1975 -- Congratulations to Snakebites and the NY KNICKS

[penbeast0]

This thread is for teams to post rosters and writeups. I will put the completed draft order here too; please put comments and draft picks in the other thread.

Round 1 Playoffs:
Kentucky Colonels over Boston Celtics (2-0)
New York Knicks over New York Nets (2-0)

Final Standings (home wins) penbeast snakebites miller (total wins)

Kentucky Colonels (+21) pen 5-1 5-1 (31)
New York Knicks (+21) 5-1 bit 0-2 (26)
New York Nets (+8) 2-4 2-4 mil (12)
Boston Celtics (0) 4-2 4-2 1-2 (9)

Golden State Warriors 4-2 3-3 1-0 (8)
Milwaukee Bucks 3-3 4-2 1-1 (8)
Denver Nuggets 2-4 2-4 0-1 (4)
Philadephia 1-5 1-5 0-1 (2)

Round One
1. Philly-34 (Turkish Thunder) -- Bob McAdoo
2. Milwaukee-38 (Cellardoor) -- George McGinnis
3. New York Knicks-40 (Snakebites) -- Bob Lanier
4. Golden State-48 (TMAC4MVP) -- Elvin Hayes
5. Kentucky-56 (Penbeast) -- Wes Unseld
6. New York Nets-56 (Miller4Ever) -- Moses Malone
7. Boston-60 (SabasRevenge) -- George Gervin
8. Denver-65 (BlackIce) -- Marvin Barnes

Round Two
1. Philly-34 (Turkish Thunder) -- Nate Archibald
2. Milwaukee-38 (Cellardoor) -- Randy Smith
3. New York Knicks-40 (Snakebites) -- Chet Walker
4. Golden State-48 (TMAC4MVP) -- Norm Van Lier
5. Kentucky-56 (Penbeast) -- Ron Boone
6. New York Nets-56 (Miller4Ever) -- Charlie Scott
7. Boston-60 (SabasRevenge) -- Spencer Haywood
8. Denver-65 (BlackIce) -- Sam Lacey

Round Three
1. Philly-34 (Turkish Thunder) -- Caldwell Jones
2. Milwaukee-38 (Cellardoor) -- Jerry Sloan
3. New York Knicks-40 (Snakebites) -- Maurice Lucas
4. Golden State-48 (TMAC4MVP) -- Mike Riordan
5. Kentucky-56 (Penbeast) -- Bob Love
6. New York Nets-56 (Miller4Ever) -- Gail Goodrich
7. Boston-60 (SabasRevenge) -- Sven Nater
8. Denver-65 (BlackIce) -- Billy Knight

Round Four
1. Philly-34 (Turkish Thunder) -- Rudy Tomjanovich
2. Milwaukee-38 (Cellardoor) -- Nate Thurmond
3. New York Knicks-40 (Snakebites) -- Phil Chenier
4. Golden State-48 (TMAC4MVP) -- Elmore Smith
5. Kentucky-56 (Penbeast) -- Dick Van Arsdale
6. New York Nets-56 (Miller4Ever) -- Dave Bing
7. Boston-60 (SabasRevenge) -- Freddie Brown
8. Denver-65 (BlackIce) -- Dave Twardzik

[CellarDoor]

Milwaukee Bucks



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Randy Smith(32)/Jim Price(32)
Jerry Sloan(32)/Bob Dandrige/Jim Price
Bob Dandridge(38)/George McGinnis
George McGinnis(40)/Nate Thurmond(26)
Kareem Abdul Jabbar(40)/Nate Thurmond



The original team's profile:
The Buck's managed a meager 38 wins. They managed to play pretty good defense. Good enough over the season for 5th in points allowed. The problem was their offense which was only able to be 13th (out of 18) in ppg. In the first round of the contraction draft we addressed a lot with George McGinnis. The ABA MVP scored nearly 30 a game, a league best. He was 5th in rebounds with over 14 and was 8th in rebound rate. He was also 3rd in assists and 4th in assist rate. Top 5 in steals, WS, DRTG, WS/48, OWS, PER, FTA, etc. He's the perfect 1a/1b with Kareem, and he's a great help defender and presence on the defensive end on the glass. The Lion's share of his minutes are going to force teams to man him with their PF and try to cover him. The next pick we knew had to be a guard.
We were initially going to go completely defensive, but instead we decided to go defensive and pick up our third option on offense, pushing Dandridge to 4th. Randy Smith was the 104th pick in his draft and played with something to prove, establishing himself both defensively and offensively. His midrange and penetration game ensures there's always going to be pressure on my opponent's defenders. He was top 5 in assists, got to the line a lot, and was a very good on-ball and off-ball defender and ball hawk.
We almost went with Sloan in the 2nd round, so when we had the opportunity to get him in the 4th it was too perfect. He's got a terrific bball IQ, he's a top defender in our league, and he doesn't demand a lot of shots.Additionally, his 7 boards a game from the guard slot is going to do wonders to keep our advantage there.
With our final pick we wanted to push our back-up bigs from Milwaukee's original team out of the rotation. Looking over our line-up we knew there was plenty of scoring. What we wanted was someone to match up with the Gilmores of the league. That person is Nate the Great Thurmond. One of the great rebounders of his era, he was very likely the best defensive big in this league on ball and a terrific one off.

Btw, for consideration in future judgings of my team:

Common issues in ATLs:

Shot distribution-
The Bucks took, on average, about 89 shots a game in the given season. In our seven man rotation the shots looked like this in the given season:
24.4 (Kareem)
18.3 (Dandridge)
13.4 (Price)
24.5 (McGinnis)
15.4 (Smith)
11.1 (Sloan)
8.6 (Thurmond)

That means at a cursory glance I’ve upped my shots by 25 a game. A few things to consider:
It’s arguable Kareem only took so many shots due to his lack of an offense around him. In the season’s surrounding this one, he never matched this total. In fact, after 73, he never got over 22 again. It’s reasonable to think he’d take around 20 shots a game here easily enough.
The same argument applies to McGinnis almost verbatim. Looking at his history, 20 shots should be fine. We’ve reduced the total by 9 so far.
Injuries artificially raised the shot attempts of players on the initial Bucks team.
Chicago’s defense was amazing, but their offense (that Sloan and Nate played in) was horrendous. They’re not on this team to be scorers, but there wasn’t much choice on that team. Additionally, Nate’s minutes are reduced a bit.
Good offensive teams take more shot. You see it often. Teams having trouble scoring slow it down and pound the ball. Teams who can score, simply do. I’d expect my team’s shots to go up around 3-4% (about 3.5 shots)
Last, my teams superior rebounding (see below) will create more shots by shortening the opponents possessions and creating more opportunities from my team.

Rebounding-
He who wins the boards wins the game more often than not. Milwaukee didn’t do this in the season. Lets take a look at the players added to my team and their rebound rates:
McGinnis (16.9)
Smith (5.8)
Sloan (11.0 while fighting Thurmond)
Thurmond (17.3)

Add these to guys like Kareem and Dandridge as well as Price and you’ve got an absolutely elite rebounding squad. You’ll be hard pressed to beat them on the boards.

Passing-
The trailblazers were the best passing team in the league with an average of nearly 27 a game. The Bucks were just behind the league average. 9th overall. All we did was add top 5 assist men from both leagues to the team as well as Thurmond who had his best passing season despite not being a scoring threat.

Turnovers-I’ll never understand why the NBA didn’t calculate turnovers, but for whatever reason, they didn’t. So the only prominent player on my team with stats here is McGinnis, and they’re bad. The good thing is that while remaining bad, they’ll likely improve simply by his time with the ball in his hands going down in lieu of Kareem, Smith and co. having possession of the rock for time too.

Team Philosophy-
This team is going to be focused around defense and bigman play. I don’t have any below average defenders in my rotation (for his faults, McGinnis was at least an active help defender) with the exception of Price who, to be honest, I can’t find crap on. We’re going to lock you down on the boards and use Sloan/Dandridge/McGinnis/Kareem to smother the teams scoring positions. Smith will be on the PG hounding him. The number one goal of the team is to hold you below your percentages and eliminate second chance opportunities. On the other side of the floor

[Snakebites]

PG: Walt Frazier
SG: Earl Monroe
SF: Chet Walker
PF:
C: Bob Lanier

[penbeast0]

THE ABA CHAMPION KENTUCKY COLONELS


The Kentucky Colonels are built around three main principles. (1) Efficient offense, (2) Outstanding defense, (3) Rebounding. First, the Kentucky offense is built around a core of players who are all among the most efficient scorers at their positions in the league focused on our primary star, Artis Gilmore, the most efficient scorer in NBA history. Second, Kentucky was already the top defense in the NBA and we replaced Dan Issel, an average defender, with Wes Unseld, a HOF defender plus Bird Averitt, a below average defender, with Ron Boone who is a very good defender. In addition, we added two veteran All-NBA defenders to our bench in Bob Love and Dick Van Arsdale to go with Issel and Ted McLain who is a veteran All-Defense team player too. Third, in addition to the ABA’s 2nd leading rebounder in Gilmore, we added the NBA’s leading rebounder in Unseld plus improved our rebounding from the 2 position with Boone. These are the three things that correlate most strongly with winning and we should be the best in basketball at all three.



C Artis Gilmore (42mpg) 7’2 16.2reb 2.5ast 23.6pts at .580fg% .696ft% (.615 ts%)
The A-Train is the NBA’s all time leader in efficiency with his leaping ability, height, and strength allowing him to play like a taller Dwight Howard. He also was 1st team All-Defense (and All-ABA) from his second year in the league on averaging 3.1 blocks per game as well. Our offense is set up to get him the ball in the low post as our first option. Defensively, we will direct our coverage patterns so that Unseld handles most of the primary scoring bigs leaving Artis able to provide help with his shotblocking.

PF Wes Unseld (34mpg) 6’7 14.8reb 4.1ast 9.2pts at .502fg% 695ft% (.538 ts%)
Wes made the HOF easily despite underwhelming career stats. Not a big scorer, not a shotblocker, why was he so impressive to people who actually watched him play. Basically he did 4 things as well as any center to ever play. First, he was a great rebounder (led the NBA in rebounding). Second, he was a great man defender, practically unmoveable in the post with good footwork outside it. Third, he may have been the greatest outlet passer in the history of the league leading to many easy baskets. Finally, he set probably the nastiest picks in the history of the league.

“Running into an Unseld pick is like hitting a wall, only in this case, the wall comes looking for you,” Doug Collins.

In our offense Wes will play much the same role he did in Washington next to post-up big Elvin Hayes. He will trigger the fast break, then, in the half court game, he will roam the top of the key setting high screens to clear our perimeter scorers and occasionally shoot his ugly but effective flat footed foul line jumper or if the ball goes down into the post, he will bull his way down the weak side to get rebounds and put backs. Defensively, he will play the opponent’s highest usage big (except for true 7-footers such as Kareem) using his strength to deny post position and his footwork to deny lanes to the basket.

SF Wil Jones (28 mpg) 6’8 7.2reb 3.0ast 12.6pts on .483fg% .735ft% (.512 ts%)
Wil was signed by the Colonels for one reason. When Julius Erving was interviewed about the toughest defender he faced, he named Wil Jones. Kentucky’s GM knew he had to beat Erving and the Nets to win a title, so they signed Jones. A decent midrange shooter with a solid post-up game, a willing passer, Jones’s main job is defending opposing threes and hitting open shots if opponents try to double off of him.

SG Ron Boone (38 mpg) 6’2 4.8reb 4.2ast 25.2pts on .491fg% .860ft% (.540ts%)
"The Legend" at first glance appears too short to play big guards, much less swing to the small forward slot as he did in Utah. But as one of the strongest and most athletic guards in the league, he bodied taller players and proved an excellent defender even against 3’s; he also was the NBA's ironman record holder until Karl Malone finally broke his streak. This year, with Jimmy Jones jumping leagues, Boone had to play a much bigger role offensively but upped his scoring almost 7.5 ppg with little loss of efficiency. For Kentucky, he is our secondary scorer and ballhandler, and our main shot creator if time is running out. Plus, with Unseld and Gilmore rebounding and starting the break, shots should come even easier than in Utah where Moses was still learning how to pass the ball.

