69-78 Dynasty League Playoffs (ERA OVER)

[TMACFORMVP]

The draft lottery show before the Finals would be a ratings boom.

It would indeed. I have to run right now, but it will be posted later today. Stay tuned!

[TMACFORMVP]

As usual, bryant08 has built a fantastic team with a good blend of both offense and defense. I don't remember the last time we faced off, but it's always fun to face off with a guy like bryant just because you know it's going to be one hell of a series. The best part of these games IMO, is not even the game, but being on AIM, talking about who's slipping, predicting draft order, or anxiously hoping for one of your guys to fall. I can honestly say bryant is one of the people I talk to nearly every day whether it'd be about this game, or GM A Team. May the best team win, which my team fully intends to do.

I think when we look at a series, it ultimately comes down to how ones offense will execute against the opponents defense, and vice versa. In this series, we think we have that advantage. We've built our team in a way that has the versatility to cover any team defensively, and attack any defense with our variety of efficiency and volume.

I hate to do individual matchups, but this one is too great to ignore.

Bill Walton v. Wilt Chamberlain
On a name basis, we'd think bryant would have the edge here, but I'd contest that's not the case. At this point in Chamberlain's career, he actually has a very similar role to the one Walton has on our team as well. Wilt was a tremendous defensive anchor that was a very good passer from the low post. But this is a different match-up than the last one; you don't stop Walton if you lessen his scoring (like it was in the last series with Kareem). He beat teams with his amazing vision, his amazing outlet passing, and dominant spacing and rebounding. Chamberlain will not affect these facets of Walton's game. Look at Wilt's greatest strengths:

a.) Rebounding; Chamberlain has a 20.2 TRB% in his chosen season (a fantastic #), but Walton had a TRB% of 21.2 in his chosen season. A marginal difference, but one that would claim they're comparable rebounders, if not Walton having the slight edge (look beyond the TRB #'s, because that's not an accurate way to calculate rebounding across different eras/seasons).

b.) Passing; Chamberlain was a guy that you got around four assists per game (11.2 AST%), but as good a passer he was, I don't think he challenged Walton who was arguably the GOAT passing center of all time. First look at their minutes played, and you'll notice that Walton averaged more assists on a per minute basis. In the chosen season, he averaged roughly the same amount of assists, but in nearly eight minutes less. That reflects in Walton's 15.4 AST%, and his increase in the playoffs with more minutes. In 76-77, Walton LED THE PLAYOFFS in total amount of assists. He averaged 5.5 assists per game, and 19.5 AST%. The entire offensive attack of the Blazers were fueled by Walton.

c.) Defense; It's hard to get better than both these guys. Both are tremendous man defenders that had the ability to anchor a defense. To repeat what I said in the first writeup, The Blazers in 77 were 6-12 without Walton, and 43-21 with him. If you include 78' as well, the Blazers were 61-21 with him, and 31-51 without him over the course of those two seasons. Sticking with the chosen season, the Blazers scored 113 PPG with Walton, and gave up 105 PPG to opponents. In those games without him? It was literally flipped, giving up roughly 111 PPG, and scoring 105 PPG. Walton was the difference between a team that was a lotto team with below average offense and defense, and pushed them to a top 5 defense and offense in the league with historic levels of play. The '77 Blazers defense was just unreal. At one stretch from 76-77 to 77-78, the Blazers went an insane 70-10 sort record. Walton's impact defensively was HUGE.

Wilt was as well, but more the purpose is to show that there is no edge here for Chamberlain. There might not be one for Walton either; but the defensive impact is very similar.

d.) Efficiency/Offense. I think this is an area where Walton has the advantage. Wilt was always focused on records, and at this point, Wilt didn't take shots he didn't think he could make. He took nine shots, and shot 65% from the field. This is not a bad thing, as he's more efficient than Walton in terms of percentages, but let's also keep in mind something that I think hasn't been addressed; Wilt is arguably the worst FT shooter of All-Time. In the end of close games, the execution would be limited since hack-a-Wilt could be instilled, where he's only a 42% from the line. Walton was a higher volume scorer, with the ability to step out to mid-range (where Wilt did not like to go), and was a near 70% free throw shooter.

Combine that with higher volume, we have the confidence that Walton can bang Wilt downlow in scoring possessions to limit his scoring output, and also have the confidence to foul him in late game situations as he's such a poor free throw shooter. On the other hand, Walton can still initiate our offense from the high or low post, and a big reason we see from the statistics lukekarts posted in our first matchup (about Reed v. Wilt) was because he didn't like to contest mid-range jump-shots. Walton can exploit that weakness, and that IMO makes him more the dangerous scoring option in this series.

