Franchise Draft Lockdown Play-In #3 - ReggiesKnicks* vs. wackbone

[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. Once the writeups are posted, I will add a poll, and the team with the most votes after 24 hours will advance. EACH MANAGER SHOULD ALSO VOTE FOR THEIR OWN TEAM IN THE POLL - IF YOU FAIL TO DO THIS, YOU ARE SIMPLY GIVING AWAY A VOTE. If the votes are tied, we will decide the matchup via AI vote.

You are not required to state or explain your vote, but you are free to comment in the thread if you want to.

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).

[ReggiesKnicks]

Rotation

Luka Doncic (40) / Pablo Prigioni (8)
Kawhi Leonard (40) / Bruce Bowen (8)
Bruce Bowen (26) / Robert Horry (22)
Anthony Davis (30) / Boris Diaw (18)
David Robinson (40) / Anthony Davis (8)

Roster
Kawhi Leonard (2016) 15.1
David Robinson (1996) 16.8
Anthony Davis (2020) 17.7
Bruce Bowen (2006) 6.5
Robert Horry (1999) 3.8
Luka Doncic (2021) 20.5
Boris Diaw (2013) 4.4
Pablo Prigioni (2013) 3

Total FGA 87.8/88.0

-We have a massive size advantage combined with the best on-ball creator in the series in Luka
-AD gets to roam the dunkers spot while we spam P&R with Luka/Robinson, Bowen in the corner and Kawhi on the opposite wing.
-Our bench has two heady veterans in Horry and Diaw who glue together all 4 of our MVP-caliber players
-Size wins and we have Twin Towers who are athletic enough to defend in space while allowing our perimeter players to play into the opposing shooters and chase them off the 3P line
-We clearly have 4 of the Top 6 players in this series and they have natural synergy together
-Ultimately a talent advantage with a clean fit, better defenders throughout the roster and significantly more size should give us an advantage here

[wackbone]

Steph Curry - 2016 - 20.2 FGA - MVP, All-NBA 1st, All-Star, 45.4 3P% on 11.2 att, One of the BEST Offensive seasons of all time
Klay Thompson - 2015 - 16.9 FGA - All-NBA 3rd, All-Star, 43.9 3P% on 7.1 att
Grant Hill - 1997 - 15.7 FGA - 3rd in MVP, All-NBA 1st, All-Star
Bam Adebayo - 2020 - 11.0 FGA - All-Star, 5th in DPOY
Draymond Green - 2016 - 10.1 FGA - All-NBA 2nd, 2nd in DPOY, All-Star, 38.8 3P% on 3.2 att
Joe Ingles - 2017 - 5.5 FGA - 44.1 3P% on 3.4 att
Nate McMillan - 1994 - 5.4 FGA - 2nd in 6MOY, All-Def 2nd, 39.1 3P% on 1.8 att
Kevon Looney - 2024 - 3.1 FGA - Solid advanced stats
87.9/88 FGA

Steph Curry (38) / Nate McMillan (10)
Klay Thompson (38) / Nate McMillan (10)
Grant Hill (38) / Joe Ingles (10)
Draymond Green (38) / Joe Ingles (10)
Bam Adebayo (38) / Kevon Looney (10)

Writeup:

Probably the BEST debuting team we have ever had in one of these. Great work, Reggie!

Defensively we will start with Steph on Bowen, Klay on Luka, Hill on Kawhi, Draymond on DRob, and Bam on AD. Nate McMillan is another elite perimeter defender off the bench, and Ingles offers some defensive effort as well.

Key points:
I have Draymond on DRob and Bam on AD purely based on Reggie's planned use for them, with Draymond better able to disrupt the Luka-DRob actions and Bam better able to contest the paint against AD.

Steph+Klay+Draymond is a proven trio, and here we are replacing Iggy with a near-MVP Grant Hill who fills in much the same role as Iggy just at a much higher level.

This is the BEST season of Steph Curry, one of the BEST offensive seasons of all time.

This is the BEST season of Draymond, when he is at his peak powers (primarily playmaking, shooting, and defense).

This is the BEST season of Grant Hill, 3rd in MVP voting.

We have less talent but we have a proven formula.

[Fadeaway_J]

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Ready for votes. Reggie and wack, please vote for yourselves as well.

[Fadeaway_J]

I assumed wack's dilemma at center was between Bam and Lopez, and I was hoping he'd go with the latter. Bam is a nice fit with the Splash Brothers in a vacuum, but on this team with Draymond and Hill he's a bit redundant. Would prefer the spacing and rim protection of Lopez here.

[wackbone]

I assumed wack's dilemma at center was between Bam and Lopez, and I was hoping he'd go with the latter. Bam is a nice fit with the Splash Brothers in a vacuum, but on this team with Draymond and Hill he's a bit redundant. Would prefer the spacing and rim protection of Lopez here.

Bam
Lopez
Love

Don't think it would have made much difference with this matchup though, either way Reggie would have 4/6 of the best players. Luka-Kawhi-AD-DRob is a fantastic group and Reggie did well to surround them. My strategy was to intentionally draft away from pure talent, and it backfired. Oh well, again Reggie's team is a juggernaut.

[wackbone]

As a separate observation -

When db has posted polls it has been set up so that the voter can choose to change their vote if they'd like, whereas when you have posted polls once you make a vote it is locked in forever. Not saying one is necessarily better than the other, just interesting that it is different.

[Fadeaway_J]

I assumed wack's dilemma at center was between Bam and Lopez, and I was hoping he'd go with the latter. Bam is a nice fit with the Splash Brothers in a vacuum, but on this team with Draymond and Hill he's a bit redundant. Would prefer the spacing and rim protection of Lopez here.

Bam
Lopez
Love

Don't think it would have made much difference with this matchup though, either way Reggie would have 4/6 of the best players. Luka-Kawhi-AD-DRob is a fantastic group and Reggie did well to surround them. My strategy was to intentionally draft away from pure talent, and it backfired. Oh well, again Reggie's team is a juggernaut.

Yeah, the talent bar for this draft turned out to be pretty ludicrous.

[Fadeaway_J]

I think we can safely call this one...