CAT CHAMPIONSHIP- Gremz is the Champ!!!

[Sports Arsenal]

Dcash vs. Gremz

Much like in the matchup (Gremz vs.Hoffa). I don't like Gremz's capability to hold down the big man. However I consider Camby and Garnett a wash since they both were injured about the same amount of time this year.

Big Men Rotation's

Yao vs. Horford- Yao easily
Scola vs. Haslem- Scola easily
Garnett vs. Camby- wash
Foster vs. Bynum- Bynum

Gremz's front court gets abused.

But the back court sitation in this series is lopsided as well.
Ellis/Calderon vs Rondo/Blake- Rondo is the best all around player in the grop and Blake is more valuable this year than Ellis's 25 game contribution.- Gremz's win's the battler at floor general.
Battier/Ginobli vs. Kobe/Smith- I am a Rockets fan, as both of you already know. And I will tell you from first hand experience, no matter what the stats say Battier can't come close to holding Bryant. Ginobli only pitched in half a season here so he is not his normal threat. Kobe and Smith have both had great years and have been major contributors to the 1 and 2 seeds in the West.

Cash gets nailed in the battle of the back courts.

Iggy vs. Granger- Granger had a solid year, but Iggy had a massive defensive year and showed he can explode in the playoffs. I don't like what offense Iggy is going to bring on a team with Kobe but I do like the fact that he can hold down Granger and limit his production. With Rondo holding Ellis, Kobe being counted on very minutely for defense against a more defensive minded Battier, Granger would have to have a great offensive advantage and I don't see that happening against Iggy.

Gremz takes that matchup and the series

[Sports Arsenal]

wrote this up quickly. if its not accepted, its all good. i didn't read any of the other write ups so hopefully its not seen as an unfair advantage.

ellis/calderon/chalmers
battier/ginobili
granger/nocioni
scola/camby
yao/bynum/thomas

vs.

Kidd/Fisher
Martin/Bell
Anthony/Marion/Monsu
Smith/Millsap
Howard/Nene/Miller

defense: my opponents biggest strength, d12, will face the one player that consistently holds him to subpar performances, yao. i believe yao playing d12 one on one will allow me to keep the rest of his offense in relative check. battier will be more than ready to chase martin around the court, granger will have the size to matchup with melo, and scola's craftiness will force smith into a jumpshooter. off the bench i have players that matchup very well with his bench. calderon does not have to worry about being attacked by fisher, manu can rotate on martin or bell, nocioni brings the toughness to matchup marion, and my big men camby/bynum/thomas match the size of millsap/nene/miller.

offense: at pg, i don't think my opponent has the quickness to keep ellis or calderon out of the paint at all. ellis' quickness will cause havoc in the paint, especially with d12 covering yao. defensively martin/melo leave a lot to be desired and manu/granger will expose that to its fullest. scola has proven he can make a smaller opponent pay, which he will do to smith in the paint. lastly, once again, yao will force d12 to keep all his attention on him.

Im going with Cash in 6 in this series becaue Yao just plain has Howards number. Howard is the better player but Yao outperforms him when they meet. Battier will easily lock down the oft-injured Martin. The point guards are definitely turned towards Hoffa but not enough to offset the mismatches in the big men. Scola has blown up this year and would out hustle Josh Smith and limit him to jump shots the whole series. Granger vs. Melo is a wash.

[TMACFORMVP]

So am I to assume KG is injured in this series?

[Jud's Buechlers]

Here it goes.

Gremz vs Hoffa:
This first matchup is a great one. Gremz has one player that has skyrocketed since being drafted and one going completely downhill due to injury. Rajon Rondo has shown what an elite point guard that he really is during his first round match up with the Bulls. Not to mention Kobe resides on this team… that can never hurt. Hoffa has one of the greatest point guards of all time in Kidd, a supremely talented SF with Melo and quite possibly the most athletic big man duo of Smith and Howard. Gremz has a superbly balanced starting five with a fairly weak bench. The weak bench comes back to bite them in the butt with Garnett being injured. I do not see Haslem and/or Harrington being able to guard Smith. Also, Howard would do his normal dominating against Horford and an even weaker backup. Even though Kobe would probably score 40 a game throughout this series, I think that he does not have the supporting cast to overpower the talent of Hoffa.

