TS....
Speights...before I go into him - Ian Mahinmi is my back-up center in certain match-ups...


"which I trust Dirk and Bogut's experience over Whiteside."

Have we forgot about millsap? smh... Not to mention: Ariz/Millsap AND WHITESIDE...

Defensive Win Shares
1. Draymond Green ▪ GSW 4.9
2. DeAndre Jordan ▪ LAC 4.6
3. Marc Gasol ▪ MEM 4.2
4. Nerlens Noel ▪ PHI 4.0
5. Paul Millsap ▪ ATL 4.0
6. Tim Duncan ▪ SAS 3.9
7. Stephen Curry ▪ GSW 3.8
8. James Harden ▪ HOU 3.8
9. Pau Gasol ▪ CHI 3.7
10. Andre Drummond ▪ DET 3.7
11. John Wall ▪ WAS 3.7
12. Giannis Antetokounmpo ▪ MIL 3.6
13. Kawhi Leonard ▪ SAS 3.5
14. Trevor Ariza ▪ HOU 3.5
15. Anthony Davis ▪ NOP 3.5
16. Rudy Gobert ▪ UTA 3.4
17. Marcin Gortat ▪ WAS 3.4
18. Danny Green ▪ SAS 3.4
19. LaMarcus Aldridge ▪ POR 3.4
20. Al Jefferson ▪ CHO

Just as a note, A full season of Whiteside and he's on that list...

With all due respect to my new friends there are a ton of opinions being thrown about with out facts to back them up.

No one is scoring in the paint against my frontline...


cant post any more must work...

SimonFish wrote:Let's vote below! Don't vote for your own team (of course), but you may state your case.

First time getting 4 votes proceed to next round.

Lemme know if the depth chart is not updated - I just directly copied and pasted from your roster page.

1. Grizzlies vs 4. Suns

Grizzlies:
PG Lawson /Lin /McCallum/ Harris
SG Dudley /Gordon/Harris / CJ
SF Durant /C.J /Dudley / Early
PF Z Bo /Mason /Durant / Lauvergne
C Pau /Miles /Mason / Sacre
HC: Kevin McHale

Suns:
PG - ....Jeff Teague.........//.......C.J.Watson..............//.......J.J. Barea
SG - .....Danny Green.......//.......Marcus Thornton.......//.......Jordan Adams
SF - .....Khris Middleton....//.......Mike Dunleavy Jr......//.......James Jones
PF - .....Anthony Davis......//.......Jonas Jerebko.........//.......Matt Bonner
C - ......Tiago Splitter.......//.......Alex Len.................//.......(Walter Tavares)
HC: Rick Carlisle

2. Nuggets vs 3. Blazers

Nuggets:
HC: Doc Rivers
PG:Damian Lillard l Rajon Rondo l Nate Robinson
SG: Avery Bradley l PJ Tucker l Kent Bazemore
SF:Trevor Ariza l Wilson Chandler l Danny Granger
PF:Paul Millsap l Robert Covington l Shawn Marion
C: Hassan Whiteside l Marreese Speights l Ian Mahinmi

Blazers (Depth Chart not available, so here is my guess):
HC: Brad Stevens
PG: Stephen Curry /Shaun Livingston / Beno Udrih / Isaiah Canaan
SG: JJ Redick / Marco Belinelli
SF: DeMarre Carroll / Kyle Singler
PF: Dirk Nowitzki / Pero Antic / Kris Humphries
C: Andrew Bogut / Jordan Hill / Aron Baynes

Ian Mahinmi is my back-up in this series...And if they put Curry on Lillard for defense then Tucker will start to create the mismatch on JJ... Not to mention, Curry will be abused with a rotation of Avery - Tucker and Rondo on defense...

Context wrote:

AustinCarr61 wrote:

Context wrote:how much time do I have to state my case? I'm working all day today...

I'll check in at half time in the Cavs game tonight (so about 9pm ET). So anytime before then is fine for me.

i dont even think its worth my time to be honest

Fair enough. I'll go with my first thought then.

Blazers over Nuggets

AustinCarr61 wrote:

Context wrote:

AustinCarr61 wrote:
I'll check in at half time in the Cavs game tonight (so about 9pm ET). So anytime before then is fine for me.

i dont even think its worth my time to be honest

Fair enough. I'll go with my first thought then.

Blazers over Nuggets

did you not read the entire post? smh

Grizz and Nuggets

Grizzlies vs Suns
Winner: Grizzlies
Reasoning: I'm going to go with the Grizzlies due to more playoff experience and better bench with Gordon/Plumlee leading the 2nd unit.

Nuggets vs Blazers
Winner: Nuggets
Reasoning: This is definitely going to be a close series. Coach Doc Rivers and Rondo would make a difference in this one.

SimonFish wrote:Suns over Grizz.
Blazers over Nuggets

GimmeDat wrote:Griz vs Suns........slight edge to the Suns.
Nuggets vs Blazers. ........ I'm going to have the go with the Blazers, just.

Brybeck01 wrote:2. Nuggets vs 3. Blazers Blazers in 7 games.

mattyj912 wrote:Grizzlies
Blazers

AustinCarr61 wrote:Blazers over Nuggets

frosty23 wrote:Grizz and
Nuggets

ChicagoSportsFan21 wrote:Grizzlies vs Suns Winner: Grizzlies
Nuggets vs Blazers Winner: Nuggets

Grizzlies 3-2 Suns
Blazers 5-2 Nuggets

Still need more votes on MEM-PHX

AustinCarr61 wrote:

SimonFish wrote:Suns over Grizz.
Blazers over Nuggets

GimmeDat wrote:Griz vs Suns........slight edge to the Suns.
Nuggets vs Blazers. ........ I'm going to have the go with the Blazers, just.

Brybeck01 wrote:2. Nuggets vs 3. Blazers Blazers in 7 games.

mattyj912 wrote:Grizzlies
Blazers

AustinCarr61 wrote:Blazers over Nuggets

frosty23 wrote:Grizz and
Nuggets

ChicagoSportsFan21 wrote:Grizzlies vs Suns Winner: Grizzlies
Nuggets vs Blazers Winner: Nuggets

Grizzlies 3-2 Suns
Blazers 5-2 Nuggets

Still need more votes on MEM-PHX

We've got a heck of a battle going on AustinCarr. Props to you for putting together a fantastic roster and being active in the draft and process. Mad respect to you. This series would be a blast to watch. Still thinking my squad pulls out the win, but the votes so far and the reasoning posted with some of the votes show that this would be a TIGHT match. boils down to Durant/Ty/ZBo/Pau v Davis/Teague/Middleton/Danny Green - or Durant v Davis. best of luck

Grizz and Blazers

WIN wrote:Grizz and Blazers

And there we go.

Grizzlies 4-2.

Could have been worse. I thought I might make it actually, although the Blazers are an awful matchup for me so I wasn't going any further.

Grizzlies vs Blazers in the WCF

Suns and Nuggets

AustinCarr61 wrote:

WIN wrote:Grizz and Blazers

And there we go.

Grizzlies 4-2.

Could have been worse. I thought I might make it actually, although the Blazers are an awful matchup for me so I wasn't going any further.

Grizzlies vs Blazers in the WCF

just ignore my post huh?