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. Please ensure you give a rationale for your vote; votes with no explanation will not be counted.
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).
18.3 ppg, 13.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0.9 spg, 2.8 bpg, .612 FG%, .592 FT%, .630 TS% - Led the NBA in rpg, bpg, FG%, DWS (7.1), DBPM (2.8) - Defensive Player of the Year - NBA All-Star - All-NBA First Team - All-Defensive First Team
Rotations C - Howard (38), Towns (10) PF - Towns (28), Isaac (18), Highsmith (2) SF - Anunoby (36), Highsmith (12) SG - Wade (38), Suggs (10) PG - Conley (37), Suggs (11)
FGA Per Player
Spoiler:
Dwyane Wade - 19.6 Dwight Howard - 10.2 Mike Conley - 14.6 OG Anunoby - 8.2 Karl-Anthony Towns - 15.3 Jalen Suggs - 9.5 Jonathan Isaac - 4.9 Haywood Highsmith - 5.0
Total: 87.3/88.0
My team is built to maximise the insane rim pressure applied by Wade and Dwight. Conley is the perfect PG for this team, as he's comfortable running the show himself but also a good enough shooter to play off Wade. KAT spaces the floor for Dwight, and also has some underrated interior passing chops which he showed off playing alongside Gobert. Between those four complementary stars, we can run out any number of combinations to keep things humming offensively. The rest of the roster is populated by high-level 3-and-D role players in OG, Suggs, Isaac, and Highsmith, all of whom slot in perfectly alongside the core four both ends.
Matchup - We'll start out with OG on Bane, while Wade takes the decidedly less challenging assignment on Jones. The remaining assignments will be straight up. - CP3 and Wade are comparable, but I think Conley takes a lot more of the shot creation burden off Wade than 2022 Bane does for CP3. In particular, our ability to stagger Wade and Conley ensures we keep a star-level lead guard on the court for all 48 minutes (supplemented by a solid secondary creator in Suggs). - Between Wade, OG, Suggs, and Highsmith, I think we have a much deeper group of quality wing defenders than wack, whose only standout in that regard is Jones.
Chris Paul - 2008 - 16.1 FGA - 2nd in MVP, 7th in DPOY, 36.9 3P% on 3.1 att Desmond Bane - 2022 - 14.5 FGA - 43.6 3P% on 6.9 att Alonzo Mourning - 1999 - 13.8 FGA - 2nd in MVP, DPOY Rashard Lewis - 2009 - 13.8 FGA - All-Star, 39.7 3P% on 7.0 att Jaren Jackson Jr - 2023 - 13.0 FGA - All-Star, DPOY, 35.5 3P% on 4.5 att Herb Jones - 2024 - 7.7 FGA - 5th in DPOY, 41.8 3P% on 3.6 att Dan Majerle - 1998 - 6.1 FGA - 37.6 3P% on 4.1 att Tyus Jones - 2017 - 3.0 FGA - 35.6 3P% on 1.2 att
Total: 88/88 FGA
Chris Paul (40) / Tyus Jones (8) Desmond Bane (30) / Dan Majerle (18) Herb Jones (32) / Rashard Lewis (16) Jaren Jackson Jr (26) / Rashard Lewis (22) Alonzo Mourning (38) / Jaren Jackson Jr (10)
Helluva team as always Fade, best of luck.
Defensively we will start with CP3 on Conley, Jones on Wade, Bane on Anunoby, JJJ on KAT, and Mourning on Dwight. We can somewhat comfortably rotate CP3/Bane/Jones/Majerle on Wade/Conley as Anunoby isn't a major threat.
I think we have the deeper team here. I see guys 1-4 and 6-8 as largely a wash (calling Jones/Anunoby 6th seeing as they have damn-near equal value), so we have Lewis vs Suggs. While I appreciate Suggs' breakout season last year, especially defensively, Lewis has the obvious massive edge here in terms of production. Lewis plays 38 minutes here (he played 41.1 mpg in the playoffs for the Eastern Conference Champions), giving us another offensive engine that Fade doesn't match. And we have plenty of defensive throughout the rest of the lineup to compensate for Lewis' shortcomings on that end, and we can match Lewis up with any of Anunoby/Highsmith/Isaac and not feel too bothered. As an aside, I really like JJJ and Mourning matched up with KAT and Dwight respectively, as JJJ has similar size/strength/athleticism/speed as KAT and Mourning obviously matches up well with the paint-dominant Dwight.
This is pretty close so I'll say the depth wins out on wackbone's team, with Lewis giving him some much needed offensive boost, also also JJJ and Mourning is a great frontcourt to play Wade and Howard to me. Vote wackbone.
It's going to be a glorious day... I feel my luck could change
I prefer Wade over any first option that wack has to offer and I don't really see much issue with the fit either. I'm not in love with KAT at the 4 but it's proven to be a workable combination and the defense Fade has around him looks and feels very similar to what the Wolves had last year.
Wade is the best offensive weapon with Towns third best. I like the fit of both with Howard. wackbone seems deeper but I still prefer the squad for Fade.