PG Louis Dampier (35 mpg) 6’0 2.5reb 5.4ast 16.8pts on .500fg% .809ft% (.544ts%)
Louis is one of the few PGs in the history of the league to ever finish in the top 5 in both assist percentage (5th) and turnover percentage (4th). A great post entry passer and stationary shooter who could also drive and create, Dampier will be our main ballhandler and his outside shooting will help spread the floor. The weakest defender in our rotation, he still was good enough that Kentucky led the ABA in defensive efficiency, but it is his leadership, his clutch shooting, and his league leading assist to turnover playmaking that make him essential.


PF Dan Issel (20mpg) 6’9 8.6reb 2.3ast 17.7pts on .471fg% .738ft% (.507ts%)
Horse is one of the greatest outside shooting bigs in NBA history. In fact, in his first 13 years in the league, he only had two seasons where he didn’t average 20ppg, this being one of them as he voluntarily took on a lesser offensive role to allow the team to focus around Artis Gilmore. As a consistent All-Star in his prime, his transition to bench player is the one I am most worried about but sacrificing his points also hurt his efficiency and coming off the bench, he will have more of a green light to shoot plus he really did bring the whole college rah-rah spirit to Kentucky where he grew up and went to college before becoming a pro.

SF Bob Love (20 mpg) 6’8 6.3reb 1.7ast 22.0pts on .429fg% .830ft% (.481ts%)
Butterbean has two All-NBA and 3 All-Defense awards in the lst 5 years but at age 32, with only one more full-time year left after this one, I believe he would trade personal glory for a real shot at a ring on a stacked team like this. With great range on his jump shot and still an outstanding athlete, Love can also come in and create shots and space for our offense as well as continuing Wil Jones’s outstanding defense.

SG Dick Van Arsdale (10 mpg) 6’5 2.7reb 2.8ast 17.1pts on .470fg% .832ft% (.538 ts%)
Twin brings good ballhandling, great shooting, and is only one year away from his All-Defensive Team selection in 1974. However, he is another 31 year old player who has never challenged for a title. He gives us another offensive weapon when Ron Boone comes out as well as a big defensive guard who can swing to forward if needed.

PG Ted McLain (13 mpg) 3.7reb 5.1ast 8.6pts on .440fg% .754ft% (.480 ts%)
Hound Dog is another defensive specialist who, in 1974, was 1st team All-Defense and an All-Star. For Kentucky, he was the 3rd guard and defensive stopper. A good ballhandler, he won’t be expected to provide offense with all of the weapons we have on our bench, but will handle the ball and provide a defensive presence at the one.


DEPTH
G Bird Averitt 22 year old combo guard with great quickness
F Marv Roberts 24 year old combo forward with good shooting range
F Ron Thomas 24 year old combo forward with athleticism and toughness


Hall of Fame Coach Hubie Brown has been an NBA mainstay for over 25 years but this was his greatest season winning 58 games and the ABA title. A two time coach of the year, most recently when he took Memphis to a 50 win season in 2004, Hubie is acknowledged as an innovator, a terrific defensive coach and one of the best X and O guys out there. He also does color work for ABC.

Gilmore 42/ Unseld 6/ Issel
Unseld 28/ Issel 20/ Thomas
Wil Jones 28/ Love 20/ Roberts
Boone 38/ Van Arsdale 10/ Averitt
Dampier 35/ McLain 13/ Averitt

[Miller4ever]

Gail Goodrich(24)/Dave Bing(24)
Charlie Scott(28)/Brian Taylor(20)
Julius Erving(40)/Charlie Scott(8)
Larry Kenon(30)/Billy Paultz(18)
Moses Malone(36)/Billy Paultz(12)

Point Guards:

Gail Goodrich-stunning shooter, great distributor, pesky defender and a winner through and through. Stumpy's adjusted height is 6'2". There are one and a half steals per game to his name.

Dave Bing-without the use of his left eye, Dave Bing still managed to dish 8 assists a game and score at a clip of 20 a game. At this stage in his career, he has gone from a mediocre defender to a good one. Like Goodrich, he also has one and a half steals per game.

My guards bring the same skills to the party. They are right at the same age, both great free throw shooters, both good rebounders for their heights, both good pickpockets, and excellent team players (West, Lanier). Goodrich benefits from a little more playing time with Erving, while Bing catalyzes a second unit.

Shooting Guards:

Charlie Scott-He's been proven to coexist with the good doctor. A prototypical all-star shooting guard, he can shoot it with the best of them, especially as a second option.

Brian Taylor-More of a support to Dr. J, this guy can steal the ball. His league-leading 2.8 steals a game and .518 FG%, make him a threat on both ends of the floor. He can spark fastbreaks and dribble penetrate.

In this situation, both players are drastically different. Scott brings the scoring threat to pair with Dr. J, and Taylor brings the disruption and cannot be left alone.

Small Forwards:

Julius Erving-Destruction rains from the skies. Also, he can shoot, rebound, pass, block shots, and steal the ball. In all of these areas, he is among the league leaders, and he is also deadly efficient. The most significant part of this guy's style is the fact that he plays so well off the ball.

Charlie Scott-taking the rest of the minutes so Erving can sit.

Power Forwards:

Larry Kenon-A super-athletic young guy who can grab double-digit rebounds next to two other guys grabbing double-digit rebounds. In this seasons he averages a double-double (18 and 11) with .509 FG%, and 1.3 steals a game. He is the most prolific pickpocket either league has seen at power forward. Also, he grabs all of his boards with one hand. Badass.

Billy Paultz-The other end of the defensive spectrum, this big body nearly averages a double-double with 15 and 9.7, while swatting 1.7 shots a game.

Larry Kenon is a great defensive player. With the athleticism to stay with the wiliest opponents and the quick hands to deny the ball from the bigger ones, he and Paultz provide two vastly different but equally effective defensive philosophies to defending the post.

Centers:

Moses Malone-When combined with Destruction From Above, championships are won. Of course, the MVP's have been flipped, but rookie Moses is not too far from his efficiency or impact as an MVP. He is firing .571 from the field, getting 18.8 points a game, 14.6 boards, 1 steal and 1.5 blocks a game.

Billy Paultz-Doing the same thing.

Between Kenon, Paultz, and Malone, scoring in the post will be extremely difficult. Malone supplies his most efficient FG% out of all of his years, since nobody knows what he's capable of. All of the centers are efficient scorers who don't need to take a high volume of shots on this team.

Coaching:

Kevin Loughery-His career numbers as a coach don't really do him any justice. He brought several young teams to the playoffs (rookie Jordan's Bulls, expansion Heat, etc.). He won two ABA championships, with this year being the exception. See Gregg Popovich in any even numbered year in the last decade.

Chemistry & Intangibles:

Goodrich-unselfish, played with an assortment of better players. Champion.

Bing-also unselfish, and scored because it was asked of him. Played with much less than perfect vision his whole career, with damaged retinas and whatnot. Defended very well at this stage in his career.

Scott-Played with Dr. J for a full season. Guess what? They coexisted by combining for 62 points a game.

Taylor-Savvy player and a hard-nosed defender. Efficient, and good with any lineup.

Erving-Played so well off the ball, other players can be the primary ball-handlers and his effectiveness on the floor would not be diminished at all.

Kenon-Fits in incredibly well with any assortment of rebounders. Instead of taking rebounds from his own teammates a la Troy Murphy, he cleans the defensive glass through athleticism. Malone handles the offensive boards.

Paultz-Formed a sort of Bird/McHale/Parish frontcourt with Erving and Kenon.

Moses Malone-Won a championship with Julius Erving, a feat most of this team has accomplished.

[SabasRevenge!]

1973 MVP (Dave Cowens)
1973 Coach of the Year (Tom Heinsohn)
1974 NBA Champions
1976 NBA Champions

Draft:
1. George Gervin
2. Spencer Haywood
3. Swen Nater
4. Fred Brown

Depth:
1 G: White
2 G: Gervin
3 F: Havlicek
4 F: Haywood
5 C: Cowens

6 G: Brown
7 F: Silas
8 C: Nater
9 G: Chaney
10 F: Nelson
11 G: Westphal
12 C: Ard

Minute Distribtion Range:
Cowens (36-40)
Havlicek (36-40)
Gervin (34-38)
White (34-38)
Haywood (24-28)
Brown (20-24)
Silas (20-24)
Nater (16-20)
Chaney (12-16)
Nelson (0)
Westphal (0)
Ard (0)

Code: Select all

Player          MP   FG  FGA   FG% FTA  FT%  REB AST STL BLK PTS
Dave Cowens     40.5 8.8 18.4 .475 3.8 .783 14.7 4.6 1.3 1.1 20.4
John Havlicek   38.2 7.8 17.2 .455 4.0 .870  5.9 5.3 1.3 0.2 19.2
George Gervin   37.1 9.3 19.7 .474 5.5 .830  8.3 2.5 1.6 1.6 23.4
Jo Jo White     39.3 8.0 17.6 .457 2.7 .834  3.8 5.6 1.6 0.2 18.3
Spencer Haywood 37.2 8.9 19.5 .459 5.6 .811  9.3 2.0 0.8 1.6 22.4
Paul Silas      32.5 3.8  9.1 .417 4.2 .709 12.5 2.7 0.7 0.3 10.6
Fred Brown      33.0 9.1 19.0 .480 3.4 .831  4.2 3.5 2.3 0.2 21.0
Swen Nater      34.8 6.3 11.7 .542 3.2 .752 16.4 1.2 0.6 1.1 15.1
Don Chaney      26.9 3.9  9.1 .428 2.0 .806  4.5 2.2 1.5 0.8  9.5
Don Nelson      26.0 5.4  9.9 .539 4.0 .827  5.9 2.3 0.4 0.2 14.0
Paul Westphal   19.3 4.2  8.2 .510 1.9 .763  2.0 2.9 1.0 0.4  9.8
Jim Ard         12.2 1.5  4.5 .335 1.1 .738  3.4 0.7 0.2 0.5  3.8


Coach
We're coached by eight time champ Tom Heinsohn who is coming off consecutive COY and NBA Champ years. He played under perhaps the greatest coach in NBA history and alongside Bill Russell. Heinsohn is the perfect coach to lead our pressure defense and fast break offense.

Players
G: Jo Jo White
2nd Team All-NBA, top ten in AST
Starting at PG, Jo Jo White is our offensive engine. He's a terrific leader whose speed will fit nicely with athletes like Havlicek, Gervin, Haywood, and Cowens in the starting lineup. They are all excellent rebounders and can all run with White, giving him four true weapons on offense. White has a reliable jumper, but his real strength is his ability to attack and play excellent defense on an opposing guard. He's also in his absolute prime in this season as a 2nd Team All-NBA selection behind only Frazier and Archibald at guard.

GF: George Gervin
2nd Team All-ABA, among leaders in PTS, REB, BLK, STL, PER, WS
Starting at SG, George Gervin is one of the best natural scorers in the game. He can stretch the D with his tremendous range or slice towards the basket. He's a serious chore for any defender. Gervin commanded his share of double and triple teams during his career, so we've surrounded him with scorers who are so capable that it will be tough to even double him. Gervin also pulled in 8.3 rebounds and registered 1.6 blocks and 1.6 steals per game in this season.

G: Fred Brown
6th in FG, 8th in PER, 4th in STL, 17th in WS
Our first guard off the bench and sixth man is Fred Brown. Downtown Freddie Brown is an elite distance shooter and excellent scorer. He's instant offense and spacing off the bench at either guard position and will have to be covered very closely due to his range and quick release.

G: Don Chaney
2nd Team All-Defense, Top 20 in BLK & STL
Our defensive guard is Don Chaney. This season was Chaney's fourth consecutive all-defense selection and we can count on him to come in and lock down either guard spot with his elite, harassing, on ball defense. Chaney was also among the league leaders in both steals and blocks.

FG: John Havlicek
2nd Team All-NBA, 1st Team All-Defense
At SF, John Havlicek is coming off his seventh consecutive All-D selection and eighth consecutive All-NBA selection. Already a seven time champ, Hondo is an important piece of both our offensive and defensive attack. A first team All-D selection, Hondo's legendary motor and defense will be used to harass our opponent's best G/F. On offense, Havlicek's ball handling and playmaking became quite good in the late 60's and he will handle the ball a fair amount for us both in transition and set offense.

FC: Spencer Haywood
2nd Team All-NBA, among leaders in PPG, RPG, BPG, FT, PER, WS
Starting at PF, Spencer Haywood is a physical freak of a player. He's a capable mid-range shooter as well as a force inside and a good rebounder. Haywood's ability to run the break will also be highly valued on this team. A 2nd Team All-NBA player, he's a real luxury in between Cowens and Havlicek on this squad.