Hoffa in 6


Gremz vs DCash:
I’ve already stated my ups and downs of Gremz’s squad. So as for DCash… He has a pretty deep team all over. I like the PG combo of Ellis, Calderon, and Chalmers. Ellis isn’t your normal “pass first” type of PG, so if the team needs more structure, just put Calderon in. I think Ellis/Calderon has a slight edge over Rondo/Blake. I think the SG spot belongs to Gremz. I don’t see Battier being able to contain him. He’ll definitely get his. I particularly like the Granger/Iggy matchup. Well all know that Granger is the better offensive player and had a hell of a season. But I think that Iggy has a great chance of slowing him down. SF spot is a push. The big man spots are not deep for either team. But the size of Camby and Yao have an edge over the bigs for Gremz. DCash has a well balanced team with scorers (Ellis, Granger, and Yao), defenders (Battier and Camby), and intangibles (Nocioni = scrappy/energy, Battier = leadership). I think Kobe keeps this series close. The loss of Garnett doesn’t hurt as much for this series since Camby won’t be scoring too much and his defense is wasted on guarding Haslem.

DCash in 7 in a great series.


Hoffa vs DCash:
This is probably the best matchup of the three. I personally love the Yao vs Howard pairing. Howard has had his troubles with Yao in recent times, but I believe that having Smith on the other side of the block really opens things up for him. Also, Howard and Smith demand double teams down low and open up shots for Kevin Martin on the perimeter. Carmelo and Granger are also a tremendous pairing. They should cancel each other out. I think the deciding factor is Kidd over Ellis. Kidd will run this team at 100% efficiency. I would love to see this series actually played out in real life.

I have Hoffa in 7.

[TMACFORMVP]

Gremz v. Hoffa

Both teams had very good writeups. I think position matchups help decide a series but ultimately not the reason why a team wins out in the end. Defense, rebounding, offensive efficiency and execution are much larger factors in determining who the winner of a series may be. I'm not sure as to how the injury situations work, and will assume they are based on what they brought this season in terms of overall impact to their team when they're on the floor. So while a Kevin Garnett for example was never really healthy all season, I'd assume the KG that WAS on the floor will be the one that's on Gremz's team. I'll reserve the right to change the vote if told otherwise.

On the to the matchup, Garnett and Horford are a very strong defensive tandem at the 4 and the 5. One of their main strengths is their rebounding, but in this series, a Dwight Howard and Josh Smith frontcourt has them beat. Off the bench for Gremz is Foster who should help in that regard, but Ron Jeremy Productions also counter with Millsap and Nene who is just as effective if not more effective. In the backcourt we also have two of the best rebounding guards in the game right now in Rondo and Kidd. Melo is also a very good rebounder at his position and has the edge over his counterpart in Iggy as well.

Defensively is where I feel Gremz's team has the large edge. The Jeremy Productions do have the current Defensive Player of the Year in Dwight Howard and another fantastic defender in Josh Smith (who should thrive even more with Dwight roaming the paint), but KG is one of the smartest defenders to have ever played, even in the minimal games he played this season, the impact he had defensively on those Celtics teams were large, he's an anchor both inside the paint and has the versatility to cover the more athletic and perimeter 4's in the league. Horford is like KG in the sense that he relies on his smarts and basketball IQ to defend his man. Frontcourt, they're roughly a wash, slight edge to Jeremy Productions because of Dwight Howard's current health condition compared to Garnetts. In the backcourt though is where it pulls away, Melo often gets too hated for his defense, but he's average at best, while Kidd has fallen off considerably and prone to getting beat off the dribble and Martin isn't noted as a noteworthy defender. Iguodala is a very good defender, and while I think Kobe is a tad bit overrated on the defensive end, still an above average defensive player. Rondo's defense is a little overrated as well, but he still has as good a case as any towards being the best defensive PG in the game.

I think the biggest mis-match in this series is that the Iguanas have a very good to All-NBA defender caliber to put on the Jeremy Productions best players, while Jeremy Productions aside from Bell coming off the bench lack a tough perimeter defense, something that's sorely needed when up against Kobe, regarded by many as the most lethal perimeter scorer in the game. Neither Kevin Martin or Josh Smith as written in the writeup will be enough. Double teaming is always a strategy as Hoffa points out, but Kobe's matured as a player, and on a team with other players capable of carrying the load, I'm sure he'll be fine giving up the ball and creating plays for his teammates. I think the Iguanas could have done a better job in terms of spacing the floor as Iguodala is more a transition player, as is Rondo, but with both also being defended by now questionable defenders, they should be able to get into the paint and create for others. Not too mention KG is one of the best mid-range shooting big man in the entire league. But make no mistake, shooting in this series will play a large factor, I might have even played JR Smith a few more minutes, maybe even go big and have him at the point for small stretches.

