1980s All-stars Draft SF1 - durantbird vs MadNESS

[Dr Positivity]

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).

[durantbird]

PG: Isiah Thomas 89' - 15.3
SG: Michael Cooper 86' - 7.4
SF: James Worthy 86' - 14.5
PF: Larry Bird 86' - 19.6
C: Artis Gilmore 81' - 10.0

Bench: Reggie Miller 89' - 11.2
Bench: Danny Green 17' - 6.6
Bench: George Johnson 82' - 3.0

87.6/88

PG: Isiah Thomas 38 / Michael Cooper 10
SG: Michael Cooper 22 / Reggie Miller 26
SF: James Worthy 28 / Danny Green 20
PF: Larry Bird 38 / James Worthy 10
C: Artis Gilmore 38 / George Johnson 10

vs

PG: Doug Christie (34) | George Gervin (14)
SG: George Gervin (24) | Bruce Bowen (24)
SF: Julius Erving (38) | Bruce Bowen (6) | PJ Tucker (4)
PF: Charles Barkley (41) | PJ Tucker (7)
Cc: Robert Parish (30) | Bill Walton (18)

Matchup
- Defensive assignments: Thomas vs Christie, Cooper/Green vs Gervin, Bird vs Erving, Worthy vs Barkley, Gilmore vs Parish.
- We have nice matchups here. Cooper and Green are both great against Gervin, while Reggie gets to rest against the weaker defenders like Bowen/Tucker. We're pretty comfortable with both Bird and Worthy guarding either Erving or Barkley - both are good defenders with defensive skills that match up well against either. Gilmore can stay closer to the basket against Parish/Walton and correct any mistakes. On the other hand, Barkley is up for a tough challenge against either Bird or Worthy.
- Both teams have nice top end talent, but I think our advantage is two-layered: 1) better spacing with Bird, Cooper, Miller, Green versus Christie as the only classic spacer in the starting lineup (albeit still inconsistent); 2) better playmaking with Thomas Cooper Bird, versus Christie as lead PG and Gervin taking PG duties for 14 minutes (wasn't really known for elite playmaking skills). Walton might be 6MOY in the given season, but his impact is more limited as he can't share the floor with Parish, which makes Reggie the more impactful sixth man. I prefer George Johnson's blocking and defensive impact as eighth man over Philly Tucker who is borderline playable and past prime.