Golden Era Auction Writeups - 1st Round FINISHED

[TMACFORMVP]

We'd still love your opinion on the bracket, in which BlackIce, myself, and Miller are in. That's the only one without a sweep of series.

[Snakebites]

Alrighty, I'll be submitting my votes now.

BI vs Miller4ever: This matchup is very interesting simply because each team has a dynamic trio at C, SF, and PG. Ultimately, though Robinson is perhaps the one center in this game who can match Hakeem in terms of the total package of defense, rebounding, and potent offensive game, I have no choice but to give the Dream the edge in the playoffs. DrJ and Pippen provide excellent checks to one another, and that should be a fierce battle, but I see Isiah Thomas being the largest difference maker in this game. Though Stockton was a better distributor, Isiah was a man, who, especially in the playoffs, you could hand the ball and have him win a game for you. I view this matchup as a a battle of trios, and ultimately I must go with BI's trio over Millers.

Vote: Blackice

TMACFORMVP vs Miller4ever

This one extends beyond trios, and that is unfortunate for Miller4ever's team. Kareem, even while not at his peak, should be able to give Robinson all he can handle at both ends of the floor, and TMACFORMVP presents other players to help negate the rebounding edge there. Ultimately, TMACFORMVP has 4 legit and proven scorers who have great experience and/or postseason credentials in McHale, Kareem, Wade, and Nash, along with an interesting array of role players surrounding them. Formidable though they are, Miller's trio of Robinson, DrJ, and Stockton don't have a good enough cast around them to win the day here.

Vote: TMACFORMVP

TMACFORMVP vs BI:

Another extremely interesting matchup. I read, and read, and read on this one. On paper the most worrisome matchup on TMAC's end is Isiah going up against Nash. This is ably addressed, however, by placing Wade on Isiah. While Finley may generate some problems against Nash, I'm simply not quite convinced that Finley's abilities are enough to spell doom to an opposing team in this level of competition. McHale on Brand a worrisome matchup on the other end, and one I'm not sure was addressed well. Though I rather doubt Kareem will render Hakeem ineffective (nobody could really do that on a consistent basis), I do believe Kareem will make it more difficult for him to take control of the series. Ultimately, though both teams are extremely close, I'm inclined to believe TMAC will be able to check BI's best options better than vice versa.

Vote: TMACFORMVP

Great bracket, great teams. Was really a lot of fun looking at this group. Thank you to all for working so hard to build your cases.

[Gremz]

tsherkin forgot about the judging, and does not have the time anymore. ronnymac hasn't been seen, and shawngoat also doesn't have the time. penbeast has said he'd do it, but I haven't had much contact with him, so I'll just call off three brackets. This has gone long enough.

All In the Name wins his bracket in a sweep.
bryant08 wins his bracket in a sweep.
Snakebites wins his bracket in a sweep.

All the votes have been pretty much the same except the series between me and BlackIce. If Gremz could get an official vote on that series, and depending on if he votes for BI, then he'd advance and if he keeps the vote as is, in my favor, then I guess I'll have to find a judge for just that one series. Or I could get a series of people that do have experience in this competition, willing to read both of our writeups, and give in final votes.

Yeah, I suck I know.

It's amazing that this bracket was so evenly matched across the board. I kind of feel bad voting against you guys with so many people not submitting writeups.

BlackIce Vs Miller:

I'm not in agreeance of Hakeem's so called "domination" over Robinson, but there are always question marks over his playoff performances which would cause some concern here. There are cases towards both having the upper hand, but I don't see either as being completely dominant in this series. Robinson's defense can be greatly underrated.

The PF matchup is well (sorry guys) possibly the weakest I have seen in an ATL. There is a formidable trio within each unit. I'd have to give teh edge to Dr. J against Pippen, I just see him as a little too crafty to be completely locked down.

I've always thought Stockton gets a rough ride in these competitions. Not to say he's the end all of PGs, but I don't think he'll be useless here. He's a crafty guy and one hell of a contributor. It is of course an incredibly tough task to match up with Isiah, who will give you a tough night every night. His ability to take over come playoff time might give Stockton fits.

I generally think overall that the overall starting 5's offer up great contrast against each other and are very close in terms of talent, so I'd probably have to look towards the bench in this one, which would have to go in favor of BlackIce. I understand that M4E was incredibly restricted in terms of cap, but a 6th man like Parish will have a much greater overall impact when compared to say Antonio McDyess. I have always felt that 6th men and first bigs off the bench are rather important, and I believe Parish has that advantage here.

