SoCal Draft - R1 - GeorgeMarcus vs durantbird

[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).

[durantbird]

PG: James Harden 2017 - 18.9
SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 2020 - 7.3
SF: Paul Pierce 2008 - 13.7
PF: James Worthy 1986 - 14.5
C: Shaquille O'Neal 2001 - 19.2

Bench: Pablo Prigioni 2014 - 3.0
Bench: Dorian Finney-Smith 2020 - 7.4
Bench: Andrew Bogut 2016 - 4.0

88/88

PG: James Harden 37 / Pablo Prigioni 11
SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 34 / Dorian Finney Smith 12 / James Harden 2
SF: Paul Pierce 39 / Dorian Finney Smith 9
PF: James Worthy 38 / Dorian Finney Smith 10
C: Shaquille O'Neal 38 / Andrew Bogut 10

vs

Malone (38) / Perkins (10)
Artest (38) / AC (6) / Perkins (4)
Magic (38) / AC (10)
EJ (38) / Scott (10)
Payton (38) / Scott (10)

Matchup
- Defensive assignments: KCP vs Payton, Harden vs Artest, Pierce vs EJ, Worthy vs Magic, Shaq vs Moses.
- We match up well across the board. Our 1–4 are big and switchable, and even Harden/Prigioni are oversized PGs who can comfortably guard wings. Magic’s primary defender is Worthy, but we feel good mixing in Pierce, DFS, KCP, and even Harden to give him different looks and keep him out of rhythm.
- Their offense suffers from lack of spacing. Outside of Eddie Jones and some Byron Scott minutes, they offer very little perimeter threat. Payton, Artest, and AC Green all allow us to help and shrink the floor against Magic and Moses without real punishment.
- Their elite perimeter defenders (Payton, Artest, EJ) don’t help them on Shaq. Moses is a respectable defender, but Shaq is the biggest mismatch of the series — bigger, stronger, and physically overwhelming. He forces fouls on Moses (their best scorer) and collapses their defense every possession.
- Our offense is far more balanced. Harden–Shaq is an elite inside–outside foundation, with KCP, Pierce, DFS, and Prigioni providing real spacing support around them, while Worthy adds consistent slashing and midpost offense. We maintain two-way balance in every lineup, in contrast to their offense, which bottlenecks around Magic and Moses with limited spacing.

[GeorgeMarcus]

Starting Lineup
83 Moses Malone ~ 16.7 FGA ~ MVP, Finals MVP, DEF1
04 Ron Artest ~ 15.2 FGA ~ DPOY, NBA3
85 Magic Johnson ~ 11.7 FGA ~ NBA1, NBA Champion, MVP-2
98 Eddie Jones ~ 12.6 FGA ~ AS, DEF2
98 Gary Payton ~ 15.6 FGA ~ NBA1, DEF1, MVP-3, DPOY-2

Bench
01 Sam Perkins ~ 3.5
96 AC Green ~ 5.4 FGA
95 Byron Scott ~ 7.3 FGA ~ 6MOY-6

88/88 FGA

Rotation
Malone (38) / Perkins (10)
Artest (38) / AC (6) / Perkins (4)
Magic (38) / AC (10)
EJ (38) / Scott (10)
Payton (38) / Scott (10)

Write-Up
Moses --> Shaq
Artest --> Worthy
Magic --> KCP
EJ --> Pierce
Payton --> Harden

Magic is afforded an easier matchup while the rest of our All-Defensive ensemble work on the big guns.

Offensively, we spam the Magic/Moses PnR earlier and often. With All Stars at every position, we don't lack for backup as needed. I reject the idea of spacing being a problem as every player besides Moses attempted most of their FGs away from the basket. Even if GP/Artest aren't known as sharp shooters, it would be a mistake to leave them open on the perimeter. On top of that EJ, Scott and Perkins are genuine threats from 3. Our firepower will be hard to contain against exploitable defenders like Harden and Pierce. Worthy and Shaq are fine defensively but have a lot on their plates in Magic/Moses.

EJ gets enough love that I won't campaign for him, but both GP & Artest (peak versions) demonstrated massive impact on the court. Ultimately we'll lean on our defensive advantage marked by toughness and switchability.

Good luck db!

[durantbird]

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Matchup is open. Team owners please vote for yourselves