2023 East Cross-Standings Draft - CHAMPIONSHIP- durantbird** vs Dr Positivity

[durantbird]

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. Please ensure you give a rationale for your vote; votes with no explanation will not be counted.

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 their roster page).

**First to 3 votes advances.**

[Dr Positivity]

PG: Mark Price (1992: 12.5 FGA)
SG: Trevor Ariza (2013: 8.1 FGA)
SF: Julius Erving (1981: 18.6 FGA)
PF: Kevin Durant (2022: 20.3 FGA)
C: Bill Laimbeer (1990: 9.7 FGA)

PG/SG: George Hill (2020: 6.4 FGA)
SG: JJ Redick (2010: 6.7 FGA)
PF/C: Dennis Rodman (1996: 4.8 FGA)

87.1 / 88

PG: Mark Price (38) / George Hill (10)
SG: Trevor Ariza (22) / JJ Redick (16) / George Hill (10)
SF: Julius Erving (38) / Trevor Ariza (10)
PF: Kevin Durant (38) / Dennis Rodman (10)
C: Bill Laimbeer (28) / Dennis Rodman (20)

GL durantbird

Defensive matchups: Price on Green, Ariza on Kawhi, Erving on Penny, Durant on Horford, Laimbeer/Rodman on Moses.

His team is very talented however I feel we present a difficult matchup for him as I only see one player in Kawhi who's a good fit to guard Erving or Durant. In addition to issues playing two bigs on defense, at PF beside Moses Horford's offensive role is less clear than it was beside Millsap, shooting 34% from 3 this year in his first year really taking them. The Penny/Price matchup causes some issues on both sides as while using Dr J on him isn't ideal, he also doesn't really have a great fit to guard a smaller guard like Price, younger Green might have been able to but 76ers Green is more dicey. The X factor is Rodman playing 30 minutes who is easily the best bench player and will help in a big way rebounding against Moses in this series, if Hill and Redick are worse than these versions of Porter and Majerle it's not by that big of a margin. While his big 3 are imposing Erving, Durant and Price are also effective and the combination of shooting and defense around them is enough to get it done.

[durantbird]

PG: Penny Hardaway 96' - 14.8 - MVP (3), All NBA First, East Finalist, 24.6 PER, 60% TS, 6.2 OBPM, 1.0 DBPM, Playoffs: 36% 3
SG: Danny Green 21' - 7.9 - 40% 3, 58% TS, 1.5 DBPM, East Semi Finalist, Playoffs: 38% 3
SF: Kawhi Leonard 19' - 18.8 - Champ, FMVP, All Defense, All NBA Second, 37% 3, 25.8 PER, 61% TS, 6.1 OBPM, 1.1 DBPM, Playoffs: 38% 3
PF: Al Horford 16' - 12.8 - All Star, 34% 3, East Semi Finalist, 19.4 PER, 56.5% TS, 2.6 OBPM, 1.5 DBPM, Playoffs: 39% 3
C: Moses Malone 83' - 16.7 - Champ, MVP, FMVP, All Defense First, 25.1 PER (led league), 58% TS, 4.0 OBPM

Bench: Terry Porter 99' - 7.4 - 41% 3, 60% TS, 16.9 PER, 1.9 OBPM, 1.0 DBPM
Bench: Dan Majerle 00' - 6.1 - 36% 3, 56% TS, 2.7 DBPM, East Semi Finalist, Playoffs: 40% 3 (70.4% 3PAr), 58% TS, 4.7 DBPM (led league)
Bench: Marcin Gortat 09' - 3.0 - NBA Finalist, 17.0 PER, 58% TS, 2.2 DBPM, Playoffs: 66% TS, 3.4 DBPM

Rotation:
PG: Penny Hardaway 38 / Terry Porter 10
SG: Danny Green 32 / Terry Porter 14 / Dan Majerle 2
SF: Kawhi Leonard 28 / Dan Majerle 20
PF: Al Horford 38 / Kawhi Leonard 10
C: Moses Malone 38 / Marcin Gortat 10

87.6/88

vs

PG: Mark Price (38) / George Hill (10)
SG: Trevor Ariza (20) / JJ Redick (18) / George Hill (10)
SF: Julius Erving (38) / Trevor Ariza (10)
PF: Kevin Durant (38) / Dennis Rodman (10)
C: Bill Laimbeer (32) / Dennis Rodman (16)

Matchup:
- Defensive assignments: Penny/Green vs Ariza, Green/Penny vs Price, Kawhi vs Durant, Horford vs Erving, Moses vs Laimbeer.
- We match up well here. We got great counters to Durant/Erving with Kawhi/Horford and Green, Majerle being able to guard them effectively as well. Green is going to be Price's main defender and can do a good job on him, with Penny also seeing minutes on him and disturbing with his size. We got a very switchable unit, and we are comfortable with switching, while Price will be haunted by us on the other side. I think Moses is set to have a great series here, he's not required to put a lot on effort on the defensive side guarding Laimbeer, while on offense Laimbeer is not really that elite defender who can really slow Moses down, and his craftiness along with great passers around him will enable him to get easy buckets. Erving needing to guard Penny is also a very good matchup for us, as I'm not sure he can handle Penny's quickness and we can benefit from a very good flow of our offense, while being able to put Green on their point of attack.
- Talent wise, I think we have the edge here. Penny-Kawhi-Moses is a 3 MVP caliber trio who are better than Price-Erving-Durant and are all in their best seasons, not the same can be said for Durant. In addition, we have the much superior 4th option in Horford, who actually was the leading player of a very successful Hawks team. We have a very good supporting cast of Green-Porter-Majerle-Gortat, all key contributors in very good teams, and all in good seasons, as can be viewed in their stats. It should be noted that Ariza 13' is a step below Ariza 14', and he had a down year in terms of his shooting with 36% from 3 and 54% TS, he also was a bench guy in a team that didn't make the playoffs.

[Dr Positivity]

In response to write up:

- I think Price can do well against Sixers Green. I feel Ariza's season isn't any more of a downgrade than him.
- Erving should have great series with a big man on him and 3pt shooters at all the other position
- I have Laimbeer as being as good as Horford if not moreso than PF version.

[durantbird]

[Fadeaway_J]

Both teams have some defensive vulnerabilities with Doc on Penny, Horford on Doc, and Price being someone who can be hunted by both Penny and Kawhi. In a general sense I feel durantbird has the stronger and more complementary star trio, and I prefer his supporting cast as well.

Vote: durantbird

[wackbone]

These teams are virtually equal in all ways. The only distinguishing factor I can find is Penny-Kawhi-Moses all have their own positions whereas there is some (albeit not a huge amount) of overlap between KD and Erving. I can't find anything else to distinguish these two teams, so I will go with that.

Vote: Durantbird

[twyzted]

These 2 very even teams, i just feel like durantbirds team is a better defensive team.
Im not seeing Price or Ariza slowing penny down.
Or laimbeer or rodman slowing Moses down.
So durantbird gets my vote.

[Dr Positivity]

GG, not too surprised by that one. Kawhi/Horford was a strong pick in this.

[durantbird]

GG Dr P.

I had a very hard decision in round 2 between Penny-Green and Harden-Gilmore. Penny turned out the right decision given Moses stayed for round 3.