RealGM

I don't think we'll get anymore votes in, so the final match up is:

Bucks

STARTING FIVE
Abdul-Jabbar (1971) C
Sikma (1989) PF/C
Dandridge (1974) SF/SG
Moncrief (1984) G
Robertson (1971) G

BENCH
Bogut (2010) C
Baker (1994) PF/C
Cummings (1987) PF
Marques (1984) F/G
Pressey (1986) F/G
Redd (2003) SG
Cassell (2003) PG

versus

Blazers

'92 Terry Porter (34) / '79 Lionel Hollins (14)
'09 Brandon Roy (36) / Drexler (12)
'92 Clyde Drexler (24) / '95 Cliff Robinson (24) / '87 Kiki Vandeweghe
'91 Buck Williams (20) / '02 Rasheed Wallace (28)
'77 Bill Walton (34) / '96 Arvydas Sabonis (14)


Apologies in advance, I'm leaving town for a week tomorrow so I may not be able to put as much thought into this one as I'd like.

My opponent has constructed a hell of a Milwaukee team and this will be a very tough series. It's another one that I'd have a very hard time judging.

Here are some persuasive thoughts on this match up:

1. Like Wilt, Kareem is a tremendous opponent. Bill Walton in his prime was a top all-time center and both he and KAJ won Finals MVP in their selected year. Due to their style of play, I feel that Walton can play Kareem fairly evenly, perhaps even getting the slight edges defensively, on the glass, and with his passing (Walton had a higher REB%). I feel that the backup C battle favors me as NBA Arvydas was VERY effective in limited minutes, posting a very high PER and winning ROtY in his year while Bogut really just stepped it up to another level this year. Overall, the Bucks feature the best player at this position, but our tandem can play very effectively against them.

2. Jack Sikma is a nice outside compliment to Kareem, but we must remember that this is 33yo Sikma, 10 years removed from winning a championship with the Sonics and four years removed from his last all-star selection. I am confident that prime defensive Buck Williams and prime Rasheed Wallace will outplay Sikma. His 3pt% is nice in this year, but he still shot only 43% from the field and was clearly in decline.

3. Assuming Squid will be on Roy, the Bucks have some nice defensive options to stick on Clyde. Drexler finished 2nd in MVP to MJ in his chosen year and he was a very clear 2nd, picking up 18 1st place votes along the way. Pressey and Dandridge can only do so much against Clyde in his greatest year of all time at 25/6.7/6.6. Guarding Pressey and Dandridge won't take a ton out of Clyde and Marques would likely get lit up by him defensively.

4. Moncrief is an incredible defensive player and this is a tough draw for Roy. Thankfully, Roy isn't the 1st option on this team and we a plethora of other offensive options. While I certainly concede that Moncrief will make Brandon's job very difficult, he's still a very versatile, potent offensive player who will have his moments and probably at least a couple of big games. On the other end, Moncrief is certainly an offensive threat as well. This is one of those match ups that's really hard to predict who will get the best of over a series.

5. Oscar in Milwaukee was very good, but not in his prime. He's still a fantastic and dangerous PG who should not be overlooked and Porter will have his hands full. I like Porter's size and athleticism when it comes to staying with Oscar. I also like that we have such great help defense inside against him. Lionel Hollins is a very capable defender who will also see time on Robertson. Again, Robertson will have an impact in this series, but I think we can defend him pretty well. On the other end, Porter was a very good scoring guard with a deft shooting touch. Oscar is such an offensive minded player that I forsee Porter, already a great playoff performer, to have some really big games. Over the course of this series I actually think this will be a pretty close positional battle due to Porter's big game potential and Oscar's age.

6. I also think that Cliffy and Sheed give us very good offensive and defensive punch off the bench. They compliment our primary playmakers (Clyde, Roy, Terry) quite well. IMO Hollins and Sabonis are also really good fits to complete our rotation.

Overall, Milwaukee is an epic defensive squad but we have very good defense as well and better defense inside. Another important factor to me is that all of our rotation players are good two way players. That makes us a hard team to attack. Milwaukee has very good passing but I see our attack as being more diverse with a three headed playmaking monster instead of a PG who historically has really needed the ball. The guys inside, Williams and Walton, are both very good rebounders as well. I also favor our depth/bench/tight rotation. I believe that when the factors are added up, Portland has just enough slight edges to come out on top in this series.

Bucks

STARTING FIVE
Abdul-Jabbar (1971) C
Sikma (1989) PF/C
Dandridge (1974) SF/SG
Moncrief (1984) G
Robertson (1971) G

BENCH
Bogut (2010) C
Baker (1994) PF/C
Cummings (1987) PF
Marques (1984) F/G
Pressey (1986) F/G
Redd (2003) SG
Cassell (2003) PG

versus

Blazers

'92 Terry Porter (34) / '79 Lionel Hollins (14)
'09 Brandon Roy (36) / Drexler (12)
'92 Clyde Drexler (24) / '95 Cliff Robinson (24) / '87 Kiki Vandeweghe
'91 Buck Williams (20) / '02 Rasheed Wallace (28)
'77 Bill Walton (34) / '96 Arvydas Sabonis (14)


Unfortunately I don’t have much time for this very interesting matchup, so quickly the most important things:

1. Bucks are better defensively. In the paint our teams are comparable, but perimeter players make difference. Monciref with Dandridge (and Pressey from the bench) on Drexler and Roy – that’s what separate Bucks defensively.