CF: Dave Cowens
2nd Team All-NBA, 2nd Team All-Defense, 2nd in RPG
Starting at C, Dave Cowens is our defensive anchor and an offensive weapon. His mid-range jumper makes it difficult for his man to cheat off of him and his excellent screens will be great to free up White, Brown, Hondo, and Gervin. Cowens will be play relentless D on the opponent's best big man... until Paul Silas checks in.

FC: Paul Silas
All-Star, 1st Team All-Defense, 2nd in REB%, 10th in DWS/DRtg
Silas, like Unseld, is a brute of a player. Along with being the unsung hero of the 70's championship teams, his picks are legendary and he's an incredible rebounder. He's also a good athlete who can defend forwards and centers and had occasional scoring outbursts (sometimes 30+) when his team needed him. Silas is a guy who will do anything for his team and he would gladly accept this role off the bench, relishing the time he gets to punish the opponent.

C: Swen Nater
2nd Team All-ABA, #1 Rebounder in ABA and NBA
Backing up C, Swen Nater is one of the best pure rebounders in the history of the NBA. He can also play good man defense on the opposing center, though his lack of athleticism prevents him from helping out much. Nater's a capable offensive player as well, having modeled his hook shoot after Kareem's at UCLA. A career backup C under Wooden at UCLA, Nater will have no problem with this backup role. It's entirely possible that the productive Nater could register a double double in the 20 minutes he sees.

F: Don Nelson
1st in FG%
Nelson likely would have been a 6MOY candidate in his time, but with our additions through the draft he's our 10th man. He's a tough, efficient player who will likely only see time at SF if Havlicek and Gervin are on the bench.

G: Paul Westphal
7th in FG%
The young Westphal is a shooting specialist for us and our fourth guard off the bench. He's a situational player.

FC: Jim Ard
Ard is our 12th man. He's a rebounding and defensive specialist and our fifth big man who will only see garbage time.

Offense
This team will employ a fast break transition and motion offense. First, we will look to score off of every change in possession, be it a rebound, steal, make, or blocked shot. Our primary G/F rotation, Havlicek, Gervin, White, and Brown are in roles finishing and pushing the break while our dominant front court (and G/F) rebounding is key in initiating the break. The threat of our fast break and our dominant rebounders will make the opposition leery of crashing the boards, further increasing our rebounding advantage. Our starting big men, Haywood and Cowens, can also run with our guards and finish. Our excellent rebounders, shooters, finishers, athletes, and ball handlers will give us the best fast break in the game and generate many easy buckets and fouls.

When we don't have the opportunity to fast break, we have perfect personnel for our motion offense with great triple threat players on the perimeter. Havlicek, Gervin, and Brown are all excellent catch and shoot players while White can hit from mid-range and Hondo, Gervin, and White can all slash to the bucket and finish. Inside, all of our big men can score while Haywood and Cowens are especially proficient from mid-range on in. Silas and Cowens were known for their brutal picks and excellent court awareness. Additionally, our depth allows us to play key players reasonable minutes, allowing them to run defenders in the ground and through screens. Havlicek has the GOAT motor and will be an example to our other key shooters, Gervin and Brown.

This offensive strategy will throw a wrench into our opponent's defensive schemes. Our shooters and fast break will exploit a zone defense while our excellent individual scorers will exploit a man defense.

Spacing/Shooting
With Gervin and Brown both playing significant time, we're not concerned about our spacing. Our bigs all have decent range and all of our players are effective from mid-range at the very least. Westphal is also an option off the bench if more outside shooting is needed. Our players all have respectable FG percentages and our FT shooting is very good across the board.

Multiple Weapons
With this team, you never know who will have the huge game. White, Cowens, and Hondo led the Sonics to a 60 win season, but Silas had a scoring outburst every now and then. Gervin and Haywood, two 2nd Team All-NBA/ABA offensive players, could have huge nights. Fred Brown netted a 58 point night in 1974 and can rain from all over the court if he's hot. White, Cowens, Hondo, Gervin, Haywood, and Brown are our primary scorers, but Nelson, Silas, and Nater are certainly capable off the bench as well. Every single on of our starters is worth of being double teamed, but that will leave an equally lethal option open.

Rebounding
We have the deepest, best corps of rebounders in the game. Cowens is #2 in RPG, Silas is #2 in REB%, Nater is the best rebounder in the league, and Haywood grabbed 9.3 per game. Next we have Havlicek at SF pulling down 5.9 per game and Gervin at 8.3 per game followed by three guards who rebounded well, especially Chaney. Rebounding is a key for any team and our rebounding prowess allows us many easy scoring opportunities off of defensive rebounds and second chances off of offensive rebounds. Simply put, we're the best rebounding team in the league.

Defense
Led by All-Defense selections Cowens, Havlicek, Silas, and Chaney, we have the best defensive personnel in the league. Our defensive prowess isn't limited to a certain area. We have excellent defense in our starting lineup and off the bench and can match an elite defender on any position. Expect us to pressure the ball the entire game with Hondo, Chaney, and White while matching Silas and Cowens on our opponent's best post player.

Depth
In a league like this, most teams will have good depth. We have superb depth. This is especially important considering the fast break/pressure defense style we will employ. Our players will stay fresh for the entire game.

Leadership
Last but not least, we have the best championship level leadership in the game. Fresh off the 1974 title, Havlicek has a ton of rings as does our coach, Tom Heinisohn. Our Celtics core of Cowens, Havlicek, Silas, and White embody the all out hustle, sacrifice, and commitment to defense that will make a team with so much talent prevail on the court. In fact, this Celtics team went on to win the 1976 NBA title, narrowly missing a three peat by losing to the Bullets in the '75 ECF. In addition to the '70/'73 Knicks, the '74/'76 Celtics were the only team to repeat as champs in the 70's and arguably the greatest team of the decade... and that's before the addition of Gervin, Haywood, Nater, and Brown.

[BlackIce]

Black Magic

Roster

Sam Lacey
Marvin Barnes
Bobby Jones
Ralph Simpson
Mack Calvin
Mike Green
Billy Knight
Dave Twardzik
Patrick McFarland
Dave Robisch
Fatty Taylor
Claude Terry

8 Man Rotation (Playoffs)

Sam Lacey (38)/Mike Green(10)
Marvin Barnes (35)/Mike Green(3)/Bobby Jones(10)
Bobby Jones(28)/Billy Knight (20)
Ralph Simpson(35)/Billy Knight(13)
Mack Calvin(35)/Dave Twardzik(13)

Coach

Larry Brown. His commitment to defense and forceful personality was a big reason the Nuggests finished 1st in the ABA. If he could handle A.I (who said in 2005, that Brown was "the best coach in the world"), he can handle Marvin Barnes.

Overview

Defense. Our starting 5 averages 9 steals per game, and our starting front court averages 5.9 blocks per game.

Rebounding. Also a strength. Our bigs, Lacey (14.2) and Barnes (15.6) are elite rebounders. Green (9.2) isn't shabby either. Our wings, Jones (8.2) and Simpson (4.8) should have the rebounding advantage in most matchup's.

Scoring. Barnes (24/50%), Simpson (20.6/51%) will carry the scoring load with efficient help around both in Jones (14.8/60%), Calvin (20/49%) and although Lacey isn't a huge scoring threat (though his 5.3 APG, his passing from the post will be an integral part of our offense), Green our primary backup big is (17.4/54%).

Passing. All-ABA (1st) PG to run the team, and one of the best passing bigs in the game.


...may add more tomorrow but this should be enough for now...

[TMACFORMVP]

Golden State Warriors (1974-1975)




SF - Rick Barry: 30.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 6.2 APG, 2.9 SPG on .464 from the field and .904 from the line. NBA All-Star, All-NBA First Team, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, finished 4th in MVP Voting.

PF - Elvin Hayes: 23.0 PPG, 12.2 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.9 SPG, 2.3 BPG on .443 from the field and .766 from the line. NBA All-Star, All-NBA First Team, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, finished 3rd in MVP Voting. Averaged 26/11 on 47% in the post-season (17 GAMES).

--

PG - Norm Van Lier: 15.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 5.8 APG, 2.0 SPG on .420 from the field, and .792 from the line. Previous time NBA All-Star, All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team, Finished 11th in MVP Voting. Averaged 15/5/5 on 41% in the playoffs (13 GAMES)

SG - Mike Riordan: 15.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.0 SPG on .492 from the field and .838 from the line. Previous time All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team.

Cc - Elmore Smith: 10.9 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.1 SPG, 2.9 BPG (2nd in the NBA) ON .493 from the field.

6th Man - Jamaal Wilkes: 14.2 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2.2 APG on .443 from the field, and .734 from the line. NBA's Rookie of the Year, Named to All-NBA Defensive Team the following two years.

7th Man - Clifford Ray: 9.4 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.2 SPG, 1.4 BPG on .522 from the floor. 8th in the league in offensive rebounds, and 9th in TS%.

8th Man - Butch Beard: 12.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.6 APG on .528 from the field. NBA All-Star in 1972.


Picks
1. Elvin Hayes
2. Norm Van Lier
3. Mike Riordan
4. Elmore Smith

Rotation

PG - Norm Van Lier (39) - Butch Beard (9)
SG - Mike Riordan (35) - Rick Barry (8) - Butch Beard (5)
SF - Rick Barry (32) - Jamal Wilkes (16)
PF - Elvin Hayes (40) - Jamaal Wilkes (8)
Cc - Elmore Smith (28) - Clifford Ray (20)

*Note, Beard's play at PG will be with Barry on the floor.

Coach: Al Attles
This man coached the Golden State Warriors for 14 seasons, and finished with an above .500 record and a championship during his tenure. I don't care what era Warriors we're talking about, that's impressive. Nice article about Barry's misunderstood attitude, and his connection with teammate Clifford Ray, and coach Attles.

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/s ... fford.ray/

- Defensively this Warriors team is elite. Around Rick Barry, the Warriors at the time won a championship because of his brilliant play, and the Warriors resurgence defensively in the post-season (held teams to 95 PPG on 43% from the floor). Our goal was to add another superstar, while not only maintaining that defensive foundation but making it more consistent and dominant in a regular season setting. With Van Lier, whom is a top three defensive guard of this era, and Riordan a former All-NBA defensive player, while being labeled the "Barry stopper," during this particular season, we feel our backcourt defensively has the versatility to cover majority of opponents perimeter players. [RE: Don't forget Barry led the NBA in steals at nearly three per game, while he wasn't terrific man to man, on the weak-side, which we can afford with the defenders we've put around him, he can be devastating in the passing lanes].

Upfront, we run a four man rotation, pushing previous starter Jamaal Wilkes to the bench to be our backup tweener. Both of our PF's, Hayes, and Wilkes have been All-NBA defenders, Hayes in this selected season as well. Both Elmore, and Ray were known for their game changing defensive play, Smith for his shot-blocking and rebounding, and Ray with his toughness. Both don't require shot attempts, and like the backcourt, our frontcourt provides efficient offense around our two superstars with the defensive versatility/dominance to cover the likes of any frontcourt we encounter in the regular season.

* The Warriors led the league in steals in the regular season as well. Van Lier should only help upgrade that category, as should Hayes (whom surprisingly averaged nearly two steals per game as well). The only area in which the Warriors were mediocre was in shot-blocking. We've tremendously improved in that regard as well adding the 2nd, and 4th leading shot-blockers in the NBA, in Smith, and Hayes respectively. The Warriors have no holes defensively, sound man to man, and absolutely devastating on the weak-side.

- Rebounding is another propelling factor towards why the Warriors will make the playoffs. We look at a Celtics team, we see Silas and Cowens. We look at a Bullets team and see Hayes and Unseld. It was neither of them that were the best rebounding team in the NBA. It was the Golden State Warriors, with Clifford Ray being the best rebounder. Here we add two of the best rebounders in the NBA in Hayes and Smith, and upgrade our guard position rebounding with Van Lier as well. Controlling the game both on the boards, and defensively, catapulted by our two superstars offensively, the Warriors have the "winning formula."

- Star power is something the Warriors do not lack. Some might question the pairing of Hayes, and Barry, two of the more vocal players in the NBA. But for neither should it be a problem on the court. Hayes played an integral role on a dominant Bullets team, and Barry had been acclaimed as "finally getting it," trusting in his teammates ala Kobe Bryant. Neither should sacrifice what they did best as we surrounded the both of them with defensive role players that can play off the ball. In terms of duo, one could make an argument the Warriors possess the best duo in the NBA

* Deadline was today I believe, so just wanted to get something in. Would add more if there was more time permitted or in need of a writeup/questions for why my team should make the playoffs.

