Russell Westbrook Draft - Playin - Fadeaway_J vs goober

[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, 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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[Fadeaway_J]

Starters
C - David Robinson (1995-96)

Spoiler:

25.0 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.4 spg, 3.3 bpg, .516 FG%, .761 FT%, .589 TS%
- Led the NBA in PER (29.4), DWS (7.2), DBPM (3.1)
- #2 in MVP voting
- NBA All-Star
- All-NBA First Team
- All-Defensive First Team

PF - Shane Battier (2008-09)

Spoiler:

7.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.3 apg, 0.8 bpg, 0.9 spg, .410 FG%, .384 3P%, .821 FT%, 91 3P (1.5 pg), .568 TS%
- All-Defensive Second Team

SF - Kawhi Leonard (2016-17)

Spoiler:

25.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.8 spg, 0.7 bpg, .485 FG%, .381 3P%, .880 FT%, 147 3P (2.0 pg), .611 TS%
- NBA All-Star
- All-NBA First Team
- All-Defensive First Team

SG - Hersey Hawkins (1997-98)

Spoiler:

10.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.8 spg, 0.2 bpg, .440 FG%, .415 3P%, .868 FT%, 125 3P (1.5 PG), .594 TS%

PG - Luka Doncic (2025-26)

Spoiler:

33.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 8.3 apg, 1.6 spg, 0.5 bpg, .476 FG%, .366 3P%, .780 FT%, 254 3P (4.0 pg), .616 TS%
- Led the NBA in ppg
- NBA All-Star
- All-NBA First Team

Bench
C - Kevon Looney (2017-18)

Spoiler:

4.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.8 bpg, .580 FG%, .545 FT%, .588 TS%
- NBA Champion

G/F - Garrison Mathews (2020-21)

Spoiler:

5.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.4 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.1 bpg, .409 FG%, .384 3P%, .884 FT%, 76 3P (1.2 pg), .635 TS%

G - Bobby Jackson (2001-02)

Spoiler:

11.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.0 apg, 0.9 spg, 0.1 bpg, .443 FG%, .361 3P%, .810 FT%, 79 3P (1.5 pg), .537 TS%

Rotations
C - Robinson (40), Looney (8)
PF - Battier (38), Leonard (10)
SF - Leonard (28), Doncic (12), Mathews (8)
SG - Hawkins (38), Jackson (5), Mathews (5)
PG - Doncic (28), Jackson (20)

FGA Per Player [Category]

Spoiler:

Kawhi Leonard - 17.7 [8]
David Robinson - 16.8 [6]
Shane Battier - 5.9 [2]
Luka Doncic - 22.8 [4]
Hersey Hawkins - 7.8 [1]
Kevon Looney - 3.0 (2.9) [5]
Bobby Jackson - 9.3 [7]
Garrison Mathews - 3.7 [3]

Total: 87.0/88.0

Our three superstars are in great position to shine here. Luka will be devastating running spread pick-and-roll with D-Rob, while Kawhi lurks on the wing ready to punish his man in isolation. Four-out spacing at all times makes it very difficult to key in on any one player without opening up leaks elsewhere. Not only Luka and Kawhi two of the most reliable postseason scorers ever, their size and strength requires a specific defensive archetype that most teams are lucky to have one of, let alone two. Hawkins, Battier, and Mathews are excellent floor spacers, and Jackson provides an additional offensive spark off the bench. Defensively, Hawkins and Jackson guard the point of attack, Kawhi and Battier lock down forwards and bigger wings, and D-Rob walls off the rim. Young Looney is an underrated switch defender.

Matchup
- Initial assignments are Doncic-McMillan, Hawkins-Harden, Battier-Schrempf, Kawhi-Dirk, D-Rob-Shaq. Kawhi's strength, quickness, and 7-3 wingspan should allow him to make Dirk's life difficult.
- We'll attack Shaq mercilessly in pick-and-roll through Luka and D-Rob. This tactic was super effective for the likes of Mike Bibby and Troy Hudson, so one shudders to think what Luka can do with four-out spacing and D-Rob as a screener. With Kawhi presumably being guarded by Schrempf, we don't even need a screen to exploit that kind of matchup.
- It's worth emphasising that goober doesn't have a single bigger wing who can credibly guard either Luka or Kawhi, let alone both.
- 38 minutes of McMillan (plus 18 from Watson off the bench) is placing a very heavy burden on Harden as an off-the-dribble creator, especially since neither of them are all that threatening as spot-up shooters either. Hawkins and Jackson provide a lot more juice as supporting guards to Luka.

Good luck goober.

[goober]

Nate McMillan(38)/Earl Watson(10)
James Harden(40)/Earl Watson(8)
Detlef Schrempf(38)/Robert Horry(10)
Dirk Nowitzki(40)/Robert Horry(8)
Shaquille O'Neal(40)/Ian Mahimni(8)

1999-2000 Shaquille O'Neal 21.1 FGA (3 season, 3 teams)
2010-2011 Dirk Nowitzki 16.2 FGA (10 conescutive seasons)
2016-2017 James Harden 18.9 FGA (Houston Rocket)
1994-1995 Nate McMillan 5.0 FGA (Drafted by the Sonics)
1994-1995 Detlef Schrempf 12.2 FGA (Sonics/Thunder)
2001-2002 Robert Horry 5.7 FGA (Lakers)
2003-2004 Earl Watson 5.7 FGA (UCLA)
2017-2018 Ian Mahinmi 3.2 FGA (Wizards)

88/88 FGA

Good luck fade.

I have the better offensive team here. James Harden with elite perimeter scorers in Nowitzki and Schrempf and then an elite offensive/passing big in Shaq is too much for just about anyone to overcome. Nate McMillan should be a very effective Luka stopper, and Shaq will be able to dominate against DRob on both sides of the ball. I don’t think kawhi will do a good job of defending Dirk.

Defensive matchups: McMillan on Luka, Harden on Hawkins, Schrempf on Kawhi, Dirk on Battier, Shaq on DRob

Vote Goober

[JimmyPlopper]

peak Shaq is a good tier above peak D Rob. Dirk and Shaq is an unstoppable pairing. Harden on top of that is a little too much talent. I think Fade's team has a better fit considering the strengths of the players (and that Kawhi would otherwise have an incredible offensive game if he wasn't killing himself on Dirk on the other side), but the overall talent gap overrides that for me on this one. vote goober.

[Snakebites]

I don’t see the talent gap in the top trios as being all that large tbh- could be that I’m just a bigger fan of DRob. Goober does have the edge in that regard but i don’t think it’s enough to offset the superior synergy of Luka/DRob (which is an absolutely absurd spread p/r duo) and Kawhi spacing things out.

I also think in the aggregate that goober’s defensive issues can be exploited- a spread p/r would be Shaq’s kryptonite if he ever faced it in real life and there isn’t enough speed or defensive versatility to cover him.

A brutal play in matchup but I vote Fade.

[durantbird]

Vote Fade

I prefer the synergy and the biggest mismatch is Schrempf on Kawhi

[Larry_Russell]

I vote Fade. Nice team beats a great duo.

[JimmyPlopper]

I guess the cheese stands alone on this one. Nice victory Fade.

Goober - I thought your team was pretty compelling