2. Offensively it’s close, but I think that Blazers offense is concentrated on perimeter. Walton could play high post offense and his passing was great, but scoring load is on Blazers guards and SF. On the other hand Bucks are more balanced, so I think we have a little more options. Especially if we consider that Bucks have very good defenders on the perimeter so we matchup good with Blazers.

3. Walton was great, but he can’t do much against KAJ. They played that famous series in 1977 when KAJ had very bad supporting cast (without true PG and that’s very important for big man; now he have Big O ) ever and still averaged 30.3 ppg, 16 rpg, 3.8 apg, 3.8 bpg, 61% shooting. Walton’s stats: 19.3 ppg, 14.8 rpg, 5.8 apg, 2.3 bpg, 51% shooting. (data provided by TrueLAFan in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=64&t=861543&start=15)

4. PG position is the matchup which we try to explore more in this round. Simply because Porter is too small to effectively defend Robertson.

5. As in previous rounds Sikma is great alongside KAJ, because his range makes almost impossible to double team KAJ. If Buck Williams will leave Sikma, he would made threes or mid range jumpers. My perimeter player also are very good or great midrange shooters (+ .800 FT%), despite Blazers guards and SF aren’t great defenders.

6.

Jack Sikma is a nice outside compliment to Kareem, but we must remember that this is 33yo Sikma, 10 years removed from winning a championship with the Sonics and four years removed from his last all-star selection. I am confident that prime defensive Buck Williams and prime Rasheed Wallace will outplay Sikma. His 3pt% is nice in this year, but he still shot only 43% from the field and was clearly in decline.

33 year old Sikma was second in minutes played on Bucks team that had 6th best defense in the league. His FG% is low for big man because he shoot many threes. But if we look at his overall scoring efficiency, he was clearly very good: .554 TS%

5.

Moncrief is an incredible defensive player and this is a tough draw for Roy. Thankfully, Roy isn't the 1st option on this team and we a plethora of other offensive options.

Bucks best perimeter defender would definitely defend Blazers best perimeter offensive player, so Moncrief on Drexler, and Dandridge on Roy (and of course Pressey from the bench if Moncrief or Dandridge would have problems with fouls).

When would you like us to start posting judgements?

penbeast0 wrote:When would you like us to start posting judgements?

Just got home tonight!

Any judgments would be appreciated whenever... hopefully we can get a few.

Thanks everybody and t's been fun!

I believe Milwaukee's backcourt can keep up with Portland's scoring and by the time Squid and Pressey are done with their wings, probably do it more efficiently to boot. Sikma's not the greatest match-up for Buck with his range pulling him away from the boards, but conversely, a lot of Sikma's strength (defense) is wasted on Buck. Kareem and Walton would be one of the more fun match-ups imaginable. Offensively both will likely do what they want to do to a large degree: they're just too good. Defensively, if it wasn't for Jabbar's wing defenders, there would probably be a lot of issues of scoring in the paint off Walton's high post passing. As it is though, that's mitigated.

I'm giving this to Milwaukee by a hair.

Two really good teams matching up quite well!

Big man play offense. Kareem is the best man on the floor. Walton had a great year and was a legit MVP but while he may have a slight edge on Kareem in defense and passing, Kareem's scoring will be a very valuable tool in this matchup. This becomes a lot closer, however, as Sabas is a tough matchup for Kareem and Buck outclasses an aging Sikma while Milwaukee's backups are a definite step down from Sabonis and Rasheed. That makes it close but I still think Kareem's scoring is too valuable in this series to be matched.

Wing/Point offense. Drexler is the best man here but not as clearly. A healthy Moncrief was extremely efficient offensively and he and Dandridge both can play off Oscar and Kareem extremely well while the Milwaukee bench of Marques and Pressey is outstanding as well. Roy is very solid while Cliff Robinson provides a good two way player but they don't quite match up. Oscar does outclass Terry Porter, and Hollins was just never that good a player. However, Portland does have one weapon that Milwaukee is sadly lacking in . . . the 3 point shot. That spacing and extra explosiveness gives the edge to Portland.

Playmaking. Oscar has superior playmaking to Porter. Drexler is a major step up from Dandridge but Moncrief is a solid secondary playmaker while Drexler's strength isn't as necessary with Roy. Similarly up front, Walton is terrific but Sikma is still very good and Kareem outclasses Buck. Off the bench, Cassell and Pressey are a lot better than Hollins and Robinson; countering Sabas's edge over the very solid passing of Bogut. So, I have to give the edge to Milwaukee.

Rebounding goes to Portland fairly easily with an edge everywhere but PG and SF.

Defense goes to Milwaukee just as easily despite the Blazers being very good; Milwaukee is terrific.

Intangibles are a tougher call. I don't have a strong feel for either team. Walton and Kareem are both shaky as leaders with some great years but also personality issues (Walton and his hippie/drug attitude, Kareem was withdrawn and not the leader a player of his stature should be). Moncrief and Drexler were both strongwilled players who led teams a long way but stopped short of the finals; Buck and Sikma are classy, Oscar is another leader but one whose teams often underperformed. I'd give a slight edge to Portland.

In the end, however, the strongest edge is Milwaukee's defense and Portland's rebounding. I think the man defense edge of Milawukee will carry it but I'd love to see this played out to see how the 3 point shot changes things and how they all performed against an opponent this evenly matched. It could have gone either way but I vote for Milwaukee.

Thx for the votes!