Gremz didn't fully specify whether Horford would be the primary defender on Howard, if that's the case Howard should have a big series (averaged 21/17 on 58% in the regular season against the Hawks), with KG on him, I'd expect lesser numbers as KG man to man is very similar to Sheed Wallace who's always been a proven defender against Dwight. But nonetheless Horford/KG should give more fits to their frontcourt defensively than the Jeremey Productions would to the backcourt and SF position of the Iguanas.

Offensive execution is close but I'd give the edge to the Jeremy Production here. There offense is more free flowing with better spacing. Kidd is still an elite play-maker, and running on the wings with Melo and a shooter of Martin's caliber and the athletes of Smith and Howard would be a joy to watch and unstoppable in the fastbreak. The only reason why the Iguanas could argue they're just as good is they have the best offensive player in the series, and Garnett who's a tremendous passer and scorer from the high post. And the fact that Rondo and Iggy with their penetration especially being defended by two average at best defenders on the wing should have wreck havoc.

Overall, the Jeremey Productions are the more free flowing offensive team with athletes and ridiculous shot blocking. The Iguanas are the dominant defensive team with guys like Iggy, KG, and Rondo being able to carry the scoring load, not to mention that Kobe guy who's a pretty damned good scorer himself. It comes down to who can control the pace better, I think the Jeremy Productions execute their gameplan better than the Iguanas do, but their lack of perimeter defense greatly hurts them in defending the best player in the series. The Iguanas lack adequate shooting to truly make the team one that's unstoppable, and frankly the main reason why I am so back and forth on this series. I think in a playoffs, best out seven setting, the game slows down and being able to execute in the halfcourt becomes crucial. It's truly a tail of two completely different squads, I'd have almost no doubt this series goes to seven games if it were to come true in real life. I would like to point out that the Ron Jeremy Productions have the bench edge from 1-5.

And saying that, when the teams are so evenly matched, as fair or unfair as it may be, you have to pick the team with best player, and that's Kobe Bryant. In a seven game series, in the 7th game, I'd trust Kobe more than anyone else on the Jeremey Productions team to come through in the clutch. In a real tight one, where it comes down to matter of preference really because both teams are very strong with weaknesses of their own, for ME it comes down to the best player, and thus my vote goes to the Iguanas.

Vote: Gremz

I apologize Hoffa, it truly could have gone either way, definitely one of the toughest matchups I've ever had to judge. You still lead the series though, and thought it'd make things more interesting to give a bone to Gremz

[VintaGe36]

I think Gremz has too much talent, that all seem to fit together in a cohesive manner. Kobe + KG + disgusting defensive players is damn near unstoppable.

Gremz over Hoffa in 6.

Gremz over Dcash in 7.

Meanwhile, I think people are underestimating how beastly Yao would be with the frontcourt depth he has. I think Yao reeks havoc on Hoffa and the series. Dcash in 7.

[TMACFORMVP]

Hoffa vs DCash

Both teams with great writeups again, another very close series.

I think upfront, on paper Hoffa's team has the edge, but much closer when actually matched up as Yao has ALWAYS outplayed Howard on a consistent basis. Camby is an overrated man defender and if forced to cover Smith on the perimeter with that quickness, Josh should be an X-facor. Defensively upfront I'd give the Jeremey Productions the edge.

I'm not sold on Ellis at the PG position, he's a SG in a PG's body. I live in the bay area and have seen probably every game of Ellis's career and he's most definitely shown flashes of being able to handle the PG position, but yet to effectively show he can do it full time. I didn't dock Garnett too much points for being injured in the last season, so I won't dock too much from Ellis, but he rarely even played this season, far less games than KG, and only for a two-three week stretch was he the player he was last season. At this point I'd think Rondo would have the considerable edge, he has the quickness defensively to handle Ellis, a much better pure PG, an awesome rebounder and while not AS dangerous in the open court, but one of the best in the league himself.

Battier should do a solid job on Martin, he's shown recent success in the past, and will use his smarts to get under his skin, but Martin is on a Sacramento team where he's forced to be a first option and never had the caliber of players around him in Sacto then he does on this team. Won't play much a large factor, a small one nonetheless.

I'd think Granger would do a better job on Melo than Melo would do on Granger, so while I feel Melo is the slightly better player, in their respective roles, Granger should get the best of Melo. Up front, I already explained who I liked defensively, I think Yao is considerably more skilled than Dwight, but Smith is much more dangerous than Camby. Offensively, it's a wash at best, slight edge to Jeremy Productions. Ginobili provides a huge spark off the bench and Bynum off the bench is a luxury, I really like the Jeremy Productions bench, but dcash's Hippos have the two best players coming off the bench which gives them that edge.