(Question: With eight teams, why don't we just run a regular playoff format, everyone would be more involved, and definitely easier I'd think).

[penbeast0]

BlackIce has the Larry Brown led Denver Nuggets who posted the best record in basketball plus

F/C Marvin "Bad News" Barnes
C Sam Lacey
F/G Billy Knight
G Dave Twardzik

[Snakebites]

For the love of god, my name is SNAKEBITES, not Snakebite.

Sorry, can't remain silent on that issue any longer.

NEW YORK KNICKS

Draft:

Round 1: Bob Lanier
Round 2: Chet Walker
Round 3: Maurice Lucas
Round 4: Phil Chenier

I believe that here I have built a team which is deficient in absolutely no major areas, and possesses elite level talent coupled with terrific teamwork and a culture that is decisively conducive to winning basketball games.

First, a word about team culture:

Obviously, when selecting a team that was sub- .500 in selected years, this is an inherent concern in MOST situations. I argue that in my case, the team with the additions I have made will be able to slip right back into its winning ways.

Our initial (pre-draft setup) suggests this team will have the culture of an elite winner for 2 key reasons:

1) Coach. Red Holzman's reputation speaks for itself. He won two NBA Championships as a coach in 1970 and 1973, coaching what many consider to be some of the greatest teams ever assembled. He encouraged a team mentality that the Frazier/Reed lead Knicks always greatly prided themselves on and got flashy players like Earl Monroe to buy into a team concept and make personal sacrifices for the good of their team. In the NBA's 50th anniversary festivities, he was named one of the 10 greatest coaches in NBA history, and deservedly so. He also won COY in 1970.

2) Frazier and the Pearl. Simply put, Frazier guy was a baller, a team player, and a straight up winner and legendary clutch performer. The team struggled this season and those thereabouts because the players around Frazier retired and aged in droves following their championship only a couple years prior. He and his sidekick Monroe gave us the best backcourt in the league, ready made. Supply them with an elite front court (which I believe we have) and watch out. Frazier is the best guard in either league at this stage and most likely would have been a top 2 pick in the draft had the Knicks not been selected.

To speak generally of our additions:

Lanier is a proven class act and terrific team player and a top 3 "pure" center in the game, Chet Walker is a proven ingredient on a championship team who also has first option capacities, and Phil Chenier was All NBA-Second team this selected year and a proven winner as well. Lucas, while a rookie, is the perfect defensive and rebounding role player for this team, and demonstrated his capacity in this regard as Bill Walton's right hand man on the NBA championship Blazers only two years later. He averaged 16/15 in two rounds of the ABA playoffs in the selected year, and did so inspite of playing alongside the dominant Marvin Barnes.

Now for the nuts and bolts:

Offense: We have 3 players: Lanier, Frazier, and Walker, who were top 10 in the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating in selected years. Frazier will lead the charge and has a set off weapons at his disposal that will put what he had in the selected year to absolute shame. In edition to his own devastating penetration and mid-range abilities, he has one of the most talented offensive centers in the game to play with. Lanier's range will make his partnership with Frazier strikingly remeniscient of the one he had with Willis Reed, but his passing ability adds a further dimension to this symbiosis and should make our offensive attack one of the most coherent and efficient this league has to offer. Lanier's range allows him to space the floor and draw an opposing anchor out of the middle, allowing our cutting wings to put their potent skills to good use. His ability to find cutting players and pass out of the post also makes our team incredibly difficult to defend, to say nothing of his own dynamic abilities (24/12 on 51% fg) in selected years.

Our guard rotation would have been perhaps the greatest of all time had it actually existed. Between Frazier, Monroe, and Chenier, we will have TWO elite guards pounding opposing defenses at all times in an overwhelming assault. Frazier's abilities are well known, and Chenier was noted for an extremely well rounded offensive game which included a smooth jumpshot and handles. Monroe is known as one of the most baffling ball handlers and craftiest scorers ever to play the game. Chet Walker's balanced and incredibly efficient offensive game provides additional options for this team and puts an even greater strain on opposing defenses. These perimeter players all draw fouls and will create issues in this regard early and often, especially Walker. It should be noted that Lanier, Chenier, Monroe, Frazier, and Walker are all 80% shooting from the FT line or better, and many are also extremely effective at getting there. Lucas, Jackson, and Bradley all serve secondary roles in this offense, and while not outstanding in their abilities, are all extremely intelligent players who will recognize the supporting nature of their offensive roles while surrounded by 5 absolutely elite scoring options. It should also be noted that all of our high powered offensive players demonstrated the capacity to work within larger offensive schemes and deal with other major scoring options. Frazier and Monroe did so on the Knicks, Walker on the Sixers, Lanier on the Bucks, and Chenier on the Bullets.

Defense: Our team is also rough and tough defensively. Up front, Lanier and Lucas give us enough grit and toughness to match toe to toe with even the most imposing front courts placed before us. Lanier is also an elite shot blocker who can anchor the team's overall defense effectively. On the perimeter Frazier is the best defender his position has ever seen, and has the ability to guard either guard position so whichever guard is the biggest threat is in for an extremely rough night. Chenier was no slouch defensively either, and between he and Frazier (both over 2 steals per game) they will be able to keep pressure on and force turnovers, which will lead to plenty of open-floor opportunities offensively. Chet Walker never made an all defensive team, but had a reputation for toughness, determination, and hard work on the defensive end and proved to be an exceptional fit with a defensive concept in Chicago. Phil Jackson, in addition to being a great locker room guy, made up for his relatively limited offensive skill by putting up supreme defensive effort and hustle, and provides exactly what we want from a forward off the bench.

Rebounding: Simply put, Frazier at point guard (6 rebounds per game) puts us at a considerable advantage here. Lanier and Lucas is an extremely high level rebounding tandem up front, and Chet Walker is rock solid for his position in this capacity as well. We will boast a rebounding advantage against many teams and will never see this as a considerable disadvantage for our team in any matchup.

Rotation:

Lanier (40)/Lucas (8)
Lucas (24)/Jackson (24)
Walker (33)/Bradley (15)
Earl Monroe (24)/Phil Chenier (24)
Walt Frazier (38)/Earl Monroe (10)

An overall note: Our offense runs primarily through Frazier and Lanier, two elite players at their respective (and critical) positions, and Chenier, Monroe, and Chenier offer elite support in the context of this offense. All 5 players have the frightening ability to take over games. Walker was the best offensive player on the successful Bulls teams. Chenier averaged a reasonably efficient 25 ppg in the playoffs in selected years, and Monroe is an elite scoring guard as well. Our passing from Frazier and Lanier puts us at an advantage as well, and our team is no slouch defensively either.

The Knicks struggled with Jackson and Bradley starting in the selected year, but their intelligence, team play, and hustle makes them rock solid as supporting bench players surrounded by such elite level talent. Phil Jackson in particular fills his backup role perfectly with defense and hustle.

Our team contains elite level talent, has an exceptional coach and player leadership, and plays a coherent team game on both ends of the floor, and we believe it is elite in any context, including this one.

[TurkishThunder]

sorry I'm late but here it is.
Philadelphia 76ers

Starters
Center: Caldwell Jones

Power Forward:Bob McAdoo

Small Forward:Rudy Tomjanovich

Shooting Guard:Fred Carter

Point Guard: Nate "Tiny" Archibald

Rotation/Minute Distribution
Tiny Archibald(38)/Don Smith(10)
Fred Carter(30)/Doug Collins (16)/Freddie Boyd(2)
Rudy Tomjanovich(26)/Billy Cunningham(22)
Bob Mcadoo(39/Allan Bistow(9)
Caldwell Jones(34)/Leroy Ellis(9)/Clyde Lee(5)
More To Come.....

[penbeast0]

The next step is to post judgement upon each of the other teams' head to head series during the regular season. What I would like is for GMs to:

(1) Make a single thread and use the edit button to put all your series results in that thread.

(2) Post all comments and rebuttals of other GMs in the Comments thread.

PS: If there are good comments and rebuttals, I have no problem with people changing their votes -- I want to have that option too. Thanks

[penbeast0]

REGULAR SEASON PREDICTIONS

1. Philly v. Milwaukee

Each team has some fundamental flaws – there is a reason why these two teams had the worst record of any picked. On the other hand, each added some terrific talent and may have closed the gap with the top teams.

Philadelphia changed the most, adding 4 starters and moving PG Fred Carter over to SG. Bob McAdoo is the best offensive player in the game, even ahead of Julius Erving; Nate Archibald is the most explosive offensive PG in the game; Rudy Tomjanovich is a terrific shooter . . . this has turned into a dynamite offensive team. Defensively, it’s not so good. The above three players are all below average defenders and while Caldwell Jones is a shotblocker, he is still rail thin and can only cover so much ground. I question playing Rudy T and Carter ahead of Billy Cunningham (a much better player in every respect but jump shooting) and Doug Collins (for the outside shooting) but don’t think it’s ridiculous.

Milwaukee is still Kareem’s team and this is Kareem at his most isolated and insular. He talks about this in Giant Steps. He had converted to Islam in 1970 and was active in the Hanafi movement; then in December 1973, 7 Hanafis (5 kids) were murdered in Kareem’s townhouse by black gang members for the crime of speaking ill about Elijah Mohammed. Always reserved, Kareem withdrew into a shell and Milwaukee’s team declined precipitously – finishing under .500 in 74-75 and 75-76. He added to this by publicly coming out before the 74 season and saying he wanted out of Milwaukee. McGinnis may have trouble with Larry Costello’s discipled old-school approach too: “His practice habits weren’t the best . . .you had to be patient with George and show him a lot of love,” (Coach Slick Leonard) but coaches will do that for great talent; and McGinnis gives Milwaukee a main man outside of Kareem.

Big Man offense – Kareem and McGinnis are too much offensively for McAdoo and Jones though McAdoo will get his.
Wing/Point offense – Philly has more explosive scoring, Milwaukee is more efficient. Both fit well straight up in man offense.
Playmaking – Archibald gives an edge as a creator plus McGinnis is a turnover machine.
Rebounding – Milwaukee has the edge just about everywhere except SF.
Defense – Again, Milwaukee has a strong edge everywhere
Bench – Philly has Cunningham and Collins plus uses a lot of players off their original squad; Milwaukee has cut it’s rotation to 7 players with its starting five supplemented only by Jim Price who had injury issues and Nate Thurmond who was at the end of his career. While Milwaukee has other players, Philly has more and shows more confidence in them.
Coaching – Costello had a terrific run in Milwaukee, even in 1974 the Buck were NBA finalists. Shue’s teams were like his career, they tended to be less disciplined and play sloppy defense though he was much more popular as a player’s coach.
Intangibles – Kareem has to become part of the team; while Philly will have problems with Cunningham and Collins wanted PT or else, both were pros and should suck it up well.

Milwaukee should still win this series.

2. Milwaukee v. New York
New York added exactly what it needed – an outstanding center in Lanier, a physical rebounding big to play with him, and an upgrade at SF, plus Phil Chenier for depth. And, both Lanier and Lucas are willing passers who can play Holtzman’s passing/motion offense. That said, I don’t think they are as overall talented as Milwaukee but the talent fits nicely.

Big Man offense – Milwaukee will score more and Kareem will limit Lanier more than visa versa.
Wing/Point offense – Milwaukee has excellent 1/2/3 defenders but is less efficient offensively than NY and Frazier should disrupt their offensive patterns as Randy Smith is not a great ballhandler/distributor, much as I love his two way game.
Playmaking – New York has equal or better passing pretty much 1-5.
Rebounding – New York’s rebounding is solid, Milwaukee’s is better.
Defense – Milwaukee has a strong defensive edge with Jabbar and Sloan plus Dandridge but McGinnis is the worst defender on the floor and Frazier arguably the best. Close
Bench – Not a huge fan of Phil Jackson and Bill Bradley (to say the least) as players but they are adequate and Chenier is outstanding.
Coaching – Holzman had even more success than Costello and his players fit his system well.
Intangibles – Frazier and Kareem will make or break this series despite all the talent around them; Kareem could carry a team alone, Frazier’s heroics come with talent around him. Edge NY

Jabbar always owned Lanier when I saw them; despite the great job Snakebites did as GM, I think Milwaukee is still slightly better.

