The Big Three Draft Championship: SuperDario vs. Laimbeer (SuperDario wins!)

[ChicagoSportsFan21]

Please include this in your post:

1) Roster with depth chart/rotation/FGA
2) Write-up on why you think you should move on to the next round

First to five votes win. When voting, please give a reasoning or your vote will not count. I strongly recommend putting in some thought to your vote rather than saying "I like this team".

If write-ups aren't posted by either teams in 24 hours from this post, we will vote based on their post from the roster thread.

Good luck!

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[Laimbeer]

12/13 - LeBron James - 17.8
12/13 - Dwayne Wade - 15.8
12/13 - Shane Battier - 5.0
91/92 - Mark Price - 12.5
91/92 - Larry Nance - 12.7
91/92 - Steve Kerr - 4.9
72/73 - Nate Thurmond - 12.5 (14.7)
72/73 - Rick Barry - 16.9 (19.9)
72/73 - George Johnson - 1.5 (1.8)

Total = 99.6

Rotation

PG - Wade (36) / Price (12)
SG - Barry (30) / Kerr (8) / Price (8)
SF - Battier (30) / Barry (8) / James (8)
PF - James (30) / Nance (18)
C - Thurmond (36) / Johnson (8) / Nance (4)


Offense: We've got three elite offensive hubs in Wade, LeBron, and Barry. Their minutes will be staggered so at least two of them are on the floor the entire game. Toss in Price, Battier, and skilled offensive bigs in Nance and Thurmond (who honed a more varied offensive games in his days at power forward) and it will be very tough to stop. Wade, LeBron, and Nance will feast off the passing of Barry and Price, as well as doing a lot of creating themselves. Curry will have a lot of difficulty with Wade.

Defense: As mentioned earlier, Dario has a lot of talent but an awkward fit. Ewing and Butler have thrived with teams at a slower pace. That doesn't jive with the style favored by Curry, Durant, and Green. Wade picks up his defense in the playoffs and will provide a challenge to Curry. Battier is a superb defender and will primarily guard Durant. Thurmond is an exceptional defender opposite Ewing. LeBron has a proven track record in getting inside Draymond's head and they're matched up here. Barry is fine on Butler, particularly since Jimmy is not the focal point of this offense.

Bench: Dario has a fine bench, but in this scenario Price and Nance are the best in the game.

In summary, our offensive talent, defensive answers to their better players, and depth take this one.

Good luck, Dario.

[GeorgeMarcus]

At a cyber security conference so I'll post tonight

[GeorgeMarcus]

Starting Lineup
C - '92 Patrick Ewing - 18.6 FGA - 2nd Team All-NBA, 2nd Team All-Defense
PF - '17 Draymond Green - 8.6 FGA - NBA Champion, DPOY, 3rd Team All-NBA
SF - '17 Kevin Durant - 16.5 FGA - NBA Champion, Finals MVP, 2nd Team All-NBA
SG - '15 Jimmy Butler - 14.0 FGA - All-Star, 2nd Team All-Defense
PG - '17 Steph Curry - 18.3 FGA - NBA Champion, 2nd Team All-NBA

Bench
'15 Joakim Noah - 6.4 FGA
'92 Mark Jackson - 9.2 FGA
'92 Charles Oakley - 4.9 FGA
'15 E'twaun Moore - 2.5 FGA

99/100 FGA

Rotation
Ewing (36) / Noah (12)
Green (36) / Oakley (12)
Durant (40) / Butler (8)
Butler (32) / Curry (8) / Moore (8)
Curry (32) / Jackson (16)

Write-up
After landing the Warrior trio with the 2nd pick, I prioritized filling the 2 remaining vacancies in my SL with the best 2-way talent available. For this my bench suffered a bit, at least compared to the likes of Laimbeer’s (and CSF’s last round.) The weird fit of my 2nd unit forced me to stagger rotations and botched my original plan to give KD/Draymond minutes at 4/5.

That being said, it occurred to me that starting 3 Warriors doesn’t bind me to the Warrior’s model of basketball. Curry/KD have 2 of the most seamless offensive skill sets in the history of the game, and it doesn’t seem fair (or logical) to assume they wouldn’t succeed in a variety of systems. It’s different than the SSOL Suns because guys like Nash/Marion/Amar’e were built for the open court. And ask yourself this: would we really want to up the tempo against LeBron/DWade/Nance? The PnR is a viable option in a half court setting, and one we intend to employ frequently. I urge voters to evaluate my team as a distinct entity, and not as an adaptation of the modern day Dubs.

Laimbeer built a fantastic team to compliment the lethal LeBron/DWade tandem, but defensively we are up to the task (as much as anyone could hope.) We won’t do anything crazy in terms of matchups but a varied attack of Butler/KD/Draymond is truly an ideal counter for LeBron, and that’s without mention of an all-time elite defensive anchor in Ewing. Curry will have to take on Wade at times, but luckily this post-peak version had lost a step athletically.

E’Twaun Moore sucks- we know this- but those 8 minutes are canceled out by George Johnson’s 8 minutes. After that, is my bench really an issue? Given the staggered rotations, we have no need for volume scoring in any capacity. Noah, Oakley, and Jackson all made their mark in complimentary roles. They provide value on the court while giving us a chance to feature our big guns. In response to Noah criticisms, he was only one year separated from DPOY and really hadn’t seen much of a decline yet if you look at the numbers. Frankly his performance was the least of the Bull’s problems that season.

Anyway I’ll leave it at that. I have a lot of respect for my opponent/his team and I’m glad to have made it this far. May the best team win.

