Western Conference Finals - Dr Positivity vs. Smash3*

[Fadeaway_J]

Here is a quick list of what you need in your writeup.

1. Specific years for each player on your team
2. Rotations and minutes for each player
3. Reasoning as to why your team will win and/or why people should vote for you.

Do not vote in this thread until both managers have submitted their writeups.

If writeups aren't posted within 24 hours, we will vote solely based on the players they have drafted (and any rotations they have posted on roster page).

**First to 4 votes advances**

[Dr Positivity]

PG: Steve Nash (05: 11.4 FGA) MVP, 1st team All-NBA, .203 WS/48, 1.7 BPM, 15.5 pts, 11.5 ast (leads league), .606 TS%, 43.1% 3pt
SG: Michael Cooper (87: 9.0 FGA) Defensive Player of the Year, 1st team All-Defense, .131 WS/48, 1.2 BPM, 10.5 pts, 4.5 ast, 3.1 reb, 38.5% 3pt
SF: Kawhi Leonard (16: 15.1 FGA) 2nd in MVP, 1st team All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year, 1st team All-Defense, .277 WS/48, 8.3 BPM, 21.2 pts, 6.8 reb, 2.6 ast, 1.8 stl, 1.0 blk, 44.3% 3pt, .616 TS%
PF: Karl Malone (93: 17.6 FGA) 8th in MVP, 1st team All-NBA, .238 WS/48, 7.6 BPM, 27.0 pts, 11.2 reb, 3.8 ast, 1.5 stl, 1.0 blk, .612 TS%
C: Marc Gasol (13: 10.9 FGA) 12th in MVP, 2nd team All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year, .197 WS/48, 6.1 BPM, 14.1 pts, 7.8 reb, 4.0 ast, 1.7 blk, 1.0 stl

SF: Alex English (82: 18.9 FGA) 13th in MVP, 2nd team All-NBA, .152 WS/48, 4.1 BPM, 25.4 pts, 6.8 reb, 5.3 ast, .596 TS%
PF: Amir Johnson (10: 4.1 FGA) .150 WS/48, 2.1 BPM, 6.2 pts, 4.8 reb, 0.8 blk, 0.5 stl, .639 TS% (12.7 pts, 9.8 reb, 1.6 blk, 1.1 stl per 40)
C: George Johnson (82: 2.6 FGA) .076 WS/48, 2.6 BPM, 5.7 DBPM (leads league), 3.0 pts, 6.1 reb, 3.1 blk (leads league) (7.6 pts, 11.2 reb, 5.2 blks per 36)

Total FGA: 89.6 / 90

PG: Steve Nash (38) / Michael Cooper (10)
SG: Michael Cooper (24) / Alex English (24)
SF: Kawhi Leonard (38) / Alex English (10)
PF: Karl Malone (38) / Amir Johnson (10)
C: Marc Gasol (38) / George Johnson (10)

- We have 3 MVP talents in Kawhi, Malone and Nash. After Curry and Duncan Smash has a bigger drop-off.

- We have DPOYs to put on each of Smash's best offensive players. Cooper guards Curry, Kawhi guards Hayward if not totally takes him out of the series, and Gasol guards Duncan. Nash will be on Bowen/Battier. Smash has only two perimeter creators in Curry and Hayward and with Cooper and Kawhi we feel we can bog down his offense, especially if Hayward has games where he doesn't show up. Gasol is a decent physical fit against Duncan.

- He doesn't have a great matchup to defend Nash. If the Bowen/Battier spot is on Kawhi it would leave Curry on Nash. Nash only averaged 15.5ppg this year but at 2.9 3PA/game he was underutilized in that season even for the ahead of their time Suns, the next two years he was over 4 3PA and 18ppg. We're going to build a lot more Curry sets around his 3pt shot, set picks to get him open, let him take 3s in transition. We think we can average at least 6-8 3PA/game using a modern style of play and this should up his scoring threat level against an average defender in Curry.

- When Brand is in we think Nash/Malone pick and roll can be successful against him, especially if Curry is still defending Nash.

- Draymond plays 30 minutes, Brand plays 28. He can't play all his best players starters minutes. My top 6 players play 34 or more.

- English has a more elite offensive season than Brand (18ppg in 2002). In general our wing talent is just a lot higher on offense with Kawhi and English both being better than Hayward. English is listed at SG technically but since Kawhi shoots 3s and can guard either wing position, functionally there is little difference compared to if Kawhi had been called the SG and he had been called SF.

Smash has great defensive team but we feel we have more offensive talent and depth. It won't be easy but our offensive stars can get it done.

[Smash3]

G: Stephen Curry (38) | Leandro Barbosa (10)
G: Bruce Bowen (32) | Shane Battier (16)
F: Gordon Hayward (34) | Battier (14)
F: Draymond Green (20) | Elton Brand (28)
C: Tim Duncan (38) | Green (10)

FGA:

2016-17 Stephen Curry (18.2) … All-NBA Second Team, NBA All-Star
2002-03 Tim Duncan (17.2) … MVP, All-NBA First Team, All-Defensive First Team, NBA Finals MVP
2016-16 Gordon Hayward (15.8) … NBA All-Star
2001-02 Elton Brand (12.6) … NBA All-Star
2016-17 Draymond Green (8.6) … NBA Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA Third Team
2002-03 Bruce Bowen (5.8) … NBA All-Defensive Second Team, NBA–Champion
2008-09 Shane Battier (5.9) … NBA All-Defensive Second Team
2014-15 Leandro Barbosa (5.8) NBA–Champion


Total: 90

Strategy:

We’ve paired one of the most lethal long-range threat the game has seen with peak Tim Duncan. We’ve surrounded the duo with Hayward and Brand who can both make their own shots to put even more pressure on the opposing defense; and we have three high IQ championship contributing players that know they’re role on offense and get the job done consistently.

