Common Theme Pairs Draft 2.0 - R2 - wackbone vs durantbird*

[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. 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).

[durantbird]

PG: Mark Price 92' - 12.5
SG: Kobe Bryant 08' - 20.6
SF: Trevor Ariza 09' - 7.3
PF: Peja Stojakovic 03' - 14.4
C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 80' - 16.9

Bench: Patrick Beverley 19' - 6.1
Bench: Luc Mbah A Moute 17' - 4.7
Bench: Ivica Zubac 21' - 5.5

88/88

PG: Price (38), Beverley (10)
SG: Bryant (33), Beverley (15)
SF: Ariza (32), Stojakovic (9), Bryant (7)
PF: Stojakovic (29), Mbah a Moute (16), Zubac (3)
C: Abdul-Jabbar (39), Zubac (9)

Matchup:
- Defensive assignments: Kobe vs Kyrie, Price vs Christie, Peja vs Middleton, Ariza vs LeBron, KAJ vs Gilmore.
- We match up well. Ariza and Mbah a Moute are too very intense defenders who can slow down LBJ, while Kareem/Zubac provide great rim protection 100% of the game. Bryant will also see some minutes on LeBron. Overall I like our matchups, only one that is less than ideal is Peja on Middleton, but we can live with that. If Middleton gets too hot, we can try some Kobe on him, while Price/Beverley take Kyrie.
- Wack was a nice LeBron build but I like our two man punch in Kobe Kareem better as two MVPs with great fit, while Gilmore is nice but not peak. Price and Peja form a great third and fourth options, who are both elite spacers who allow Kobe and Kareem to maximize their offensive impact. Don't really see a separation on the benches.

[wackbone]

LeBron James - 2009 - 19.9 FGA - 34.4 3P% on 4.7 att, MVP, 2nd in DPOY, Highest PER/WS/BPM/VORP of his career
Kyrie Irving - 2019 - 18.5 FGA - 40.1 3P% on 6.5 att, All-NBA 2nd
Khris Middleton - 2020 - 15.3 FGA - 41.5 3P% on 5.7 att, All-Star
Artis Gilmore - 1981 - 10.0 FGA - All-Star, 67.0 FG%, .208 WS/48, 2.4 bpg
Doug Christie - 2003 - 7.0 FGA - 39.5 3P% on 2.3 att
Charlie Ward - 2000 - 6.2 FGA - 38.6 3P% on 3.7 att
Grant Williams - 2022 - 5.6 FGA - 41.1 3P% on 3.4 att
Mitchell Robinson - 2022 - 4.8 FGA - 76.1 FG%, .221 WS/48
Total: 87.3/88 FGA

Rotations:
Kyrie Irving (38) / Charlie Ward (10)
Doug Christie (32) / Charlie Ward (12) / Khris Middleton (4)
Khris Middleton (32) / LeBron James (16)
LeBron James (24) / Grant Williams (24)
Artis Gilmore (36) / Mitchell Robinson (12)

Writeup:
Helluva team as always db, best of luck.

Defensively we will start with Kyrie on Price, Christie on Kobe, Middleton on Peja, LeBron on Ariza, and Gilmore on Kareem.

LeBron starts on Ariza seeing as he is a limited offensive threat, but can guard Peja or Kobe for stretches as well, particularly in crunchtime. This will allow LeBron to rest defensively for most of the game and focus his talents on offense, while then also using his 2nd in DPOY to guard the threats when it matters most.

db clearly has the much better 2nd banana than I do, but I think I match up a bit better. Kobe guarding Kyrie for most of the game does not seem ideal for Kobe's production and Peja is guarding Middleton who is a legitimate offensive threat. Having two defensive liabilities in the starting lineup in Price and Peja makes Kobe/Ariza/Kareem have to work that much harder to cover for their limitations, but their own primary assignments are Kyrie/LeBron/Gilmore so I don't think they'll be able to help all that much.

Kyrie+LeBron have proven chemistry, Middleton/Gilmore provide All-Star level support, and Kyrie/Christie/Ward/Middleton/Williams are all 38+% from deep. For the record, in 2009 Ariza shot 31.9% from deep on 2.3 att.

[durantbird]

Voting is open. Wack, please vote for yourself

[durantbird]

gg wack, durantbird advances