3. New York Knicks v. Golden State
Golden State’s big addition was Elvin Hayes. How well he and Rick Barry, two players known for never admitting fault and irritation teammates, get along is a challenge. Van Lier is a terrific defensive addition, Riordan is solid, Elmore Smith was not the player his numbers say but Golden State has terrific depth in Ray, Wilkes and Beard (and for that matter they have 3 other fine guards who have been cut out of the rotation).

Big Man Offense – Lanier is more efficient than Hayes, Lucas a better offensive player than Smith; though when they go to their bench, Golden State takes back much of this edge.
Wing/Point Offense – Barry is the most likely to explode but Frazier can step up too, and Monroe/Walker/Chenier is a good step up on Van Lier/Riordan/Beard.
Playmaking – Both excellent until the ball goes inside to the GS bigs, unlike NY’s bigs who are willing passers.
Rebounding – Hayes is the best on the floor, Van Lier is as physical as Frazier, and Cliff Ray gives GS an extra edge.
Defense – GS has a great start in Hayes and Van Lier plus Smith’s shotblocking but NY has no one who can be attacked like Barry (and Smith).
Bench – Golden State should let CJ, Smith, Mullin, and even Dickey have some minutes so they aren’t burned out and hobbling by playoff time but still have a clear edge.
Coaching – Attles team wasn’t that good but they got hot at the right time (and then were a .700 team the next year as Phil Smith broke out). Hard to go against the champion but still like Holtzman better.
Intangibles – Golden State has clearer roles and better depth

Still, Knicks should win this one

4. Golden State v. New York Nets
The Nets added Moses and some explosive scoring guards which gives them more weapons besides Erving but are even more a one-on-one isolation team than they were (though it worked pretty well for them in 74 and 76) and there just aren’t enough balls for all the gunners out there.

Big Man Offense – Moses is a super efficient scorer, though a terrible passer at this point. Hayes is far less so. Kenon also gives more scoring than Smith.
Wing/Point Offense – Erving v. Barry – sheesh. Barry has the kind of game that can give Julius trouble, taking him far outside; but he can’t handle Doc on the other end. NY’s guards are superior scorers to the Warrior’s crew though finding shots for all of them may lessen Julius’s dominance.
Playmaking – Goodrich isn’t a great playmaker (though Bing is), Barry actually has a clear edge on Doc, and Moses is a black hole. Strong edge GS.
Rebounding – Moses is the greatest offensive rebounder in NBA history but Hayes is better on the defensive boards. Erving explodes over Barry, Van Lier will outmuscle Goodrich; should be interesting.
Defense – Golden State has the edge everywhere but SF.
Bench – Some terrific bench talent here: Ray, Wilkes, and Beard v. Bing, Taylor, and Paultz. Don’t like Scott playing SF but hard to pick against either team.
Coaching – Neither are great X and Os guys, Attles is more the defensive coach.
Intangibles – An issue for both teams with all the shooters on NY some of whom will be unhappy v. the personalities of the GS stars.

Overall, going with Golden States


5. New York Nets v. Boston Celtics
The Celtics were the vanguard of the “NBA Style” with an emphasis on unselfish play and defensive intensity (or at least that’s what they talked about). To that they add two great scorers, neither of whom were known for defense: “Defense is for those who can’t score,” (paraphrasing a Gervin a saw in someone’s sig). Boston actually tried this adding Sidney Wicks and Bob McAdoo and it was a disaster; but they still have Havlicek and his link to the Celtic legacy at this point.

Big Man Offense – Cowens v. Moses should be a lot of fun to watch for fans of blood sports while Kenon and Haywood, if they can get the ball, should score on each other pretty freely. The Celtics pair has much better range, but aren’t as efficient.
Wing/Point offense – similarly Doc v. Hondo should be a brutal match while Scott and Gervin light each other up. White and Goodrich, if there are any shots left, also has the potential for firewords. Basically both teams went for the 5 shooter offense rather than role players
Playmaking – Again, with everyone looking to shoot, neither team will be great playmaking though their signature stars, Erving and Havlicek, are both reasonably unselfish as great players go.
Rebounding – Slight edge to NY until it goes to the bench where Nater and Silas are both brutes which should even things back up.
Defense – The Celtics have more players in their starting lineup who focus on defense plus Silas and Chaney off the bench to match up with Paultz and Taylor.
Coaching – Both coaches are player’s coaches who aren’t wedded to inflexible systems; Heinsohn has a surprisingly outstanding W-L record in a much shorter tenure.
Intangibles – Both are recent champions but Boston has more team oriented guys

Overall, Boston is more likely to play team ball.

6. Boston Celtics v. Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets were a classic Larry Brown group of hard-working overachievers. He put in a passing/motion offense and a jump-and-switch offense, neither of which were common in the pro game and both worked extremely well though teams may have adjusted better in the playoffs explaining Denver coming up short with the leagues best record in 75 and 76. Unfortunately, their top addition is possibly the player worst suited to a team emphasizing intelligence and team play. Marvin “Bad News” Barnes was an undoubted talent equal to anyone playing – he was also lazy, could care less about team goals, and had a very low basketball IQ. “(Marvin) couldn’t make it to practice or catch a team flight. He had great talent, yet that talent was lost in all the excess,” Bob Costas, the team announcer. “(Barnes’s St. Louis team) was incredible. Nobody passed the ball, no one helped out on defense, everyone just wanted the rock and went 1-on-1… They never stopped anyone, becaue they had no idea of what it meant to play pro basketball” Steve Jones. Marvin walked off the team for a while halfway through the 75 season too. His talent will win them a couple of games they should have lost; his antics will lose them a lot more.

Big man offense: Lacey is a very good player but not a scorer (a Wes Unseld type), Barnes may be a little bigger/stronger than Haywood, or even Cowens, but Cowens and Haywood will score freely on Marvin and Lacey isn’t quick enough to chase Cowens around the floor.
Wing/Point offense: Simpson actually was considered Gervin’s equal winning first team all-NBA over him in 76, Bobby Jones while not a high volume scorer was incredibly efficient, and Calvin was superquick though Jojo White is bigger and stronger. Slight edge Denver.
Playmaking: Lacey, Simpson, and Calvin are all excellent passers; so are White, Havlicek, and Cowens. But Denver is going to be quite turnover prone with Barnes and co.
Rebounding: Both teams have a lot of terrific rebounders, Boston has the edge off the bench
Defense: Boston
Bench: Green, Knight, and Twardzik all need team play to thrive, Boston has guys whose roles should be a great fit with their offense in Silas’s rebounding and toughness, Freddie Brown’s long range shooting, and even Nater’s muscleman schtick.
Coaching: Larry Brown is one of the 3 greatest coaches of all time and got Allen Iverson to a final, though it aged him 5 years; on the other hand, he basically threw up his hands with the Isiah Knicks – as a teacher, one trouble maker and you can still keep the rest of the class focused much of the time.
Intangibles: Don’t love the additions to either team but Boston’s are the less destructive of the two.

Boston wins the series.

7. Denver v. Philadelphia

Big man offense: McAdoo is a lot better than Marvin, neither center is a real threat.
Wing/Point offense: Two of the fastest PGs around will create for themselves and teammates, both 3’s are combo forwards who match up well, Simpson has the edge on Carter at the two.
Playmaking: Tiny is one of the great creators all-time.
Rebounding: Denver has better individual rebounders if they can be harnessed.
Defense: Bobby Jones is the difference here
Bench: Philly has a deeper, stronger bench though Denver’s may have better numbers
Coaching: Again, Larry Brown is an all-time great
Intangibles: Larry Brown minus Marvin Barnes is less than McAdoo plusTiny.

Philadelphia wins

MIDSEASON

8. Sixers v. Knicks
Big man offense – McAdoo is the best weapon and will do more with Lucas than Lanier will with Caldwell Jones.
Wing/Point offense – Tiny’s speed will give Frazier headaches but Frazier will score at will on the other end, Rudy and Chet is a draw, Monroe has the edge over Carter.
Playmaking – Tiny is one of the best ever and Carter and Monroe is a draw, but New York has the advantages all across the front line
Rebounding – New York has the edge pretty consistently
Defense – New York is a better defensive team
Bench – Collins matches up well with Chenier, no one on NY can match up with Cunningham
Coaching – Holtzman with a good passing and defense team should work well
Intangibles – Philly has a lot more work to adjust plus Frazier is a big game guy
Overall, New York should win this

9. Bucks v. Warriors
Big Man Offense – Hayes was always in Kareem’s shadow plus McGinnis as well? Bucks
Wing/Point Offense – Barry gives the Warriors the edge
Playmaking – With two solid PGs, Barry’s playmaking and McGinnis’s turnovers (interesting that his turnovers stayed high even in years where his assists were low) is key
Rebounding – Hayes and McGinnis are terrific, Jabbar and Sloan give the edge to Bucks
Defense – Both solid teams with some holes
Bench – Ray switched places with Thurmond and won a ring plus Wilkes and more depth give Golden State a big advantage
Coaching – Attles seems to be more focused than Costello as the 70s attitude is wearing on the old school coach
Intangibles – Kareem and McGinnis, Elvis and Barry, mmmmmm
Overall, I just don’t see Golden State’s big men doing enough to beat Milwaukee

10. Knicks v. Nets
Big Man Offense – Both sides have solid big man offense but it’s secondary in their scheme
Wing/Point Offense – Doc is too much for Walker but the Knick guards make up much of this deficit
Playmaking – The Knicks are looking for the best shot, the Nets are looking for their own shot
Rebounding – Moses and Erving give the Nets a strong edge
Defense – Frazier is the biggest difference maker (presumably against Scott)
Bench – Chenier and Bing are the difference makers but Bradley will have to be carefully spotted in, he can handle Scott, he can’t handle Doc
Coaching – Again, I like this team for Holtzman
Intangibles – The Knicks seem to fit together better with role players and more of a halfcourt game
Overall – the Knicks should take this

11. Warriors v. Celtics
Big Man Offense – Cowens should be able to draw Smith (or Hayes) out of his comfort zone but Hayes (or Smith) will be able to work inside on Haywood
Wing/Point Offense – Barry v. Havlicek is a great matchup, Riordan was a good defender for Gervin’s type of game, even the PGs are a good match, Boston has more weapons
Playmaking – Both teams rely a lot on SF playmaking, both have guys who stop the ball
Rebounding – Hayes is the best rebounder on the floor and with Ray off the bench should give GS the edge
Defense – Golden State defends the driving lanes extremely well with two great shotblockers and a disruptive PG to force the offense to the wings
Bench – Boston goes deeper but put all their defensive role players on the bench, Golden State’s bench is better balanced though they would be more effective giving Charles Johnson, Phil Smith, and/or Jeff Mullins the backup minutes at the 2
Coaching – Two coaches with good success in this period
Intangibles – I think Boston’s new players will be tougher to integrate than Golden State’s
Overall – the shotblocking of GS should make a difference against Gervin and Havlicek’s slashing attack

12. Nets v. Nuggets
Big Man Offense – Lacey is a good matchup for Moses, Barnes and Kenon won’t have a great effect on each other’s offense
Wing/Point Offense – Bobby Jones should be a good matchup for Erving but Doc ate his lunch in last year’s finals. With the two backcourts pretty evenly matched, Doc has to beat up on Jones again.
Playmaking – Calvin is the best playmaker on the floor; Barnes’s poor decision making is matched by Moses’s equally poor passing
Rebounding – Denver is one of the few frontlines that can physically bang with Moses and Doc and Barnes and their guards have a slight edge
Defense – Other than the SF matchup, there isn’t a whole lot of great defense around here
Bench – Green had a surprisingly good year while Paultz was his normal consistent self. Billy Knight could have a big series here
Coaching – Larry Brown and Doug Moe will either be drinking heavily or a COY candidate
Intangibles – Erving’s leadership gives the Nets a stronger team identity unless Larry Brown can pull this Nuggets crew together
Overall – This is a good matchup for the Nuggets and they should pull it out

13. Celtics v. Sixers
Big Man Offense – Assuming Cowens will bang with McAdoo who he always played well against, Jones hasn’t got enough game to really make Haywood pay; should be close
Wing/Point Offense – Fred Carter can’t handle Gervin
Playmaking – Nate is a lot better creator than JoJo White; Havlicek and Carter are both good secondary ballhandlers
Rebounding – Neither team seems dominant, Boston’s backcourt has an edge though
Defense – Boston has more stoppers though Philly’s shotblocking is better
Bench – Philly has the edge with Cunningham
Coaching – Shue keeps getting jobs, Heinsohn was basically just this run but Heinsohn’s job in Boston beat anything Shue ever produced
Intangibles – Very tough jobs to figure roles and fit for both teams
Overall – the Celtics have as many weapons offensively and a little more defense