Overall, Wilt had tremendous strengths (rebounding, defense, and passing), but Walton matches him in all those facets (I'd say has the edge), but is also a player that can exploit Wilt moreso than he can do to Walton IMO. Comparable rebounding/defense, with better passing, and offensive arsenal. This matchup is a terrific one, but not an edge for bryant, if anything, Walton should be the more impactful player in this series.

Defensive Execution
The rest of the team favors us defensively as well. We'll be putting Frazier on Wilkens to slow down their offensive attack, and Wise will be on Davis. Brown will cover Dandridge, while Gus will be on McAdoo.

Wilkens was a solid leader, but it's still interesting to note his teams failed to make the playoffs in the chosen season, and nearly every other season around it. In fact, Lenny Wilkens failed to make the playoffs at all in the era that we've played. We've seen Frazier's success against Jerry West in the Finals. We think he'll do a good job of forcing Wilkens into situations he's not comfortable in, and still use his overwhelming size advantage to take advantage of him offensively as well. It's also worth noting that when Wilkens was in the playoffs earlier in his career -- he was a shooter that hovered around 40% nearly every season.

Wise, as already documented was the ABA's best perimeter defender. He won't shut down Davis, but we feel comfortable with him not going above his averages. It's also worth noting that Walter Davis was only a rookie this season with only two games of playoff experience.

Now we get to McAdoo. We're not going to stop him, nor do we claim we can. But we think if there's a situation where we can limit him enough to win the series, we feel we have the personnel to do so. Gus Johnson was one of the leagues best defenders at the time, he had the athleticism (quickness and jumping ability) to stay with and contest McAdoo on his shots. At the very least, he'll be able to make him work. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the match-up unfold as Gus had retired by the time McAdoo began his mark, but we think similar with Dirk, athletic and quick scrappy, gritty players (this includes Cunningham) can do as good a job as anyone could hope to imagine. The versatility of our team is what makes it great, even Wise is a player that's known to have success against a scoring force like McGinnis. We have a lot of bodies, and different personnel with multi talented skill-sets to throw at McAdoo.

Dandridge was a very good player, but we still like our versatility on the perimeter. Brown will primarily be on him, and he's shown the capability to at least be an able defensive player. There's a quip in an SI article about how he asked coach to defend the opponents team best player, and not only limited him, but locked him down. Brown was a competitor, and we're sure he'd step up to the challenge.

Offensive Execution
We've already gone over the Wilt/Walton matchup, here's how we feel we can exploit the rest of the team bryant has assembled. On first glance, we look for any defensive holes, and we immediately find two in the starting lineup. Davis was an OK defender, nothing special, similar with McAdoo whom was good on the weakside, but not particularly good in terms of man to man individual defense.

To exploit this, we present Roger Brown, Paul Westphal, and Billy Cunningham. I don't think I've really addressed my bench in my writeups, but I'd like to out Westphal and Cunningham (two 25 PPG scorers, that were great team players as well) have huge roles with our team as well. Westphal actually played with Davis, and he scored/assisted more in less minutes per game, this goes the same way in the playoffs as well. (And if bryant plans to counter with them being defensive sort liabilites when they're on the floor, I'd like to reference back to Cunningham's scrappy demeanor and athleticism being an adequate option on McAdoo, and that we have perimeter versatility to hide Westphal [who's actually had rather clutch defensive plays before]).

Either Brown, or Westphal will take Davis off the dribble (both were terrific getting into the lane, or shooting off the dribble) and make plays either for their teammates or themselves. bryant doesn't have this versatility with his team. Wilkens is too small, and not a good enough defender to really affect either Brown or Westphal either. If he chooses to switch Wilkens, or Dandridge, then Willie Wise, or Walt Frazier will go off.

I wanted to do a paragraph about Frazier's greatness, his efficiency, play in big games, leadership, passing, rebounding, and all time level defense, but I think we all know the sort of player he is. In a similar way of the McAdoo/Gus-Cunningham matchup, Frazier will have the significant edge over whomever bryant is able to put on him.

Speaking about Cunningham, he's another player that can exploit McAdoo off the dribble. He had a solid jumpshot which he had developed at this point of his career, and was outstanding at attacking the rim. We think with him in the game, he can reduce the sort of output that McAdoo brings to the table, as in the end, neither will stop each other from scoring the ball. The Kangaroo Kid as they like to call him is also one of the more underrated players to have played the game, he got All-NBA First team nods over even Rick Barry and John Havlicek. He was an elite scorer, with a diverse all rounded game, a terrific passer and play-maker, and a scrappy rebounder and defender that's shown he can play a multitude of roles for the sake of the team, whether it's off the bench, or being the best player on the team. His impact on this series should not be underrated.

So in short, I don't see Walton being stopped, neither do I see Cunningham, Westphal, Frazier or Wise/Brown depending on Dandridge matchup being stopped. Our offensive execution and volume is just too much since we feel bryant lacks the adequate defensive options to stop our team.

Rebounding/Bench
The frontcourt is similar in volume, but it's still worth noting that Walton, Gus, and Wise respectively have roughly a 1% higher TRB% than their counterparts. Our backcourt however is much better in terms of the boards, with our bench having that similar advantage as well. Our rebounding is a slight edge for our team.

Bench. We have the two best players coming off the bench in Westphal, and Cunningham. We also think Beaty brings more to the table than Elmore Smith with his efficiency on offense, toughness defensively, and rebounding. I think this shouldn't be a factor that should be ignored, our bench is a big edge in the matchup v. bryant08.

Conclusion
Overall, we believe bryant has built a FANTASTIC team that is deserving to be here, but we are just a little better in every facet of the game. Our offense is more potent and efficient, we have better defensive matchups (and an overall better defensive team), with better rebounding, and a better bench. McAdoo is a matchup problem, but we've gone over how we plan to defend him, and think it'll be enough to come away the winner in a hard fought series.

Best of luck bryant.

[bryant08]

The Finals

I want to start off by congratulating TMAC, he's always a worthy adversary and this occasion is no different. He's built an extremely talented team with a clear direction, no matter what the result here I'm sure it'll be a tight one. I'm going to keep this writeup shorter as I think everyone's already seen how I want to operate this team, I'll just make note of the minor of the differences that apply to this matchup specifically:

1. The Wilt/Walton matchup

Simply said, this a matchup that I'm sure makes all of us salivate. Walton's tremendous skill in his prime vs. a veteran Wilt that focused on being efficient and one of the best defenders. Unfortunately, we have nothing to judge this on other than hypotheticals. TMAC has provided you the statistics, I don't feel the need to dissect them much. Similar rebounders, both excellent passers for big men and both with massive defensive impacts on their team. I'm not going to try to convince anyone Wilt is going to go off for 30 a night here, that's not his role and that's not what's expected of him. Similar to the Kareem series, I require lockdown defense from Wilt, I need him to add another facet to my offense with range of offensive skills (including his passing ability), and I need him to be efficient with his offense. I feel Walton is his prime is an entire different beast and I don't expect Wilt to outplay him on the offensive end.

I think one aspect that was briefly mentioned in my last series was how Wilt turned around the Lakers-Bucks series when he started being more physical with Kareem. I think this can be utilized significantly against Walton, who he holds both a height and significant weight advantage over. Basketball Reference lists Walton at 210, but that's definitely from early on in his career, as I've seen him listed at around 235-240 at his peak. Regardless, Wilt still holds a 30 pound+ advantage on him and I want this to be evident on the defensive end, with physical defense trying to disrupt both Walton when he's going one-on-one in the post, or to disrupt the flow of the offense when he's anchoring from the high post.

I'm not going to disagree with many of the other claims made by TMAC, just that in clutch time I plan to have the ball in the hands of my guards or McAdoo, rather than take a risk with a Hack-a-Wilt scenario.

2. The Forward Matchup

In all honesty I knew very little about Gus Johnson prior to researching for this writeup and all I found at first were praises. He was an interesting offensive player with range, athletic ability and finesse, but could hold his own defensively against the very best. But I questioned why he isn't regarded as a better player throughout history and more of a household name. Simply looking at stats, he was never a very efficient player, averaging 15 attempts off 44% for his career (career TS of 47%). Prior to the 68-69 season and the revival of the Bullets through Unseld/Monroe, Johnson played on some very mediocre teams, never achieving a .500 record, despite playing 5 seasons in the league. But it seems some of the negative comments regarding Johnson have to do with his attitude/demeanour. The following are from a couple of SI articles:

"There is this thing about Johnson," says a Bullet official. "You can't he around him very long without getting this peculiar feeling that something tragic is going to happen to him, and that one day Gus will suddenly be out of the league. Maybe it's that childlike quality about him that makes you feel this way. But you just feel he is very capable of blowing it all overnight."