Vote: BlackIce.

Miller4Ever Vs TMACFORMVP: I won't go too far into this one, as Snakebites points out some key facts. Sorry again dude, but overall firepower looks to be too much in this series. There are legit scorers across the board for TMAC here. Barring Ron Artest against Dr. J which should be onesided imo, he looks to have favorable outcomes in the 4 other positions.

Vote: TMACFORMVP

TMACFORMVP Vs BlackIce: I won't lie and say I'm in love with the Wade/Nash backcourt fit, but here is a time where you might just get away with it. Finley while a solid volume scorer throughout his early career, is little more than that for me. He'll do some solid offense work against Nash, don't get me wrong, but it's on defense where I see him as a bit of a liablity which might just cancel out all that work on the offensive end.

I'd have to give Hakeem the overall edge in this one. He's just a little too fancy in his prime for an ageing Kareem. It won't be onesided, but I think there's a bit of an edge.

I like what Pippen can bring to this series, It would be great to watch he and Artest go at each other. I think he'll bring more to this series than expected against Ron, I just know Ron and well, his focus isn't entirely great in terms of longevity.

The tough part about this series for me is at the PF spot. Again, Brand has shown to be a quality guy, yet I haven't seen it on a winning team. He just isn't a prime candidate for a winning PF, and when up against McHale I think he could be outmatched.

vote: TMACFORMVP

Sidenote, can either BlackIce and/or M4E make up the blank spot(s) that are vailable in the 2nd round? I think they're the strongest of the remaining competitors and would get my vote for a wilcard entry.

[Snakebites]

^What blank spots?

One person comes out of each group of 3 to make a final 4.

[Miller4ever]

I have no problem with all of those who voted for BlackIce over me, but I absolutely do not agree with the judges on Stockton vs. Isiah overall. I will admit that the rest of my team (barring Robinson and Erving) is horse crap. But Stockton, head-to-head, is better than Isiah, on a more consistent basis than Hakeem vs. David Robinson. I looked at their head-to-head stats starting from when they kept game logs in '86, up until Isiah's last championship year. Against Isiah Thomas, Stockton puts up both more prolific AND more efficient statistics compared to his averages, while Thomas, against Stockton, despite shooting about the same percentage, has much less efficient stats, with more turnovers and less assists.

I already put most of this in my writeup, and after seeing the numbers myself, I came to a few conclusions. First, Isiah > Stockton as a player, but if it's Isiah vs. Stockton, then I firmly believe that Stockton is better. Stockton is able to disrupt what Thomas likes to do to win games, whereas Thomas seems to have the opposite effect on Stockton.

Like I said, I don't disagree with the final vote in the overall matchup. I argued a point that I backed up with statistics, and it wasn't addressed by the voters.

I wish TMAC good luck in future rounds, and this was actually really fun despite how horribly horrible I performed in every phase of this game. I drafted poorly, wrote apparently ineffective writeups, and didn't get a single vote. I look forward to the next game.

[TMACFORMVP]

I wouldn't feel down. I thought you did an admirable job in getting Erving, and Robinson, both of whom were the best players in that second tier (a great bounce back in not getting a player in tier one). The Stockton pick wasn't so hot, not because of him as an individual, but moreso due to the fact that the bid of 15M might have been a bit excessive, and it was only, either the first or second bid on him entirely. But all your moves after that, considering the money you had to work with (which was ultimately the minimum), you did as good a job as one could.

Your writeups were good as well, aside from the eye candy , it was very well detailed and went through pretty much every aspect of the game. You've always been a strong competitor in these games, so I'd expect you to come back with a vengeance in any other future game. Not to mention this was the first time a sort of auction game including retired players was tested out.

What do you guys think of a consolation bracket? Initially I'm not sure there would be enough interest to spark that, but if those of you want further competition, and a sort of better rank, I could randomize those rankings as well?

[Miller4ever]

No, it's not worth the effort for a consolation. I could continue complaining about being put in a difficult bracket, but I don't believe in consolation. Good job working this game, and I'm always around for a vote if needed.

[BlackIce]

Congrats Tmac, a tough loss for me but I knew this would be a tough braket, Miller did a good job as well. No need for a consolation bracket.
Goodluck in the next round!

[Gremz]

^What blank spots?

One person comes out of each group of 3 to make a final 4.

Ah nothin, I got mixed up.

[TMACFORMVP]

I guess I'll wrap this up. The first round is now over. The 2nd round thread is up.