14. Nuggets v. Bucks
Big Man Offense – Milwaukee has a huge edge
Wing/Point Offense – Denver has the more explosive backcourt with both SF’s being solid
Playmaking – Denver has more playmakers though they make more mistakes too
Rebounding – Despite McGinnis, Denver won’t get abused here
Defense – Milwaukee has a strong edge at center and guard
Bench – Denver has a strong edge particularly Billy Knight who should have another big series
Coaching – Larry Brown can handle the free spirits better than Larry Costello
Intangibles – McGinnis and Barnes are the focal points, I’d trust McGinnis more
Overall – Despite this, I think Barnes will be focused (for once) by the big names he is facing and Denver’s bench will dominate as Milwaukee’s thin rotation starts to wear down before the break. Denver can surprise in this one

LATE SEASON

15. Sixers v. Warriors
Big Man Offense – McAdoo is a lot more efficient than Hayes, neither center is a great scorer.
Wing/Point Offense – Barry is more explosive than Tomjanovich, Archibald has an even bigger edge on Van Lier, Riordan is more efficient than Carter, both have terrific SF reserves, Collins can outscore Beard, call it a wash
Playmaking – Both have two playmakers, again, no clear edge
Rebounding – Golden State has an edge at the 4,3,and 1
Defense – Golden State
Bench – Both have terrific sixth men, slight edge Philly
Coaching – Edge Golden State
Intangibles – Philly has less personality challenges
Overall – Golden State

16. Bucks v. Nets
Big Man Offense – Milwaukee
Wing/Point Offense – Nets
Playmaking – Both have issues with interior passing turnovers, Nets have more outside playmaking
Rebounding – Nets
Defense – Milwaukee
Bench – Nets
Coaching – With these players, Kevin Loughery
Intangibles – Nets
Overall -- Nets

17. Knicks v. Celtics
Big Man Offense – Celtics are more explosive, Knicks more efficient
Wing/Point Offense – Celtics are more explosive, Knicks more efficient
Playmaking – Knicks
Rebounding – Close
Defense – New York
Bench – Boston
Coaching – New York
Intangibles – New York
Overall – New York

18. Warriors v. Nuggets
Big Man Offense – If Barnes comes to play, Denver, but Golden State more consistent
Wing/Point Offense – Golden State though Calvin brings more than Van Lier
Playmaking – Wash
Rebounding – Denver
Bench – Warriors have an inside edge
Coaching – Denver
Intangibles – Golden State
Overall – Golden State

19. Nets v. Sixers
Big Man Offense – Sixers have McAdoo, Nets have more weapons
Wing/Point Offense – Sixers have Tiny, Nets have more weapons
Playmaking – Tiny gives the edge
Rebounding – Moses and Doc dominate
Bench – Sixers
Coaching – Loughery has won more than Shue
Intangibles – Doc and the Nets have a ring
Overall -- Nets

20. Celtics v. Bucks
Big Man Offense – Both good matchups but Milwaukee has more
Wing/Point Offense – Again some good matchups but Boston has more
Playmaking – Both will have some issues
Rebounding – Milwaukee has the inside edge, Boston outside
Bench – Celtics
Coaching – Celtics
Intangibles – Both are living off past glories, Boston’s are more recent
Overall -- Boston

21. Nuggets v. Knicks
Big Man Offense – New York easily
Wing/Point Offense – New York but not easily
Playmaking – New York’s interior passing is superior
Rebounding – Pretty even
Bench – Denver
Coaching – Larry Brown is the key to the series if he can get Barnes on board
Intangibles – New York
Overall -- Knicks



FINISHED

[penbeast0]

Please post comments in the Comment thread.

[Miller4ever]

Kentucky Colonels VS Boston Celtics

Starting off with a tough matchup here. Sabas has offered rotation ranges that the bare minimum miss the total 240 by 8 minutes. Just do some math. No one assumes rotation minutes are set in stone.

penbeast has a great gameplan in the post. He definitely has a better grasp of the players on his team than I do of mine. His big man rotation has many bases covered, from the role-fitting post dominance on both ends to things like intangibles and spacing. I like his bigs better than Sabas.

The biggest weakness on the Colonels I see is that of Boone's height. pen made his case and I've taken that into account. However, he is up against George Gervin and a still-effective John Havlicek. I assume he'll be up against Havlicek to start, allowing Wil Jones to take on the task of guarding Gervin.

This matchup comes out pretty even on defense. Statistics support pen here, and Gervin doesn't really do much to help Sabas here. He makes up for it on offense.

Looking at the depth, I see a deeper Celtics team in terms of talent, but taking into account the overall efficiency of pen, I think he gets the nod here.

Kentucky Colonels

Kentucky Colonels VS Milwaukee Bucks

I would like to point out that George McGinnis is like Chris Webber on steroids. However, he relied too much on athleticism and thus has turnover diarrhea.

That being said, he makes this Milwaukee team monstrously stacked. This is the best frontcourt in the game, with two MVP's in the post. However, pen's team does not lag that much. In fact, with Wes Unseld and Artis Gilmore, he may give the Bucks the hardest time out of all the teams here. With a slightly larger edge on the remaining parts of the team, I think the Colonels take the regular season matchup against the Bucks.

Kentucky Colonels

Kentucky Colonels VS New York Knicks

On the back end of their lifespan, the New York Knicks are still a force, but Bob Lanier turns them into a championship team again. The team has balance and championship experience. Unfortunately, the positions that the Knicks dominate against other opponents, the Colonels can mitigate quite well. Lanier and Gilmore makes a great matchup. Dampier and Frazier is close, at least in the regular season.

In the playoffs, the Knicks will make this a WAY tougher decision, but I have to give the regular season victory to the Colonels.

Kentucky Colonels

Kentucky Colonels VS Denver Nuggets

Another matchup that Kentucky wins being the superior regular season team. The Nuggets have championship talent and some great picks, but Kentucky wins in several individual matchups and coaching.

Kentucky Colonels

Kentucky Colonels VS Golden State Warriors

I give the Warriors the nod here. Kentucky really locks the post down, but Rick Barry is a top-3 NBA player this season, and the best wing player. Adding Norm Van Lier was a good move. To me, Rick Barry just has such good takeover ability this season that I feel compelled to give Golden State the edge. His efficiency and spacing in combination really catalyzes the offense. Individual firepower may not match the Colonels, but I really like the Warriors.

Golden State Warriors

Kentucky Colonels VS Philadelphia 76ers

Caldwell Jones was a steal in my opinion. Good work. I feel that Nate Archibald gets a bad rap sometimes, and McAdoo makes this team very dangerous. However, the wings and bench of Kentucky win this for the Colonels. The lack of distribution from the 76ers also makes the team weaker. I see the Colonels picking this one up as well.

Kentucky Colonels

Boston Celtics VS Milwaukee Bucks

These two and Kentucky make up the contenders in this, in my opinion. The Celtics have the age issue, but the draft choices have bolstered an already balanced team. I think the Gervin only helps, and doesn't detract from the team in any way.

The Bucks have the advantage on the boards, and their passing is more balanced. They have two great post passers, and solid distributors in the backcourt. Neither team lacks firepower, but I think the Bucks have the edge thanks to the extra possessions boarding earns them.

Milwaukee Bucks

Boston Celtics VS New York Knicks

Snakebitez. Snakebits. Snakebite.

Lanier places this team in a position to take on the Boston Celtics in terms of balance. Gervin and Havlicek will be quite a bit for the undersized Monroe and the older Walker. I give Snake the advantage at C and PG, the two most important positions in my opinion. However, its not a huge advantage. Snake has players that can make things happen more in terms of playmaking, but Boston edges this one out. In the clash of two of my least favorite franchises, I promise I was impartial.

Snakebiter.

Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics VS Denver Nuggets

Sam Lacey would get crushed by Dave Cowens. Barnes makes this a contest in the post, and the whole Nuggets team has playmaking defense down. I do feel Jones is a little out of position at the 3, being more of a post player, and he may have some difficulties with either Havlicek or Gervin. Decision to come.

Boston Celtics VS Golden State Warriors

Boston Celtics VS Philadelphia 76ers

Milwaukee Bucks VS New York Knicks

Milwaukee Bucks VS Denver Nuggets

Milwaukee Bucks VS Golden State Warriors

Milwaukee Bucks VS Philadelphia 76ers

New York Knicks VS Denver Nuggets

New York Knicks VS Golden State Warriors

New York Knicks VS Philadelphia 76ers

Denver Nuggets VS Golden State Warriors

Denver Nuggets VS Philadelphia 76ers

Golden State Warriors VS Philadelphia 76ers

[Snakebites]

Colonels vs Bucks

I picked a real tough one in the early going. Probably the two toughest defensive teams in the league, and the two best centers in the league to boot. Overall, I think Kareem limits Gilmore's less versatile offensive game more than vice versa, and McInnis is a sizeable leg up on anything that the Colonels offer at the 4. Thus, the monstrosity of a big man rotation that would normally secure the Colonels an advantage will be fighting to hold serve for a large portion of the court time. Both boast imposing perimeter defenses and rebounding as well, making it increasingly difficult to separate the two.

The intangibles largely way in favor of Kentucky, given their championship credentials in the selected years and Kareem's alienation, making the matchup closer.

Assessing in this manner, I must vote in favor of the Bucks by a rather narrow margin.

Sixers vs Celtics

Adding Bob Mcadoo and Nate Archibald for the Sixers probably constituted the most impressive snag of talent in this draft, and helped pull the Sixers into a surprisingly talented unit in spite of beginning with the worst record in the game.

Unfortunately, they are playing a team that was already among the best this decade had seen and had two still effective Hall of Famers and an excellent supporting cast to supplement with scorers. Haywood is a bit of an awkward fit but I liked the Gervin selection and think this team has a good mix of players on both ends of the floor. Chemistry issues are possible but the talent is too hard to pass up in this matchup.

Celtics vs Bucks

This Celtic crew defeated Kareem in the playoffs a prior to this selected year, and while this Kareem is injured discontent with his time in Milwaukee and not quite as efficient as the version from that year, he also has a terrific 1b option and a more stifling defense around him. Still, this Celtics team has a legitimate big man pairing that, while not equal to the one presented with the Bucks, had great success and could hold its own to a degree. The Celtics team has a strong defensive presence of their own and far more explosive offensive options, but its still very close in this matchup.

I give the nod to Boston with injury issues as the tie breaker.

Celtics vs Colonels

Somewhat similar in some ways to their matchup against the Bucks, but this time injury issues are non-existent, its a more clearly defined winning situation with appropriate improvements made to the Colonels. The overall offensive prowess is impressive for the Celtics, but the combination of devastating defense, terrific efficiency, and rebounding ability cause me to lean towards Kentucky in this one.

Nets vs Warriors

Arguably the most dramatic positional matchup in the series. I give Dr J the edge over his counterpart, but am loathe to underestimate the impact of Barry against ANY defensive opposition. I like the Warriors considerably more defensively even with the Barry/Erving thing going on, but I also think that the Nets are quite a bit more offensively gifted. My instinct is to give the Warriors the edge due to their championship this season and their superior play making abilities.

Nets vs Nuggets

A battle of ABA titans of sorts, each with considerable modifications. Both made appropriate upgrades but I'm inclined to think Larry Brown will be able to keep Barnes reasonably well in line and their efficiency and general teamwork will be able to help them carry the day (at least in this series, anyway).

Warriors vs Nuggets

In theory somewhat similar to the matchup above in a few ways, but I like the Warriors defensive capacities here considerably more and think that they can really wear on the Nuggets' efficient offense. Hayes can go toe to toe with Barnes and while Bobby Jones has the tools to really bother almost any forward, he isn't completely used to playing small forward entirely at this stage in his career. Edge Warriors.

Sixers vs Nuggets

Some parallels here. Great offensive power forward, defensive center, and scoring wings. I prefer Mcadoo to Barnes, though, and Archibald is a major difference maker here as well.

Nets vs Sixers

The most damning matchup here seems to be Julius Erving on Rudy T, one I find to be somewhat overbearing for the Sixers to deal with. The Nets build their team around frightful and imposing offensive scoring capacity, and I don't really think the Sixers have the defensive prowess to hold them down. I like this matchup for the Nets.

