Finals Debut Draft R1 - Larry_Russell* vs. Dr Positivity

[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, you may post a vote by commenting to this post (notice we will not be using a poll) - all participants of the draft are invited and encouraged to post a vote, so as other regular participants of the games in the forum. You are not required to explain your vote, but you are welcome to do so if you want.

The team with the most votes after 24 hours will advance / win championship (depending on round). If a team gets 4 votes before 24 hours, then the first one to do that auto advances. If the votes are tied, we will decide the matchup via AI vote.

Minimum of two human votes to decide a matchup.

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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[Larry_Russell]

PG: Steph Curry (2014-15) 16.8
23.8ppg, 4.3rpg, 7.7apg, 2spg, 44.5% on 8.1-3pta
MVP, NBA-1, AS

SG: Ray Allen (2007-08) 13.5
17.5ppg, 3.7rpg, 3.1apg, 1spg, 40% on 6.2-3pta
AS

SF: Klay Thompson (2014-15) 16.9
21.7ppg, 3.2rpg, 3apg, 1.1spg, 0.8bpg, 44% on 7.1-3pta
MVP-10, NBA-3, AS

PF: Pau Gasol (2007-08) 13.5
18.9ppg, 8.5rpg, 3.2apg, 0.5spg, 1.5bpg

C: Al Horford (2021-22) 8.2
10.2ppg, 7.7rpg, 3.5apg, 0.7spg, 1.3bpg, 34% on 3.8-3pta
DPOY-9

PG/SG: Marcus Smart (2021-22) 10.1
12.1ppg, 3.8rpg, 6apg, 1.7spg, 33% on 5-3pta
DPOY, DEF-1

SF/PF: Grant Williams (2021-22) 5.6
7.8ppg, 3.6rpg, 1apg, 0.5spg, 0.7bpg, 41% on 3.5-3pta

C: Mitchell Robinson (2025-26) 3.4
5.7ppg, 8.8rpg, 1apg, 1spg, 1.2bpg
6MOTY-8

PG: Curry (38) / Smart (10)
SG: Allen (38) / Smart (10)
SF: Thompson (38) / Williams (10)
PF: Gasol (38) / Williams (10)
C: Horford (38) / Robinson (10)

88/88

Starting defense:
Curry on Paul
Allen on Wiggins
Thompson and Smart on Booker
Gasol on Siakam
Horford on Wemby

***Whenever DPOY Marcus Smart is on the floor he is on Booker non stop, picking him up from Bookers from baseline to baseline for 20 mins.

Curry can cover Paul fine, Chris is never looking to score 30 points so Curry survives here easily enough
Allen on Wiggins - Andrew is a secondary scorer and cutter, Ray is not an elite defender but Wiggins isn't really able to punish him here
Klay/Smart on Booker - the main offensive player on this team and has 2 elite defenders hounding him for a full time on the court. That is rough for Booker.
Gasol on Siakam - Pau will play off just daring Siakam to take loing jumpers, wont be overhelping off of him
Horford on Wemby - If anyone is going to defend Wemby and make him work and be inefficient, its Al Horford. Can play physical and has the mobility to keep up

Offense
Curry/Horford pick and pops. This forces Wemby to defend out to 25 feet from the basket. If Wemby stays back, Curry burries a shot. If Wemby steps up, Horford shoots over Curry
Win Win for me here

Hunting Booker
We will be forced to run through screens non stop with the movement that both Klay and Ray allen run. Booker is going to be completely exhausted in this matchup. Beinf defended my Smart and Klay and having to defend Klay or Ray Allen movements.

Pau/Horford hubs at the elbow. Both are excellent passers, They can generate wide open threes all game long. Think Draymond green passing but with vastly superior individual offense.

Weakside actions, defense can never, ever, help off of any of Curry/Klay/RayRay, so weakside pindowns will be huge for me. Someone will eventually lose one of those guys and that is an automatic 3 pointer for me.


