RealGM

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).

Snakebites wrote:

Dr Positivity wrote:

PG: Stephen Curry (2015: 16.8 FGA)
SG: Ray Allen (2006: 19.2 FGA)
SF: Otto Porter (2022: 6.6 FGA)
PF: Tayshaun Prince (2004: 8.8 FGA)
C: Dwight Howard (2009: 12.4 FGA)

PG/SG: Shaun Livingston (2017: 4.2 FGA)
PF: Kevin Love (2018: 12.4 FGA)
PF/C: Serge Ibaka (2012: 7.4 FGA)

87.8 / 88

PG: Stephen Curry (40) / Shaun Livingston (8)
SG: Ray Allen (34) / Shaun Livingston (14)
SF: Otto Porter (26) / Tayshaun Prince (16) / Ray Allen (6)
PF: Tayshaun Prince (20) / Kevin Love (20) / Serge Ibaka (8)
C: Dwight Howard (38) / Serge Ibaka (10)

GL Snakebites

Defensive matchups: Curry on Kyrie, Allen on Amen, Porter on Klay, Prince on Lebron, Howard on Zubac.

We had to mess around a bit with the rotations but I still believe we can get the win here. I'm not in love with Amen's lack of shooting beside Lebron and we have arguably 2 of the 3 best players in Curry and Howard and a four out lineup around the latter, along with the Splash father Allen giving us a solid big 3. Prince and Porter is a solid combo to use on Lebron and we have the more talented bench, his team also having two bigs making it easier to play mine. The chemistry here should be quite good with Curry having a shooting SG, multiple role players he's a proven fit with in Livingston and Porter, and stretch lineup outside of C.

C: Ivica Zubac 24-25 11.8 FGA
PF: Lebron James 16-17 18.2 FGA
SF: Amen Thompson 24-25 10.1 FGA
SG: Klay Thompson 17-18 16.2 FGA
PG: Kyrie Irving 14-15 16.6 FGA

B: Shane Battier 08-09 5.9 FGA
B: Andrew Bogut 15-16 4.0 FGA
B: Luc Richard Mbah A Moute 16-17 4.7 FGA

Total: 87.5/88 FGA

Rotation:

Zubac 36/Bogut 12
Lebron 28/Mbah Amoute 15/Battier 5
A. Thompson 33/Battier 15
K. Thompson 37/Battier 11
Irving (37)/James (10)

Alrighty, lets do this.

First, Dr P has absolutely no defender for Lebron- ask Piston fans how effective Tayshaun was at guarding Lebron in 2007 when Cleveland upset the Pistons in the ECF, and 10 years later Lebron was still unguardable. It highlights a core advantage my team has- we can guard anyone.

Between the Thompsons, Lebron, and Battier, I've got defensive answers to any and all defensive perimeter threats, paired with a really strong defensive bigman.

This team makes use of two relatively new players to this game- Zubac and Amen Thompson. Both of these guys are relatively untested in these, but both are terrific fits on this team. Zubac made massive strides on both sides of the ball this year- proving to be a surprisingly effective post player and terrific defender. He was 17/13 this season while earing All Defensive Honors. Amen Thompson is offensively effective in his own right, but the real benefit here is that he's the best and most versatile defender in this entire series- in this day and age earning All Defensive First Team Honors as a perimeter player isn't easy, but Amen nonetheless managed it. One may quibble about his shooting alongside Lebron, but to be honest I think my offense is going to score at will regardless here, and Amen is simply a better and more special player than Shane, so he gets the start here. Battier will still see lots of time alongside Lebron, and this gives Dr P's weaker defenders fewer places to hide. My shooting is still fine given my Klay/Kyrie backcourt. Both Steph and Ray have to guard either Kyrie, Amen, or Klay- this is exploitable- Amen unlike Shane is athletic enough to punish the weak defensive assignment even if he's not a great shooter.

On the flip side, perimter defense is going to be a difficult proposition for Dr P. My 3 offensive pillars of Lebron, Klay, and Kyrie will be extremely effective against a relatively pourous perimter defense, and Dwight cannot stop all attacks to the rim without help in this matchup.

Overall I think I have a reliable offensive core and a much better defense, and that this should carry the day here.

Snakebites wrote:...

MadNess wrote:...

lilroddyb wrote:...

Fadeaway_J wrote:...

Dr Positivity wrote:...

durantbird wrote:...

Stan wrote:...

Laimbeer wrote:...

iamgine wrote:...

Larry_Russell wrote:...

Matchup is open, Snake and Doc please vote for yourselves

Steph-Ray was the best talent play where Dr P took them, but it just left him behind the 8-ball defensively. I didn't like the previous matchup for him either, and it's even worse against a well-built LeBron team.

Damn, I was thinking I had this one.

Shame- I did really like this team. I thought Lebron/Klay/Kyrie was a good enough offensive foundation and that I had some really strong supporting pieces.

I also have a hard time grasping how anyone can think Lebron would lose to this perimeter defense. The most memorable moment in Tayshaun's career is his block in the 2004 ECF against Reggie Miller. Unfortuantely for him, his second most memorable career moment was his defense against Lebron in the ECF in 2007.

Dr Positivity advances