Colonels vs Warriors

Ah, Hayes vs Unseld. One of the more bizarre concepts in this game, but those are the breaks in this competition. It should also be noted that this is a matchup between the two champions this year, and I personally find it to be a bit of a tough call. Overall, I think the imposing defense and efficient offense of the Colonels coupled with what I believe to be a rebounding advantage will allow them to carry this matchup.

Celtics vs Warriors

A lot rests on the shoulders of Hondo here. Hayes figures to outplay Haywood and the Warriors have the tools defensively (at least on the perimeter) to at least prevent the Celtics backcourt from being a particularly destructive force. If he can do a reasonably effective job against Rick Barry the Celtics should be able to take this one. I'm inclined to think thats as tough a matchup for Barry as any outside of Dr J, and Cowens is a major difference maker here as well.

Nuggets vs Colonels

The Nuggets run on offensive efficiency and teamwork, but unfortunately, though not a particularly outstanding playmaking team, the Colonels are extremely efficient in their own right, and also have more impressive talent towards the top and a more intimidating defense. I think the Nuggets crew will unfortunately find themselves getting matched at their own game offensively and beaten on the other end.

Bucks vs Nuggets

I think that the Kareem/McInnis advantage up front is overbearing here and that while I could see Barnes coming up with a big series here, I still think this Nuggets crew will find themselves overmatched by the Bucks dominant front court and defensively sound perimeter.

Nets vs Bucks

There's an upset in every season matchup and this is mine. Though the Bucks are the better overall team there is something about this matchup that intrigues me for the Nets. Julius Erving will have a big series regardless of the defensive capabilities of the Bucks and this Nets team may in fact be able to match the rebounding of the Bucks. I think the overall scoring ability of the Nets and the fact that they have arguably the best late game changer in the series might just be able to overcome the imposing defense of the Bucks and steal a game in this series.

Sixers vs Colonels

Offensively these teams are fairly comparable with the Sixers boasting somewhat of an edge. Rebounding is fairly close as well. Unfortunately for the Sixers, the overall defensive ability of the Colonels is on another level, and that breaks this matchup their way.

Warriors vs Bucks

I view Barry as being as large a difference maker this regular season as Kareem, a case can be made that he was larger since he lead a much better team with a comparable (at best) supporting cast. Hayes and McInnis are near equal to one another as difference makers overall. Both are immensely talented at what they do best and both are saddled with questions about their efficiency. The matchup at center seems to be more damning than the matchup at SF, though, and at a more important position.

Sixers vs Warriors

The Warriors have the best man in the league to hound the Sixers' primary distributor and Rick Barry to devastate their defense with enough range to negate the effect of Jones/McAdoo as a shotblocking duo. The Sixers have the edge up front but not by a large enough margin IMO.

Celtics vs Nets

Julius Erving is too much for the Celtics to handle at any capacity, but the same can be said for the offensive skills of the Celtics on the Nets' defense. Generally speaking, these are two offensively potent and effective teams but I like the Celtics' defensive capacities better.

Sixers vs Bucks

Kareem and McInnis will be effective against the Sixer's front court and while the Sixers have an impressive stable of scorers at the perimeter positions, the defense of the Bucks should be able to effectively limit their overall effectiveness.

Nuggets vs Celtics

The number one and number two teams in this game in terms of initial record, and an interesting matchup for that reason. Its a matchup of the stars versus the balanced efficient Nuggets. If ever there was a series that Barnes could be motivated to get up to play and fight, it would be this one, where he's not only going up against huge names but also being guarded by the equally undersized and defensively weak Haywood. Larry Brown will be able to hold it together in some matchups, this could be one of them, so I think they'll take at least a game in this season series.

Colonels vs Nets

Another battle of ABA Titans. The Colonels are one of the few teams that can match the Nets in terms of rebounding and I am generally inclined to select defense and efficiency over general scoring capacity, unless the advantage in scoring is particularly glaring and coupled with great playmaking. I don't quite see that to be the case here.

[penbeast0]

1975 PLAYOFFS SEMIFINALS – (1) Kentucky Colonels v. (4) Boston Celtics

These were two of the best teams in the regular season plus Kentucky turned it on in the postseason to win the ABA title behind FINALS MVP Artis Gilmore.

Kentucky was centered around Gilmore’s scoring and shotblocking with good outside shooting and playmaking around him. They added defense and rebounding while keeping the shooting at least as good and improving the playmaking plus they strengthened the bench with NBA All-Defense players who could score. They have clearly defined roles with the offense led by Louis Dampier (best A/T ratio in basketball) passing it into the post where Gilmore enjoys a huge size/strength advantage over Cowens, or using Dampier and explosive Ron Boone to slam defenders into the GOAT picks of massive Wes Unseld for free shots while Unseld and Wil Jones score mainly off their men doubling elsewhere or putbacks. More explosive scoring comes off the bench with consistent 20ppg scorers Dan Issel and Bob Love; Love will probably come in early to take advantage of Gervin’s poor defense while Kentucky’s bench also features 1974 All-Defense team winners Love, Van Arsdale, and McLain.

Boston was a team built around making the extra pass and playing great man defense with good individual defenders and unselfish players at every position to make up for their undersized center and limited post game. They moved away from this model to add explosive isolation scorers who play poor defense and don’t pass in Gervin and Haywood. They now have 5 players starting who all are close to 20 point scorers with good defenders at the 1-3-5 but poor ones at the 2-4. Since Gervin and Haywood are not likely to give up their shots, they will also be taking shots away from Cowens, Havlicek, and White and moving away from the “make the extra pass” offense into one based on iso scoring no matter what their coach says. Gervin and Haywood at this point are that type of player.


MATCHUPS

Center
7’2 Artis Gilmore (42mpg) 16.2reb 2.5ast 0.8st 3.4bl 23.6pts at .580fg% .696ft% (.615 ts%)
6’9 Dave Cowens 40.5min 14.7reb 4.6ast 1.3st 1.1bl 20.4pts .475fg% .783ft% .509ts%
Cowens tried to make up for his lack of size with physical bullying play. This is a terrible tactic against Gilmore who is the strongest player in basketball and whose main criticism was that he tended to be too passive. Cowens isn’t strong enough to push Artis off the block the way he did McAdoo or even Kareem, and getting Artis fired up only helps Kentucky. Plus, in terms of help defense, Gilmore blocks nearly 3/5 shots per game while Cowens barely blocks 1. And of course the biggest key – GILMORE’s EFFICIENCY IS OVER .100 BETTER THAN THAT OF COWENS!

Power Forward
6’7 Wes Unseld (34mpg) 6’7 14.8reb 4.1ast 9.2pts at .502fg% 695ft% (.538 ts%)
6’9 Spencer Haywood 37.2min 9.3reb 2.0ast 0.8st 1.6bl 22.4pts .459fg .811ft .511ts%
Wes isn’t the big scorer, but he led the NBA in rebounding and his massive picks were one of the main reasons for the outside scoring of Chenier, Riordan, etc. Sabas calls Paul Silas a Wes Unseld type and Boston’s much more inefficient offense will miss Silas’s picks and blocking out. Haywood, a high scoring but, again, inefficient (.511 ts%, roughly the same as Cowens) player. Some quotes from ex-teammates: “He wasn’t a guy you physically feared, because his game was more finesse.” (Mack Calvin) “Spencer was very cocky.” (Gene Littles) “He was a tremendous talent who needed stability . . . I don’t think he ever reached his potential.” (Lenny Wilkens) Plus, he had started using cocaine and wasn’t listening to anyone. Spencer will take his shots no matter what, but he’s not efficient and will take them away from Boston’s other threats plus Unseld will force him outside where he is even less effective.

Small Forward
6’8 Wil Jones (29mpg) 6’8 7.2reb 3.0ast 1.3st 1.8bl 12.6pts on .483fg% .735ft% (.512 ts%)
6’7 George Gervin 37.1min 8.3reb 2.5ast 1.6st 1.6bl 23.4pts .474fg .830ft .529ts%
We will treat Gervin as what he truly is, the small forward. Sabas has said that Havlicek will be guarding our bigger wing threat, Ron Boone, so Jones and Gervin will go head to head. Wil Jones has a size advantage on Gervin so Ice can’t just shoot over him the way he did in his prime years (he was much better after the merger playing guards) and Wil was also an All-Defense player that Kentucky signed just to face the Julius Ervings and George Gervins of the league. Gervin, like Haywood, is an explosive isolation scorer but one who doesn’t play much defense, block out, or create for others. “Gervin didn’t like to handle the ball, he liked to shoot it” (Terry Stembridge, Spurs broadcaster) He replaces Don Chaney, another physical defender who didn’t need the ball in his hands, instead Ice stops the ball for his isolation moves – and Gervin just isn’t that efficient (not like the 80s Gervin). Bob Love may get extra minutes here too to take advantage of Gervin’s weak defense, Love is still an All-Defense team SF but more of a shooter.

In fact, NONE OF BOSTON’S STARTERS IS AS EFFICIENT AS LOUIS DAMPIER OR RON BOONE, MUCH LESS ARTIS GILMORE (the most efficient scorer in NBA history)!

Shooting Guard
6'2 SG Ron Boone (38 mpg) 4.8reb 4.2ast 1.5st 0.4bl 25.2pts on .491fg% .860ft% (.540ts%)
6’5 John Havlicek 38.2min 5.9reb 5.3ast 1.3st 0.2bl 19.2pts .455fg .870ft .505ts%
This will be a great matchup. Ron Boone was the ABA’s equivalent of Havlicek, with his 10 year streak of never missing a game and his ability to play at full speed for over 40 mpg, “the Legend” comes as close as it gets to matching Hondo’s motor. Havlicek is bigger, Boone quicker and more of a leaper. Boone scored more but Havlicek is a terrific scorer. Havlicek is an all-time defender but Boone had a good defensive rep and was known for using his strength and leaping ability to guard forwards as well as guards. Both are solid playmakers and rebounders (edge Havlicek). Both had excellent midrange games and could go to the basket given a sliver of daylight (Boone the more efficient). Havlicek is a great defender but Boone will still be one of the keys to our game.

Point Guard
6’0 Louis Dampier (35 mpg) 2.5reb 5.4ast 16.8pts on .500fg% .809ft% (.544ts%)
6’3 Jo Jo White 39.3min 3.8reb 5.6ast 1.6st 0.2bl 18.3pts .457fg .834ft .488ts%
Louis is one of the few players in the history of the league to ever finish in the top 5 in both assist percentage (5th) and turnover percentage (4th). A great post entry passer and stationary shooter who could also drive and create, Dampier will be our main ballhandler and his outside shooting will help spread the floor. He is not a great defender, but White is the 5th option in Boston’s offense and it’s weakest shooter (.488ts%). On the other side of the ball, White was a solid, if not great, defender and a good playmaker for a combo guard. With Gilmore inside (to say nothing of Wes Unseld and 6’8 Wil Jones), Boston will have trouble clearing room for him to post Dampier. If he does get hot, we have 1974 All-Star and All-Defense PG Teddy “Hound Dog” McLain to come in and cool him off.

OVERALL, KENTUCKY’S LINEUP HAS MUCH BETTER EFFICIENCY, BETTER REBOUNDING PARTICULARLY UP FRONT, INTERIOR SHOTBLOCKING, CLEARER ROLES, AND MORE UNSELFISH PLAY

Kentucky Bench
SF Bob Love (20mpg) 6’8 6.3reb 1.7ast 22.0pts on .429fg% .830ft% (.481ts%)
PF Dan Issel (20mpg) 6’9 8.6reb 2.3ast 17.7pts on .471fg% .738ft% (.507ts%)
SG Dick Van Arsdale (10 mpg) 6’5 2.7reb 2.8ast 17.1pts on .470fg% .832ft% (.538 ts%)
PG Ted McLain (13 mpg) 3.7reb 5.1ast 8.6pts on .440fg% .754ft% (.480 ts%)

Kentucky’s bench provides great scoring and great defense. Veteran SF Bob Love is a consistent All-Defensive team and 20ppg scorer who comes off the bench for us to get a ring. He will also provide great defense on Gervin while providing a greater offensive threat to hurt Gervin on the defensive end where he is very vulnerable. Dan Issel is average defensively but one of the NBA’s all-time greatest outside shooting bigs who will team well with either Gilmore or Unseld. Van Arsdale and McLain are both outstanding defenders with both winning All-D awards in 1974, Van Arsdale also provides another efficient scorer while McLain doesn’t shoot much but is a solid playmaker.