Seymour was aware that last season Johnson and Bellamy whined constantly because Ohl, Howell and Loughery allegedly refused to move the ball their way. He was unable to change the situation. For their part, Johnson and Bellamy acted as if "assist" were a dirty word. They carried this silly affair a ludicrous step further by severing their own alliance and did not even pass the ball to each other. Hightower had something to say on the subject when he began playing in Johnson's place: he never saw the ball, apparently because the others thought Johnson was still there. "Man!" he screamed during one period of inactivity, "there's two sides to this court!"

Take these as you will and whether or not you feel they'll have an impact on Johnson/the matchup is up to you guys. From a basketball perspective, I think McAdoo might be one of the toughest guys to stop in this era due to his ability to space the floor, shoot over the top of shorter defenders (has a good 3-4 inches on Johnson), and his ability to put the ball on the deck and drive. On the defensive end, I'm not too worried about Johnson, as McAdoo's quicks and length can help keep Johnson shooting in the low 40s. TMAC also plans to throw Cunningham or others out there to try and contain McAdoo, which is certainly a reasonable idea. Cunningham was a very gritty defender, but McAdoo's ability to shoot over the top can't be emphasized enough here.

At the SF position, TMAC has elected to move Willie Wise on Walter Davis to control his scoring, leaving Roger Brown on Dandridge. Dandridge should be able to exploit this matchup, a majorly crafty scorer with a sweet jumper who played a massive role on some very good teams. Roger Brown was someone I researched on extensively and considered picking strongly (so kudos to TMAC for that one), but he's not someone I'd trust to shut down a player of Dandridge's calibre in this matchup. And although Brown might've been touted as a very good defender in the ABA, I'm not sure how he'd adjust to going up against NBA talent.

3. The Guard Matchup

It's going to be no easy task going up against Walt Frazier. He's perhaps one of the best 2 way PG guards of all time and a steal for TMAC where he got him. All I can ask of Wilkens is to disrupt the offense as much as possible and force Frazier to pass the ball off. I'd prefer forcing Frazier to take jumpers than allowing him to get into the zone in terms of his playmaking, so that'll be the ask for Wilkens.

Walter Davis against Wise is certainly a tough matchup, all I can ask Davis to do is run off screens and push the ball in transition to force Wise to keep moving defensively. Having Wise on Davis opens up Dandridge for me, which I mentioned earlier. That could even be a positive, as Dandridge had more experience and overall ability at this point of his career.

To close I'd also like to specifically mention my team's efficiency on offense, especially my starters. Going down the list position by position, I hold the edge in nearly every matchup in terms of FG/TS. Also important are my team's balance and the roles of my bench players (which I mentioned in the last matchup). All the best to TMAC, and good riddance, writeups for this era are finally over I'm sure all of us are ready for the next era to start.

[lukekarts]

I vote: TMAC. Just an ever so slight advantage in talent at every position except Center, IMO.

[-Kees-]

Ok here's my vote for the final round:

I'll take TMACFORMVP in a VERY close one

I think that Frazier will be too much for Wilkins and that he really carries them. I also think that between Cunningham/Johnson, that TMAC can slow down McAdoo enough to win. I also think Walton will win the C matchup, giving TMAC the last edge to have him pull out the victory.

[BlackIce]

TMac vs Bryant08

Tough matchup I think Frazier is the key to this series and he'll be able to do big things, even against the formidable defense of Wilkens. Will McAdoo be able to outproduce his counterpart enough to make the difference. I think not, 7 game series going to Tmac.

[SamBone]

these are 2 great teams, it is hard to say anything bad against either guy. But I believe that Frazier wins the series for TMac. A great series and the Wilt/Walton battles would have been fantastic to watch.

bryant should be recognized for a great team, but I gotta go with Frazier and TMac

[Miller4ever]

I think that about wraps it up. I'd vote for TMAC as well.

[Warspite]

Bryants team is my fav in this era. I would love to watch them play.

TMac however wins this matchup IMHO because of Cunningham who has no peer on the other side and I believe Waltons ability to operate at the elbow will either hurt Wilts weakside def and rebounding or Wilt will be like Shaq and not venture above the foul line and leave Walton open. Its just a bad matchup for Wilt who said so in his auto biography (He has Walton #3 alltime at C)

[TMACFORMVP]

I guess that'll wrap up this era. Good era guys, will start the next era draft in a bit. Thanks for voting so quickly.