Screen Name Game Championship - wackbone*** vs Fadeaway_J

[Laimbeer]

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).

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[wackbone]

Derrick White - 2024 - 11.5 FGA - N/A
O.G. Anunoby - 2020 - 8.2 FGA - N/A
Mike Conley - 2013 - 11.8 FGA - All-Star, No All-NBA
Andrei Kirilenko - 2004 - 11.9 FGA - All-Star, No All-NBA
Kobe Bryant - 2008 - 20.6 FGA - MVP
Royce O'Neale - 2019 - 4.2 FGA - N/A
Nerlens Noel - 2021 - 3.5 FGA - N/A
Patrick Ewing - 1989 - 16.0 FGA - All-NBA, no MVP/Multi 1st Team

Total: 87.7/88 FGA

Rotation:
Mike Conley (32) / Derrick White (16)
Kobe Bryant (32) / Derrick White (16)
OG Anunoby (20) / Royce O'Neale (20) / Kobe Bryant (8)
Andrei Kirilenko (38) / OG Anunoby (10)
Patrick Ewing (40) / Nerlens Noel (8)

Writeup:
Not sure I've ever done a writeup for a matchup that shares two of the same players, but here we are!

Defensively we will start with Conley/Kobe/White on White, Kobe/White/Conley on Ray, Anunoby/Kirilenko on Anunoby, Kirilenko/Anunoby on LeBron, and Ewing on Bam. Royce is yet enough good defender off of the bench.

This matchup is very nitpicky. Just want to say that upfront.

Defense - My team is predicated on defense. No defensive holes throughout the entire lineup. Meanwhile Fade leaves the door open with 38 minutes of Ray.

Overall Talent - We share Anunoby and White. Let's call Kobe and LeBron roughly a push, slight edge to Fade. Then there is AK47/Ewing vs Ray/Bam, which I think could be a push, slight edge to me. Then it's Conley vs DFS for the 6th spot, which is a decisive edge for me.

X-Factor - I think the X-Factor in this series comes down to how much offensive production does Bam offer as the clear third banana, especially when guarded by an elite defensive center in Ewing. I typically tend to favor the high-end old-school bigs over most current ones, and Ewing vs Bam is no exception. Ewing was 4th in MVP voting in the chosen season, while Bam has never received any MVP votes nor has he ever been on any All-NBA teams.

[Fadeaway_J]

Starters
C - Bam Adebayo (2023-24)

Spoiler:

19.3 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 3.9 apg, 1.1 spg, 0.9 bpg, .521 FG%, .755 FT%, .576 TS%
- NBA All-Star
- All-Defensive First Team

PF - LeBron James (2016-17)

Spoiler:

26.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 8.7 apg, 1.2 spg, 0.6 bpg, .548 FG%, .363 3P%, .674 FT%, 124 3P (1.7 pg), .619 TS%
- NBA All-Star
- All-NBA First Team

SF - OG Anunoby (2019-20)

Spoiler:

10.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.7 bpg, .505 FG%, .390 3P%, .706 FT%, 89 3P (1.3 pg), .600 TS%

SG - Ray Allen (2000-01)

Spoiler:

22.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.6 apg, 1.5 spg, 0.2 bpg, .480 FG%, .433 3P%, .888 FT%, 202 3P (2.5 pg), .610 TS%
- Led the NBA in OWS (11.5)
- NBA All-Star
- All-NBA Third Team

PG - Derrick White (2023-24)

Spoiler:

15.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 5.2 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.2 bpg, .461 FG%, .396 3P%, .901 FT%, 196 3P (2.7 pg), .611 FG%
- NBA Champion
- All-Defensive Second Team

Bench
F - Boris Diaw (2012-13)

Spoiler:

5.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.4 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.4 bpg, .539 FG%, .385 3P%, .723 FT%, .603 TS%

F - Dorian Finney-Smith (2021-22)

Spoiler:

11.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.1 spg, 0.5 bpg, .471 FG%, .395 3P%, .675 FT%, 172 3P (2.2 pg), .604 TS%

F - Mario Elie (1994-95)

Spoiler:

8.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.3 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.1 bpg, .499 FG%, .398 3P%*, .842 FT%, 80 3P (1.0 pg), .631 TS%
* shortened line
- NBA Champion

Rotations
C - Adebayo (38), Diaw (10)
PF - James (28), DFS (14), Diaw (6)
SF - Anunoby (32), DFS (8), Elie (8)
SG - Allen (38), Elie (10)
PG - White (36), James (12)

FGA Per Player

Spoiler:

F - Dorian Finney-Smith - 8.7
A - Ray Allen - 16.0
D - Boris Diaw - 4.4
E - Mario Elie - 6.0
A - Bam Adebayo - 14.3
W - Derrick White - 11.5
A - OG Anunoby - 8.2
J - LeBron James - 18.2

Total: 87.3/88.0

I have a hard time doing the standard matchup analysis for a team that shares two of my players, but I'll just try to outline my approach and reasons I think I should win.

- We play four-out with LeBron at the peak of his powers offensively. Ray is the perfect second option for him, and Bam is in what I would consider his appropriate role as a #3 who can finish off the creation of LeBron and Ray. White is an excellent fourth banana who has shown he can scale up his production as the need arises. In addition the elite guys like Allen and White, all our perimeter role players are plus shooters.
- Defensively, we have the horses to switch pretty much everything, with a bunch of rangy perimeter stoppers and two of the most versatile defensive bigs ever in LeBron and Bam. Diaw fits into this concept as well. We can also defend conventionally at a high level, given that Allen is our only potential weak spot, and there would be plenty of places to hide him on wack's team.
- Even as a Kobe fan, I don't view him and LeBron as a push at all. To me this is the best version of LeBron (offensively, I think this is hard to dispute), and most would agree he's quite clearly superior to Kobe. Against similar levels of defensive talent, I would bet more on LeBron to excel, especially since he has a far more dynamic perimeter star alongside him than anyone on wack's roster.

Good luck wack.

[Laimbeer]

Voting is open.
wack and Fade please vote for yourself.

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[ChicagoSportsFan21]

Congrats wack! I had you as my top team. I really liked the fit with Kobe/Ewing leading the way.

[JimmyPlopper]

I did not vote for you, but congrats Wack!

[Snakebites]

I could have done Kobe/Ewing/AK/OG but I had no Conley/White substitute- it would have just been an objectively worse version of the team Wack built.

[Fadeaway_J]

GG wack

[Laimbeer]

wack wins it!