Boston’s Bench

Paul Silas 32.5 3.8 9.1 .417 4.2 .709 12.5 2.7 0.7 0.3 10.6
Fred Brown 33.0 9.1 19.0 .480 3.4 .831 4.2 3.5 2.3 0.2 21.0
Swen Nater 34.8 6.3 11.7 .542 3.2 .752 16.4 1.2 0.6 1.1 15.1
Don Chaney 26.9 3.9 9.1 .428 2.0 .806 4.5 2.2 1.5 0.8 9.5

Boston’s bench provides the roleplayers they don’t have in their starting lineup. Silas and Chaney don’t provide scoring but are physical players who play very good defense. Nater isn’t a good defender but he’s got real size and is a terrific rebounder. And Freddy Brown is the designated shooter off the Boston bench. A very good bench if not quite as well rounded as Kentucky’s.

COACHING AND INTANGIBLES

HOF Coach Hubie Brown led Kentucky to the title by changing the team’s gameplan to feature Artis Gilmore’s scoring and shotblocking. The forwards scored less, while the guards focused on outside shooting and post passing. We have extended this with Wes Unseld scoring even less than Issel but providing more outside picks to clear Boone and Dampier who were already higher percentage shooter. And, Artis was really focused in the playoffs in 1975, improving his numbers across the board and winning both the title and the Finals MVP!

Heinsohn didn’t stay in coaching long once Havlicek retired, quitting in disgust at the addition of the undisciplined scorer (and coke addict) Bob McAdoo halfway through 1977-78 – a player very similar in style and issues to Spencer Haywood. Boston in 75 was the most verbal proponent of “old school” virtues – defense, making the extra pass, unselfish play – and it worked for them. While Gervin and Haywood are real talents, they are also “70s style” players – street style, poor defense, etc. – and that will hurt the Celtic mystique as will moving the unselfish defensive stars Silas and Chaney to the bench.

Kentucky should move past this talented but troubled Boston team and advance to the finals.

[Miller4ever]

The Matchup:

New York Knicks:

Walt Frazier (38)/Earl Monroe (10)
Earl Monroe (24)/Phil Chenier (24)
Walker (33)/Bradley (15)
Lucas (24)/Jackson (24)
Lanier (40)/Lucas (8)

New York Nets:

Gail Goodrich(24)/Dave Bing(24)
Charlie Scott(24)/Brian Taylor(24) *Snakebites, please note the shift of 4 minutes
Julius Erving(40)/Charlie Scott(8)
Larry Kenon(30)/Billy Paultz(18)
Moses Malone(36)/Billy Paultz(12)

The Knickerbockers started off sub-.500. This is a team that had once seen greatness, but the backcourt was aging, and the differences between championship form and the '75 incarnation were glaring. The Nets, on the other hand, won a championship the previous year, and was on its way to another championship the year after. The only thing stopping them was the Colonels. Dr. J and Loughery combined for great team chemistry no matter the assortment of other players. The Nets, before the draft, held a huge advantage. During the draft, the Knicks did their best to improve their team, and did a great job. However, my Nets matched pace with Moses Malone, Charlie Scott, Gail Goodrich, and Dave Bing.

The (Dreaded) Formulas:

BETTER REBOUNDING + BETTER DEFENSIVE PLAYMAKING = MORE POSSESSIONS

BETTER PLAYMAKING + BETTER SHOOTING = MORE EFFICIENCY

MORE POSSESSIONS + MORE EFFICIENCY = MORE POINTS (which, by the way, is a win, in case you didn't know)

The last formula is a given. What I have to prove is that I have the rebounding, offensive and defensive playmaking, and shooting edge over my opponent. I am using numbers that I have calculated myself, basically scaling each player's stats to fit the minutes they've been given. I had to throw out turnover numbers, because they didn't keep track for the NBA that year, and using numbers from other years always gets messy.

Better Rebounding:

Just looking at the averages, it's safe to say that statistically, my team holds the rebounding edge. Adjusting for minutes, my team holds a total of 2.5 rebounds over Snake's. Malone specializes cleaning up the offensive glass and Kenon is better on the defensive end. Both box out really well, and add in the fact that Erving snatches such a significant amount, and our frontcourt (even when Scott and Paultz step in) holds a sizeable advantage. Even with adjustments, all 3 frontcourt starters plus Paultz have individual advantages over all 3 Knicks frontcourt guys plus Jackson.

Better Defensive Playmaking:

We hold an advantage on steals and blocks. The Knicks have no significant shotblockers except Lanier (nobody else gets more than 0.8 a game). The Nets always have 2 on the court at all times, and 3 for up to 18 minutes a game. On the pickpocket front, the Knicks have backcourt pickpockets, and the Nets have frontcourt pickpockets. However, the frontcourt advantage is much more significant.

Better Playmaking:

This area is where I feel we get the worst rap. The numbers show that, with adjusted minutes, our team gets 3.8 more assists per game than the Knicks. From the wings, the passing is much better, with Erving and Scott, and the total PG assists is also in our favor. Add Paultz, who in the next year averages 4.1 APG as a center, and our post passing isn't too shabby. It's no Lanier/Lucas, but the numbers are in our favor.

A few things about turnovers. I tried to plug in guesswork numbers for the Knicks with their almost-all-NBA rotation, and with generous numbers such as 2.5 TO's per game for Frazier, Monroe, Bradley, and Chenier, the TO's were in their favor, but I gave Charlie Scott 3.5 TO's a game. Cranking Frazier and Monroe to 3 each made us even.

Better Shooting:

The total adjusted FG% is 47% for the Knicks and 49% for the Nets. Once again, the bigs for the Nets really make the difference. Erving, Kenon, and Malone all surpass .500. Kenon has the jump-shot that would force Lucas to defend him outside, Erving has the 3-point range (and the kitchen sink) to make Chet Walker whiff, and Malone gobbles up whatever gets missed about 6 times a game and puts it back in. Goodrich and Bing possess dangerous ranges, and Scott's scoring role will be reduced a bit, and he will act as more of a facilitator (which he did just fine 3 seasons ago, notching 4.7 assists per game...next to Erving).

By the way, the Knicks have no one on the original roster over .500 shooting. Frazier had .483, great shooting for a guard. There is only player on the entire roster that possesses .500+ shooting and that's Lanier at .510.

Other Notes:

The Knicks defense is countered very easily by this Nets squad. Frazier wants to guard Scott, and that's fine. Goodrich and Bing can both shoot the lights out with Monroe on them. The interior is nowhere near as strong with weakside shotblocking help when Lanier sits (and even when he's on the court). Erving tears Walker (who had a nice heyday, but this is Dr. J's play) apart, any day of the week. He can get inside, draw the defense, and make something happen with his playmaking.

Also, the Knicks held opponents to .457. Pretty Impressive. The Nets held opponents to .453.

Kenon and Paultz may be the most underrated defenders in the whole series. Kenon is so freakishly athletic, it doesn't MATTER if Lucas can pull him out to 18 feet. In fact, that's where Kenon would like to be to steal the ball from the passing lanes.

The Knicks may seem great with their big name backcourt, but that backcourt is a shadow of its former glory. It's running on name power and credentials. The Nets have fresh ingredients that work well together.

Lastly, you can stick whoever you want on Erving, but with his skills, he's one of those guys that if you don't stop him, he can put the team on his back and carry a bunch of nobodies through the playoffs against a nicely constructed team that is a little past its expiration date with a star-studded backcourt that's aging (see: Lebron James vs. Pistons, ECF 2007).

Lastly, about there "being only one ball": With adjusted numbers, the Nets only surpass the Knicks by 2 attempts, while making 2.4 more shots.

[Snakebites]

My writeup will occupy this spot shortly.

[Snakebites]

Subway series time.


New York Knicks vs. New York Nets

Opponent Rotation:

Gail Goodrich(24)/Dave Bing(24)
Charlie Scott(28)/Brian Taylor(20)
Julius Erving(40)/Charlie Scott(8)
Larry Kenon(30)/Billy Paultz(18)
Moses Malone(36)/Billy Paultz(12)

Glorious Knickerbocker Rotation:

Lanier (40)/Lucas (8)
Lucas (24)/Jackson (24)
Walker (33)/Bradley (15)
Earl Monroe (24)/Phil Chenier (24)
Walt Frazier (38)/Earl Monroe (10)

The Knicks I started out with had what I like to call the skeleton of a great team. The foundation was there and all that needed to be done was to get the meat to go with it, and a great team could be forged.

I believe this because of Walt Frazier, Red Holzman, and Earl the Pearl Monroe. This 40 win Knick team still had the will to win, but unfortunately didn't quite have the personnel. The additions and upgrades I've made once again put Holzman in the drivers seat of a high powered team with capable players who perfectly fit his style of coaching.

Offensively, we feel we have among the best set of playmakers in the game, and this will fit perfectly with Holzman's team passing model. Frazier of course is the best all round point guard in the game and one of the most efficient offensive players of the era. He can pass to his capable teammates or dominate the ball himself, and the lineup around him gives him quite the plethora of options. We don't feel that any member of the Nets front court has the capacity to contain him defensively, and given his playoff reputation, he figures to be a devastating force offensively and could very well be the MVP of this series. We will have two of Frazier, Chenier, and Earl the Pearl out on the court at all times, and this set of guards is superior on both ends of the floor to their Net counterparts, which we feel should make up for the advantage at small forward (and then some). There is nothing between these 3 guards that can't be accomplished offensively. They can shoot, drive, and pass with the best of them and should be able to assert control over much of the offense in this series.

Up front, our second best player (and easily the third best in this series), is Bob Lanier. Bob Lanier fills the role Willis Reed did as a strong defensive center with rebounding abilities and the ability to step out and hit the mid range jump shot. Lanier also has the added benefit of being one of the best passing big men of his era, and has strong post moves to boot. He can score himself or find cutting guards and make terrific passes from the block. He will draw Moses Malone away from the basket and limit his impact on the glass and as a defender. This is a slimmer, younger, less experienced Moses than the one the NBA came to know and love in subsequent years, and he is outmatched by Lanier in this series. Maurice Lucas is the weakest offensive player in our starting lineup, but the other 4 provide more than ample scoring power, and Lucas's reasonable scoring game, very strong rebounding, and ready passing ability make him a wonderful fit into the overall team concept. Two years later, he was Bill Walton's sidekick on a championship Blazers team. Chet Walker was top 10 in the league both in Win Shares and Player Efficiency rating (as were Bob Lanier and Walt Frazier, btw). He can take over games as a scorer but also demonstrated abilities as a member of a supporting cast. He's an efficient scorer and and great at drawing fouls, and we expect him to make Erving work all night. Jackson and Bradley are both smart and decent role players off the bench and we will use them accordingly, primarily matching up against the Nets' second unit.

Our offense is efficient enough, and our Nets relatively weak guard defense and solid at best interior defense mean we will be missing few shots, limiting the Nets' rebounding advantage (which will also be curtailed by the talents of Lanier and Lucas).

Defensively, our team has no Achilles Heel, and has the players who figure to make the strongest impact on this end. Frazier is the best perimeter defender of this era bar none, and his size gives him the ability to guard either guard position. Though we reserve the right to play him against the hot hand, he will most likely primarily match up against Scott, who figures to be the second option in the Nets' offense. Chenier was a strong defensive player (an impressive 8th in defensive rating in selected year) and Monroe was not a liability either, so we should be able to limit the Nets guards quite a bit more than vice versa. Julius Erving will get his against any defense. We feel okay with the hard nosed Chet Walker on him most of the time, but ultimately believe we can limit the rest of the team enough while retaining our own balance to carry the day.

Our equally strong in the defensive interior. Lanier is a strong defensive anchor and a the best shotblocker in this series, and he will have a considerable impact in this way, both on the man he's guarding and on the overall opposing offense. Lucas is a rock solid man defender and is well suited to limiting and exhausting Kenon.

Overall, we feel we are a stronger defensive team who will be able the keep the pressure on our opponents more effectively than vice versa.

The Nets have the best offensive player in the series, but Walt Frazier had some legendary playoff performances of his own and Chenier and Monroe have impressive postseason credentials as well. We feel our superior play-making, better defense, and balanced, very efficient offense make us the favorites in this series and should carry us to the finals, particularly with a Hall of Fame Coach who I know would LOVE this team at the helm.