Biggest Draft Misses Draft - R1 - Snakebites vs Laimbeer*

[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]

Dikembe Mutombo ( 2001 ) 7.4
Scottie Pippen ( 1998 ) 15.8
Paul Pierce ( 2011 ) 12.8
Anthony Edwards ( 2024 ) 19.7
Stephen Curry ( 2015 ) 16.8

Larry Nance Jr. ( 2024 ) 4.0
Detlef Schrempf ( 2000 ) 5.6
Jon Barry ( 2000 ) 5.6

87.7


Dikembe Mutombo (38) / Larry Nance Jr. (10)
Scottie Pippen (38) / Larry Nance Jr. (4) / Detlef Schrempf (6)
Paul Pierce (30) / Detlef Schrempf (18)
Anthony Edwards (38) / Paul Pierce (10)
Stephen Curry (38) / Jon Barry (10)

Pippen helping to facilitate to a group like Curry, ANT, and Pierce is a handful. Oscar and Clyde are not good defensively, and neither has the quickness or tenacity to chase Steph. Or is a particularly good cover for ANT.

On defense, ANT/Oscar, Pierce/Horford, Deke/Russell, Curry/Drexler, and Pippen/George is pretty solid across. Oscar and Clyde are talented, but a wonky fit with little three point ability. Horford and George are the only solid threats from distance.

The benches are fairly equal, bit I think Detlef is most likely to move the needle. He was still a very effective bench piece at this point.

Favorable match-ups for us and lack of back court defense and distance shooting for them makes the difference. This would be a better match-up before the three point era.

[Snakebites]

PG: 1962-63 Oscar Robertson - 16.9 FGA (with Multiplier)- All NBA First, Third in MVP
SG: 90-91 Clyde Drexler- 16.3 FGA- All NBA 2nd
SF: 17-18 Paul George 17.0 FGA- All NBA Third
PF: 17-18 Al Horford- 10.5 FGA- All Star, All Defensive 2nd
C: 64-65 Bill Russell- 10.7 FGA (with multiplier)- MVP, All NBA First (they didn't have DPOY or All Defense yet)

B: Brent Barry 00-01 6.0 FGA
B: Nic Batum 08-09 4.6 FGA
B: Trey Lyles 23-24 5.5 FGA

Rotation:

Oscar (38)/Barry (10)
Drexler (37)/Barry (11)
George (37)/Batum (11)
Horford (25)/Lyles (23)
Russell (37)/Horford (11)

Alrighty, lets do this. My team has two top 15 all time players on it, as well as two other strong All NBA Team players who are considered high end second options in these games. My fifth starter (Horford) is a terrific bigman who can defend multiple positions, shoot, and pass. I've got capable playmaking at every starting position. This team is a powerhouse.

Oscar Robertson is the primary ball handler. Paul George and Al Horford stretch the opposing defense with three point range. Drexler is a terrific cutter. Bill Russell sets picks and provides supplemental passing, while his defense and rebounding lead to lots of fast breaks. It's a team with some of the best talent in this game that does not sacrifice fit.

None of my starters are defensive liabilities and three are all defensive. Horford has enough defensive versatility to deal with this small ball lineup- he probably takes older Pierce most of the time. Horford gives me the defensive versatility to role with this smaller lineup while also ensuring that I enjoy a considerable size advantage throughout.

Offensively, as I said I think my pieces fit together quite well, and unfortunately for Laimbeer there's simply nowhere to hide Steph Curry in this matchup. Neither team lights the world on fire off the bench, but at least I've got a group of guys who can hit threes, with Barry also providing some additional playmaking.

I don't think Oscar/Drexler/PG/Horford as a unit is all that much less impactful than Laimbeer's group, and there simply is no comparing Russell as an impact player to Mutombo.

Vote Snake!

[durantbird]

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Voting is open. Laimbeer and Snake please vote for yourselves

[durantbird]

Tough one. Two similar caliber team. I really like both Oscar Russell and Steph Pippen but the former just a bit more. Pierce and Edwards have slight downgrades and I prefer Drexler George. Barry is the best bench piece given this is Portland Detlef.

Vote Snakebites

[Snakebites]

I’ll definitely once again confess to some frustration here. This really didn’t feel like a first round bounce team to me at all.

[durantbird]

I’ll definitely once again confess to some frustration here. This really didn’t feel like a first round bounce team to me at all.

I was also sure I could've gone far in this and I thought I have an edge over Dr P. You never know. Thing is some of our strongest teams often occur in deeper pools, which means the competition is stronger.

Since adopting polls, deciding matchups is faster and easier, but the downside is you get no reasons for the votes.

[durantbird]

Laimbeer advances