Defensively we have two defensive monsters in Duncan and Green in the front court, on the perimeter we have two of the greatest defensive wings in Battier and Bowen. Top to bottom the defensive schemes we’ll be able to implement with such talented players will make for suffocating defense for stretches.

Write up:

We’ll run pick and rolls all over the floor – especially with Curry and Hayward who both can shoot lights out, get to the rim, and dish, Dray and Brand are elite roll men, and Malone will have his hands full chasing Draymond on the perimeter since he is a dangerous pick and pop threat. This means guys like Malone, both Johnsons and Gasol to a lesser extent are forced to defend fast, complicated actions in space with the world’s greatest shooter in the mix, not at all their forte.

Defensively we have a good approach to slow down most of Dr P’s offensive punch. Bowen matches up well with Kawhi, Dray will do a good job on Malone, Duncan is a tough opponent for Gasol and Battier should do a great job on English.

Off the bench we have pretty big edge as there’s no one to contain Brand and we have overall the better bench.

Accolades wise, even though Battier and Bowen don’t have a DPOY under their belts they finished 4th and 7th in the DPOY race in their respective seasons.

Overall I believe we have the better checks for Dr P’s team than vice versa, better bench and similar talent level.

[Dr Positivity]

Off the bench we have pretty big edge as there’s no one to contain Brand and we have overall the better bench.

Just pointing out that Brand plays 28 minutes at PF so Malone will be against him a decent amount of the game, Brand is 18ppg version and Amir is above average defender so we're not that terrified of the matchup for limited time. Actually we'll try to lineup Amir's 10 minutes with Green as much as possible since we think Amir's great pick and roll mobility is a pretty good fit against that lineup.

[Smash3]

Off the bench we have pretty big edge as there’s no one to contain Brand and we have overall the better bench.

Just pointing out that Brand plays 28 minutes at PF so Malone will be against him a decent amount of the game, Brand is 18ppg version and Amir is above average defender so we're not that terrified of the matchup for limited time. Actually we'll try to lineup Amir's 10 minutes with Green as much as possible since we think Amir's great pick and roll mobility is a pretty good fit against that lineup.

Fair enough, but that's still a long night for Malone to chase around Draymond for 20 minutes, then guard against Brand's draining physical play and still be expected to help out on offense. Either way for those 10 minutes a night slow George Johnson is getting smoked by Brand while Amir sticks to Dray.

[Dr Positivity]

Yes it's true that against the Brand/Green frontcourt, Amir would guard Green and George Johnson would guard Brand. George Johnson is an outstanding defensive player so we'll live with him being slightly out of position on Brand. In youtube clips he looks decently mobile me, I don't think he's some slow tree shotblocker like Mark Eaton. There is a clip called "George Johnson guards Bernard King" and that was in 84-85 season when he's old as balls

[Fadeaway_J]

I can definitely buy Hayward struggling against Kawhi. As with Kobe in my matchup, I think it's asking a lot for Steph to shoulder his usual burden on offense against a defender like Cooper, while also having to chase around Nash who will have the ball in his hands so often. Nash should be able to conserve a lot more energy at both ends, and given that both guys are the engines of their respective teams that will be a crucial factor. English is a notch above Brand in the battle of wildly overqualified sixth men.

Vote: Dr Positivity

[8on]

I don't believe any of the DPOY winners after 2011 could handle a top 20 player like Duncan or Shaq. I think Draymond is perfect against Karl and Duncan will go off against Marc. Yes, it's asking a lot of Steph, but he's Steph. I trust Steph and Hayward more than I trust Nash and Kawhi.

vote: Smash3

[damecurry]

Yeah, the Cooper covering steph while steph stilm had to deal with Nash dynamic is the swinging factor for me. Its pretty close overall but Smash is relying really heavily on Curry/Duncan offensively while Dr. P has a far more balanced attack. Timmy might go off but Gasol is at least a solid check on him so it really comes down the Curry issue for me, Dr. P just had the right peronell to make his life hell.

Vote: Dr. P

[wackbone]

This is tough. Ultimately I think the Nash/Malone PnR + Kawhi and friends is too much to overcome. It's crazy cuz you could easily make the argument that Curry and Duncan are the two best players in this matchup. And I love the supp players for Smash. But based on matchups and depth, as well as



Never mind. Give me Curry and Duncan with elite defenders and solid depth. They'll find offense somewhere.

Vote: Smash


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[Dr Positivity]

2-2

[Tony Snell]

I do buy the idea that Hayward will struggle to produce at high levels with Kawhi on him. I think Dray is well equipped to guard Malone. Brand will see the majority of the time on Malone, and may struggle to defend the Nash/Malone PnR. In a very tight matchup, I am going to go with the team that has the superior top end talent, and I think Smash ultimately has the 2 best players in the matchup.

Vote: smash

[ardee]

This is super tight... closest matchup yet. Both phenomenal teams, and I'm hoping to learn how to draft based on these guys.

I will go with smash on a knife edge.... When things get that close I would just trust the guys who have gotten it done on the biggest stage and that's Duncan and Steph, while Nash, Malone and Kawhi have all been less than perfect the way the other two were.

Sorry Doc, awesome team.

[Fadeaway_J]

Smash advances to the Finals.

[Dr Positivity]

Dang