TLDR:
Think the Warriors trio of Curry/Klay/Draymond only now the splash bros is a 3 man group with Curry/Klay and Ray Allen, and instead of Draymond it is Al Horford and instead of Andrew Bogus it is Pau Gasol.
Basically very nice defense with Smart/Horford/Klay/Williams/Robinson/Pau and absolutely insane offense with the splash Trio with Pau and Horford connective passing/Spacing/low post game.

[Dr Positivity]

PG - Chris Paul (2021 - 12.6 FGA)
SG - Devin Booker (2019 - 19.2 FGA)
SF - Andrew Wiggins (2022 - 14.0 FGA)
PF - Pascal Siakam (2019 - 11.8 FGA)
C - Victor Wembanyama (2026 - 16.9 FGA)

PG - Matthew Dellavedova (2015 - 4.6 FGA)
SF - Bruce Bowen (2003 - 5.8 FGA)
C - Marcin Gortat (2009 - 3.0 FGA)

87.9 / 88

Chris Paul (38) / Matthew Dellavedova (10)
Devin Booker (38) / Bruce Bowen (8) / Matthew Dellavedova (2)
Andrew Wiggins (28) / Bruce Bowen (20)
Pascal Siakam (36) / Andrew Wiggins (10) / Victor Wembanyama (2)
Victor Wembanyama (34) / Marcin Gortat (12) / Pascal Siakam (2)

GL Larry

Defensive matchups - Paul on Curry, Booker on Allen, Wiggins on Thompson, Siakam on Horford, Wemby on Pau

I feel we have the talented team and strong mix of athleticism and skill with Wemby beside Suns backcourt, in particular we win the frontcourt battle here with this being 2022 Horford vs Wemby and just being a more athletic combo than Pau and Horford. He has monster shooting perimeter but Paul, Booker, Wiggins is also talented and getting a lot of open shots with the attention Wemby will get rolling inside off Paul's passes. The benches seem pretty close to me.

[Larry_Russell]

PG - Chris Paul (2021 - 12.6 FGA)
SG - Devin Booker (2019 - 19.2 FGA)
SF - Andrew Wiggins (2022 - 14.0 FGA)
PF - Pascal Siakam (2019 - 11.8 FGA)
C - Victor Wembanyama (2026 - 16.9 FGA)

PG - Matthew Dellavedova (2015 - 4.6 FGA)
SF - Bruce Bowen (2003 - 5.8 FGA)
C - Marcin Gortat (2009 - 3.0 FGA)

87.9 / 88

Chris Paul (38) / Matthew Dellavedova (10)
Devin Booker (38) / Bruce Bowen (8) / Matthew Dellavedova (2)
Andrew Wiggins (28) / Bruce Bowen (20)
Pascal Siakam (36) / Andrew Wiggins (10) / Victor Wembanyama (2)
Victor Wembanyama (34) / Marcin Gortat (12) / Pascal Siakam (2)

GL Larry

Defensive matchups - Paul on Curry, Christie on Allen, Wiggins on Thompson, Siakam on Horford, Wemby on Pau

I feel we have the talented team and strong mix of athleticism and skill with Wemby beside Suns backcourt, in particular we win the frontcourt battle here with this being 2022 Horford vs Wemby and just being a more athletic combo than Pau and Horford. He has monster shooting perimeter but Paul, Booker, Wiggins is also talented and getting a lot of open shots with the attention Wemby will get rolling inside off Paul's passes. The benches seem pretty close to me.

I assume you mean Booker on Allen and not Christie?

[Dr Positivity]

I assume you mean Booker on Allen and not Christie?

Fixed

It's old version of Allen so it's not that bad

While we're here you have it listed as 2016 Curry with 2015 FGAs

[JimmyPlopper]

Vote Larry

[durantbird]

Vote Dr Positivity

[Fadeaway_J]

Larry's offensive group looks like a nightmare to guard with all that shooting, playmaking, and off-ball movement. CP3 is still good enough to have some success attacking Steph, but conversely this 35-year-old version is going to have his hands full chasing Steph around on the other end. Older Horford can still move pretty well, and his strength and IQ could pose a challenge for Wemby.

Vote: Larry_Russell

[Fadeaway_J]

Forgot to quote people for this matchup.

Anyway, Larry advances.