[GeorgeMarcus]

Every rotation I plan to use:

(SL) Curry / Butler / KD / Draymond / Ewing - 20 min

Curry / Moore / KD / Draymond / Noah - 8 min
Jackson / Curry / Butler / Oakley / Ewing - 8 min

Curry / Butler / KD / Draymond / Noah - 4 min
Jackson / Butler / KD / Draymond / Ewing - 4 min
Jackson / Butler / KD / Oakley / Ewing - 4 min

[Fadeaway_J]

I don't buy Wade having much success guarding Curry. Even in his defensive prime (which I believe was in the rearview mirror at this point) Wade was always more of a disruptive help defender than some kind of one-on-one stopper. I'm not sure whether or not Steph will be the primary guy on Wade, but even if he is, at this stage of their respective careers I see that as more of a problem for Laimbeer than Dario. Battier was also kind of on his last legs and I don't think he's up to being the primary defender on KD.

Butler/KD/Draymond backed up by Ewing definitely seems like a good formula not only for containing LeBron, but also for dealing with Laimbeer's smallball lineup as a whole. The versatility on the perimeter plus tremendous rim protection and post defense will be too big a hurdle even for Laimbeer's high-powered offense.

Vote: SuperDario

[ChicagoSportsFan21]

Vote:

Spoiler:

SuperDario

Reasoning: First off, congrats to both of you on making the championship game. Both of you built great teams, but in the end there could be only one winner. It's a close battle for sure, but I'm going to have to go with SuperDario. Curry and Wade are going to have a big series against each other, but I think Curry will make a bigger impact. I also like Butler to have a nice series offensively against Barry even though he may not be the focal point. While I do like Laimbeer's bench of Price/Nance more, I don't think if it will be enough to stop the potent starting line-up of SuperDario offensively.

[euroleague]

Super Dario.

Warriors trio really just over-powered in this tournament. Two MVPs in their peaks and an all-nba guy with great fit. Throw in Ewing and another good wing defender/scorer, and this is too much for Laimbeer. Wade lost a step and isn't in his prime and will get stomped by Curry, LBJ is good but pretty matched by KD, then Battier/Thurmond are very overmatched by Ewing/Draymond.

[Dr Positivity]

I prefer Laimbeer's offense, PF Lebron and Wade slashing is hard to handle and the compliment of shooters like Price and Barry really take it to another level. Dario has stronger defensive lineup with monster defensive frontcourt, great perimeter length and a defense first bench. Matchup wise I don't love Wade at this stage of his career guarding Curry, throw in Price and Curry should be in position to have a good series. I think Curry has a better chance to defend Wade and live with giving up size to him. Dario is in a good position to guard Laimbeer's team as he can put Draymond on Lebron and Butler on Barry is a good matchup as well. Ewing can help off Thurmond and have a good defensive series. I don't think Battier is the answer defending Durant, few do and I feel Battier at this stage of his career was past his prime and not an all-league type of defender anymore. Having Price and Nance off the bench is an advantage compared to Dario's players. Overall I feel Dario has the personnel to bother Laimbeer defensively with great perimeter and pick and roll defense, while Curry and Durant should carry the offense to victory

Vote SuperDario

[Laimbeer]

[BdeRegt]

I do wonder how Draymond/Butler will fit in Dario's offense. They are both can mostly be ignored when not involved in the action. I really wish SD discussed offensive strategy some. I am guessing Ewing will be used in a McGee type role with rim runs. I think that is best use of the offense. Barry being able to help off Butler and LeBron help off Draymond will really mitigate the effectiveness though. Curry/KD/Draymond actions will be a lot less effective with Wade/Battier/LBJ all able to switch those easily forcing offense into one on one attacks. I don't love any of those guys going 1 on 1. Obviously, they will have success but I'm not sure it is enough to keep up with LBJ.

My vote is for Laimbeer. I think he will be able to score plenty with LeBron, Wade, and Barry and actually think his defense will work well with only 2 shoots for SD allowing LeBron to be at his best playing free safety.

[Snakebites]

I'll also vote for Laimbeer. This is where the strange fit of Dario's team catches up to him, as he can't simply overpower the other team with the raw talent of his first pick this time.

Laimbeer has better checks for Dario's team than vice versa and similar talent level.

Vote Laimbeer.

[Fadeaway_J]

Bump. Need at least one more vote here.

[poopdamoop]

Gotta go with Dario here. There are enough covers for LeBron and Barry to limit their effectiveness, and I don't think Wade on Curry will end well - Danny Green put up record-breaking numbers against Wade in the finals, so I can only imagine what Curry would do. I like Thurmond guarding Ewing and don't like the lack of small-ball that Dario's rotation allows for, but I still don't think this version of Wade is that impressive and that it'll cost Laimbeer here.

[ChicagoSportsFan21]

Congrats to SuperDario on winning the championship game. You built an excellent team with a terrific core and just like in real life the Warriors trio beat Lebron James.

On a side note, Laimbeer with another runner-up performance making it 10..the first member to reach double digits on either board for rankings. Will he always be a bridesmaid? Haha.

Well that's the game, folks. Hope you had fun! It's been a pleasure running it!

[Laimbeer]

Congrats to Dario on a great squad. That starting lineup is stellar top to bottom. Nice job.

I don't know if it made a difference, but I'm regretting my lineup change. I felt like Barry and Price weren't good counters for Dario's two big guns, Durant and Curry. These versions of Wade and Battier were far from ideal but I thought at least a modest improvement. It also created what I thought was a tougher cover for Curry.

[GeorgeMarcus]

Phew, was starting to get nervous there. Well played Laimbeer. You built a great team and one that I wouldn't have complained about losing to.

Thanks for hosting CSF!

And now for my obligatory celebration photo: