Thanksgiving Leftovers Draft - Playin - Dr Positivity vs Snakebites*

[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).

We'll be using a AI vote when a matchup seems stuck. AI vote counts for a single vote.

**First to 3 votes advances**

[Snakebites]

Terry Porter 90-91 11.7 FGA
17/8/2, 41% 3pt on 4 Att, 63% TS, 6.2 VORP

Brandon Roy 08-09 16.9 FGA
All NBA 2nd
23/5/5, 57% TS, 38% 3pt on 3.5 Att, 6.0 VORP
Paul George 13-14 17.0 FGA
All NBA Third, All Defensive First
22/7/3, 36% 3pt on 6.3 Attempts, 5.0 VORP

Charles Barkley 89-90 14.9 FGA
All NBA First, 2nd in MVP Vote
25/11, 66% TS, 8.0 VORP

Myles Turner 22-23 11.8 FGA
18/8/2, 65% TS, 37% 3pt on 4 Attempts, 1.9 VORP

B: Delon Wright 21-22 3.5 FGA
B: Nicolas Batum 18-19 7.5 FGA
B: Dwight Howard 20-21 4.4 FGA

Porter (37)/Wright (11)
Roy (38)/Wright (10)
George (38)/Batum (10)
Barkley (39)/Batum (9)
Turner (35)/Howard (13)

Alrighty, lets do this. I think my team is an extremely affective team that revolves around an extremely effective 1a and 1b scoring duo in Charles Barkley and Brandon Roy. Roy is the playmaker/scorer combo, Barkley is the elite post player/finisher, and they're absolutely surrounded by high impact guys who can shoot and defend.

Turner to me is an ideal complement to Barkley. Barkley provides elite rebounding and ability to create his own shot (things Turner lacks) and Turner provides rim protection, defensive mobility, and shooting range to balance that out. On the perimeter it's a similar story- both Porter and George are capable shot creators, but provide shooting and defense to complement Brandon Roy. I think the overall result is a team that should really function well together.

In this matchup in particular, I think Dr P's primary weakness is perimeter defense. Dumars and Caruso are solid, but it looks like there's only 10 minutes of the game where they will both be on the floor together. There will be a lot of minutes with Lillard and Peja together on the floor, which to me is something of an exploitable weakness defensively, one I'm in a position to exploit with a very strong and balanced offensive attack. Royce O'Neale helps defensively a bit, but when he's out there the offense will suffer.

On the flip side, I think I have enough perimeter defenders to contenst what he's got. Porter and PG are terrific covers for Dame and Peja respectively, and my defenders off the bench ar solid too. Barkley isn't a great defender by any means but he is strong can hold his own in the post. Mutombo is a great defender who brings relatively little to the table as an offensive player, so Myles Turner will be available to help protect the rim.

Dr P has built a very strong team but I'd argue mine is a bit more balanced all round and that this should carry the day.

[Dr Positivity]

PG: Damian Lillard (2019: 19.2 FGA)
SG: Joe Dumars (1990: 14.1 FGA)
SF: Peja Stojakovic (2003: 14.4 FGA)
PF: Kevin Garnett (2005: 16.6 FGA)
C: Dikembe Mutombo (1999: 6.8 FGA)

PG: Alex Caruso (2023: 4.3 FGA)
SF: Mike Miller (2009: 7.5 FGA)
SF: Royce O'Neale (2020: 5.1 FGA)

88 / 88

PG: Damian Lillard (38) / Alex Caruso (10)
SG: Joe Dumars (38) / Alex Caruso (10)
SF: Peja Stojakovic (20) / Mike Miller (14) / Royce O'Neale (14)
PF: Kevin Garnett (32) / Peja Stojakovic (16)
C: Dikembe Mutombo (40) / Kevin Garnett (8)

GL Snakebites

Defensive matchups: Lillard on Porter, Dumars on Roy, Peja on George, Garnett on Barkley, Mutombo on Turner

This is a pretty even matchup though I feel we have a few advantages

- I believe Lillard will be the most significant offensive creator on the perimeter in this series as we have an ideal player to guard Roy in Dumars.

- This is a strong fit around KG as he had a variety of shooting PGs in Minnesota like Billups, Brandon and Cassell, and Peja is like a better version of Wally. We will be using KG's playmaking like on the Wolves.

- KG can slow down his best offensive player Barkley and he will either have to use Barkley on him or use Turner who man to man is not his strength and would compromise his help D. Peja will not guard Barkley, we will try Mutombo for a few minutes, if that only works ok it's cancelled out by how the stretch 4 Peja lineup could cause him issues.

- We have the depth advantage as even though the talent is close, Howard having to play less than his weakest bench player Wright hurts him a bit, in addition most of my players shoot making Howard's shotblocking less meaningful. I'm not sure the Batum waiting to be freed from Hornets is really better than O'Neale. Caruso is a really nice fit against his guards and the 10 minutes pressure of him and Dumars should be effective.

[Fadeaway_J]

Turner in the last couple of years has developed into a higher volume shooter and overall scorer, and I think he provides enough of a threat to space Deke out. That's not fatal in and of itself, but it does create challenges with Peja and Dame being defensive liabilities, and KG having to prioritise guarding Chuck. By contrast, Chuck is Snake's only real defensive trouble spot, and while he will still be vulnerable out in space, at least Turner can help him out near the rim. I feel like Snake has similar offensive talent, so not having as many fires to put out makes the difference.

Vote: Snakebites

[DCasey91]

Vote Snakebites

I really like the TP/PG combo and this version of Barks is probably the best before he started jacking dumb 3's. There is depth queries on Batum with larger PF's but I see Howard having a good chop out playing KG straight up if switch on PF/C.

Posi has the better froncourt but Peja 16mins at PF once again is not to the go imo especially with Barkley and shooting. I.e if Mutumbo gets pulled out Barkley has a cleaner run at the rim.

[parsnips33]

Love the Dame/KG fit, love that Dr P can throw KG on Chuck defensively. I do think the fact that Snake has Porter, BRoy, and PG all on the perimeter is really gonna test the ability of Dr Ps team to contain. I think this is closer than final voting will indicate, but I'm gonna go with Snakebites here

[Dr Positivity]

GG

My original plan was to play KG at C but tried to save some field goals with Mutombo as frontcourt partner instead of Love for 14 FGA or something.

[durantbird]

Snakebites advances