Defensively dcash's team is better, he's got Yao, Battier, Granger, Ginobili and Camby, all of whom are very good defenders. I think Jeremy Productions have the edge in terms of offensive execution and efficiency. Again it's a tale of two different teams, and I'm gonna say the Jeremy Productions edge on the rebounding end, overall offensive execution and having the overall threats both offensively and defensively (especially with less injury concerns, Granger/Battier/GinobilI/Ellis have all spent time on the bench this season) gives the Jeremy Productions the edge. Would have liked to add more, but kind of busy (and will post the Gremz - dcash matchup a little later).

Vote: Hoffa

[dockingsched]

awesome write ups. this is probably the best ending to a game like this i've experienced. some quality, yet different, judging is always rewarding.

[Sports Arsenal]

Tallies so far-
Gremz 2 vs. Cash 1
Gremz 2 vs. Hoffa 2
Hoffa 2 vs. Cash 2

[Gremz]

Here it goes.

Gremz vs Hoffa:
This first matchup is a great one. Gremz has one player that has skyrocketed since being drafted and one going completely downhill due to injury. Rajon Rondo has shown what an elite point guard that he really is during his first round match up with the Bulls. Not to mention Kobe resides on this team… that can never hurt. Hoffa has one of the greatest point guards of all time in Kidd, a supremely talented SF with Melo and quite possibly the most athletic big man duo of Smith and Howard. Gremz has a superbly balanced starting five with a fairly weak bench. The weak bench comes back to bite them in the butt with Garnett being injured. I do not see Haslem and/or Harrington being able to guard Smith. Also, Howard would do his normal dominating against Horford and an even weaker backup. Even though Kobe would probably score 40 a game throughout this series, I think that he does not have the supporting cast to overpower the talent of Hoffa.

Hoffa in 6


Gremz vs DCash:
I’ve already stated my ups and downs of Gremz’s squad. So as for DCash… He has a pretty deep team all over. I like the PG combo of Ellis, Calderon, and Chalmers. Ellis isn’t your normal “pass first” type of PG, so if the team needs more structure, just put Calderon in. I think Ellis/Calderon has a slight edge over Rondo/Blake. I think the SG spot belongs to Gremz. I don’t see Battier being able to contain him. He’ll definitely get his. I particularly like the Granger/Iggy matchup. Well all know that Granger is the better offensive player and had a hell of a season. But I think that Iggy has a great chance of slowing him down. SF spot is a push. The big man spots are not deep for either team. But the size of Camby and Yao have an edge over the bigs for Gremz. DCash has a well balanced team with scorers (Ellis, Granger, and Yao), defenders (Battier and Camby), and intangibles (Nocioni = scrappy/energy, Battier = leadership). I think Kobe keeps this series close. The loss of Garnett doesn’t hurt as much for this series since Camby won’t be scoring too much and his defense is wasted on guarding Haslem.

DCash in 7 in a great series.

Not looking to be picky here, but I thought that I should bring something to Jud's attention. The bolded part is more what I am referring to.

When Garnett was taken, he was presumed to be returning healthy, something that was taken into account by both the commish and myself. Presumably we are using his season's numbers and performance instead of removing him from the equation.

At the very least he has still been a defensive anchor this year, something that should be in consideration.

TMac you are in... Whats your aim? I am going to push back the voting until Sunday to give everyone ample time to judge with the few twist we have had in the last couple of days.
Cellar is correct about the judging. Judge based upon their season.

[CellarDoor]

Ugh, I'd love to spend more time breaking these down, but the internet connection at home being out is leaving me over a barrel for finals here.

I've got Cash over Hoffa primarily due to the Yao/Dwight match-up, and I've got Gremz over both because, well, lets be honest, if you consider KG healthy for the series, which I am, then Kobe and KG with good defensive guys all around them is absurd.

[Sports Arsenal]

Thats it folks! The winner is Gremz, in both of his match up's he got the nudge. Second place belongs to Dcash, and coming in 3rd is Hoffa. Congratulations Gremz. Thanks to all the participants. Thanks to Cellar for all of his help in this game. Thanks to the other judges, Jud, Vintage, and TMac... See ya'll next game.

[Jud's Buechlers]

Here it goes.

Gremz vs Hoffa:
This first matchup is a great one. Gremz has one player that has skyrocketed since being drafted and one going completely downhill due to injury. Rajon Rondo has shown what an elite point guard that he really is during his first round match up with the Bulls. Not to mention Kobe resides on this team… that can never hurt. Hoffa has one of the greatest point guards of all time in Kidd, a supremely talented SF with Melo and quite possibly the most athletic big man duo of Smith and Howard. Gremz has a superbly balanced starting five with a fairly weak bench. The weak bench comes back to bite them in the butt with Garnett being injured. I do not see Haslem and/or Harrington being able to guard Smith. Also, Howard would do his normal dominating against Horford and an even weaker backup. Even though Kobe would probably score 40 a game throughout this series, I think that he does not have the supporting cast to overpower the talent of Hoffa.

