Draft Night Trades Draft - Semis - Laimbeer* vs Snakebites

[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. Once the writeups are posted, I will add a poll, and the team with the most votes after 24 hours will advance. EACH MANAGER SHOULD ALSO VOTE FOR THEIR OWN TEAM IN THE POLL - IF YOU FAIL TO DO THIS, YOU ARE SIMPLY GIVING AWAY A VOTE. If the votes are tied, we will decide the matchup via AI vote.

You are not required to state or explain your vote, but you are free to comment in the thread if you want to.

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).

[Laimbeer]

Shaquille O'Neal ( 2000 ) 21.1 - MVP (1), DPOY (2)
Pau Gasol ( 2009 ) 12.9 - All-NBA
Nicolas Batum ( 2019 ) 7.5 - 3-D, 38.9% on 4.0 3PA
Kobe Bryant ( 2008 ) 20.6 - MVP (1), DPOY (5)
Chris Paul ( 2020 ) 12.7 - MVP (7)

Tyson Chandler ( 2010 ) 3.7 - 9.9 rebs / 1.7 blks per 36
Dennis Rodman ( 1996 ) 4.8 - MVP (15), DPOY (7), TRB (1)
Hersey Hawkins ( 2001 ) 3.0 - 37.0% 2.1 (per 36) 3PA

86.3

Shaquille O'Neal (38) / Tyson Chandler (10)
Pau Gasol (36) / Dennis Rodman (12)
Nicolas Batum (30) / Dennis Rodman (18)
Kobe Bryant (30) / Hersey Hawkins (12) / Nicolas Batum (6)
Chris Paul (38) / Kobe Bryant (10)


We have the heart of the back-to-back 2009 and 2010 champions in Kobe and Pau. Then the upgrades (ahem) of Bynum to Shaq and Fisher to Chris Paul. This group could take that offensive architecture to crazy levels. Kobe and Paul playing off Shaq is another frightening scenario. Pau (7'0 250) is an exceptionally skilled scorer who will go off big on Lewis (6'10 215), a smaller combo forward not known for his defense.

Shaq was second in DPOY and along with Chadler provides 48 minutes of elite rim protection. Dwight's limited range enables a lot of paint patrol. With defensive standouts like Rodman, Batum, Kobe, and Paul out front, this is an elite defensive unit. Penny is a different and more ball-dominantplaymaker than Draymond would be, and Penny won't be quite as effective with this team. Shaq/Dwight, Pau/Lewis, Batum/Penny, Kobe/Klay, Paul/Curry is pretty solid.

I like our top two talent of Shaq and Kobe with a proven fit. Along with their defensive shortcomings we should come out on top.

[Snakebites]

PG: Steph Curry 2014-15 16.8 FGA- MVP, All NBA First
SG: Klay Thompson 2014-15 16.9 FGA- All NBA Third
SF: Anfernee Hardaway 95-96 14.8 FGA- All NBA First, 3rd in MVP Voting
PF: Rashard Lewis 2008-09 13.8 FGA- All Star
C: Dwight Howard 09-10 10.2 FGA- All NBA First, DPOY, All Defensive First, 4th in MVP Voting

B: Andre Iguodala 14-15 6.4 FGA- Finals MVP
B: Jonathan Isaac 23-24 4.9 FGA
B: Andrew Bogut 15-16 4.0 FGA

Alr
87.8/88 FGA

Rotation:

Curry (37)/Hardaway (11)
Klay (37)/Iggy (11)
Penny (26)/Iggy (22)
Lewis (36)/Isaac (12)
Howard (36)/Bogut (12)

Alrighty let’s do this.

My team is an offensive juggernaut that is more or less a powered up version of the splash brother Warriors. Dwight provides elite rim protection while Penny provides additional ball handling. Curry and Klay are two of the best shooters and off ball players of all time. The icing on the cake is Rashard Lewis, a THIRD high volume three point shooter. It is fair to point out that my opponent, while talented, boasts zero high volume three point shooters in his entire starting lineup, which on its own will make it difficult for him to match my offensive production. There’s a reason the three pointer has taken off in popularity in recent years.

Laimbeer has a great team, but also one that plays into Dwight’s strengths defensively, as so much of his offense relies on midrange and paint scoring, meaning my rim protection is extremely valuable. Klay is a reliable defender against Kobe. Given Steph can hide on Hornets Batum, my only particularly poor matchup is Lewis on Gasol, and Gasol proved to be a poor fit offensively alongside Dwight- I think he’s a bit out of place alongside Shaq here. He’s not going to get as much out of that as he thinks due to poor spacing and Dwights help defense.

On the other end, both Gasol and Shaq are low post bigs defensively too, and I think that’s just not viable against a pace and space offense that I’m running here.

I think this matchup is close if it’s just the arithmetic of adding up star power, but in terms of fit and effectiveness with modern NBA rules I think my team creates clear separation.

I think Laimbeer has the optimal team for the 2000s, I have the optimal team for 2025.

[durantbird]

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Matchup is open. Beer and Snake please vote for yourselves

[durantbird]

Laimbeer advances in a tight battle