Hoffa in 6


Gremz vs DCash:
I’ve already stated my ups and downs of Gremz’s squad. So as for DCash… He has a pretty deep team all over. I like the PG combo of Ellis, Calderon, and Chalmers. Ellis isn’t your normal “pass first” type of PG, so if the team needs more structure, just put Calderon in. I think Ellis/Calderon has a slight edge over Rondo/Blake. I think the SG spot belongs to Gremz. I don’t see Battier being able to contain him. He’ll definitely get his. I particularly like the Granger/Iggy matchup. Well all know that Granger is the better offensive player and had a hell of a season. But I think that Iggy has a great chance of slowing him down. SF spot is a push. The big man spots are not deep for either team. But the size of Camby and Yao have an edge over the bigs for Gremz. DCash has a well balanced team with scorers (Ellis, Granger, and Yao), defenders (Battier and Camby), and intangibles (Nocioni = scrappy/energy, Battier = leadership). I think Kobe keeps this series close. The loss of Garnett doesn’t hurt as much for this series since Camby won’t be scoring too much and his defense is wasted on guarding Haslem.

DCash in 7 in a great series.

Not looking to be picky here, but I thought that I should bring something to Jud's attention. The bolded part is more what I am referring to.

When Garnett was taken, he was presumed to be returning healthy, something that was taken into account by both the commish and myself. Presumably we are using his season's numbers and performance instead of removing him from the equation.

At the very least he has still been a defensive anchor this year, something that should be in consideration.

TMac you are in... Whats your aim? I am going to push back the voting until Sunday to give everyone ample time to judge with the few twist we have had in the last couple of days.
Cellar is correct about the judging. Judge based upon their season.

Gremz, I was holding my judging back for a while because it was uncertain (to me) whether or not we were supposed to judge KG as injured or not. I think it was TMAC that asked, but was not answered when I thought the deadline was coming up. So I based it upon that he was not 100%. Not necessarily completely out. But he was out for quite a few games this year. If I were to judge it as him being 100% then the results might change, but I just don't know if it's fair to re-do them. I honestly believed you put together an extremely impressive team, but just got bad luck with KG. I commend you on your superbly built team, and wish you the best of luck.

[Sports Arsenal]

I did respond to tmac, however it was on AIM. I don't remember having any conversations with you about KG Gremz, never the less, you won. But my mentality was through out the whole game, judge based upon their season. IMO, Garnett only playing a bit more than half of the season and not playing in a single play off game, his value was dramatically lessened.

[bringbackhoffa]

congrats gremz, superb drafting as well as probably the best writeups in the game. congratulaitons to dcash as well who put togethore a solid team as well. Gremz i bet u still cant believe that kobe fell to u in the first round..lol.

Well this was my first time in one of these types of tournaments, and i have to say i had a lot of fun, and i would like to thank all the other competitors as well as a special thanks to Shaqsux, and Cellar who kept this game running smoothly.

[Sports Arsenal]

Thank you Hoffa, by the way I think you put together a great team, and hope to see you in many many more games.

[Gremz]

Thankyou all. It was a great final, and I commend both Hoffa and Dcash for having great squads and quality write ups. It was a blessing to have both Kobe and Garnett drop to me in the drafting, and it certainly paid dividends. It's great to finally have one of these competitions under my belt, and I look forward to the next one.

[CellarDoor]

Sorry for the confusion Jud's. If I had an internet connection at home I'd have done more to clarify. And I took Garnett at face value. Same with Ellis, Bynum, et al. The only thing I was really concerned with were people who had season ending injuries and the like.

Incidentally, are people interested in doing the twist-draft style game we'd talked about starting before SS started this one? If so, this weekend and next week are the times to do it since it's my week break from college...with my internet at home down I'd need help regulating the draft sometimes though.

[Sports Arsenal]

Im in cellar, if you need someone to help with it, i could always return the favor.

[Jud's Buechlers]

Don't worry about it Cellar. It was my confusion. But congrats Gremz! You constructed a great team.

In regards to the Twist Draft. I volunteered to be a judge in this competition to pass the time before another twist draft came up. I LOVED that game last time. But if we are drafting next week, then sadly I can't participate. I'll be in Jamaica all week and am certainly not going to be spending time on my computer haha. But if the game starts Sunday May 17th or later, then I am 100% down and will participate to the fullest. Let me know.