WriteupPanthers Roster
PG - Chris Paul (40)/Jamal Crawford (8)/Baron Davis (inactive)
SG - Ray Allen (34)/ Raja Bell (14)/
SF - John Salmons(30)/ James Posey (18),
PF - Chris Bosh(40)/ Al Harrington (8)
Cc - Kendrick Perkins (34)/ Anderson Varejao (14) / Rasho Nesterovic (injury reserve)
Starting 5
Bench
Backups
General Team Overview: Starting 5C- Kendrick Perkins:
9/8/1 with 2 bpg, 58% from the field and 60% from the free throw line.
Currently a top defensive center in the NBA, he has had a great season in BOS, and did a great job of defending Howard one on one in the playoffs. He is a guy that knows his limitations on offense and plays within them. He has one of the highest FG%'s in the league for a reason, he lives in the post and gets garbage baskets, although his offense has improved this year and he has a few nice post moves now.
His job is to anchor the defense from the C spot, and do the things he has always done, provide great post and help defense, block shots, and provide some serious lane intimidation. We will have fun building a defense around a center like Perkins, and great perimeter defenders. Due to the makeup of the team, he will get a lot of open looks, and has the perfect front-court mate in Bosh.
PF- Chris Bosh:
23/10/3 with 1 bpg, 1 spg, 49% from the field and 82% from the free throw line.
One of the best big men in the game, and the best offensive big man not named Dirk (Amare had a down year, 21/8). He will create mis-match problems for opposing bigs, and can score at will. His mid range game is automatic. He has the ability to post you up if you try to cover him with a smaller quicker guy as well as good passing ability for a big man. His defense has improved over the years and he also rebounds like a center. With the all help he has now, he will be able to get his points a lot easier. He can no longer be doubled and tripled
He is decent defensively, and now that he doesn't have to carry the whole team on his back, he will have more energy to concentrate on defense. In the Olympics he looked like a DPY, so we know that he is a good defender but the problem is that in TOR he has to carry the whole team without any help. Not the case here.
SF- John Salmons:
18/4/4 with 1 spg, 42% from 3, 47% from the field and 82% from the free throw line.
One of the more underrated players in the league, he is a good shooter from mid range and a great shooter from the 3. He can score in a number of different ways and is great on the fast break, but can also break down his man in the half court set and take it to the hoop. He is a fantastic defender, and can lock-down the other teams best wing player, in this case though he will be guarding Prince.
On this team his role will be a bit different then the one he has on CHI. Primarily his job will be to shutdown Prince and help on Ginobli, and on offense he will be a 4th option. He also gives my starting lineup a shot of athleticism, and a target for Paul to throw the alley to. Since Bosh is a perimeter based big, it will give Salmons more room to operate in the post, more room to drive. Add that to the fact that he is surrounded by great 3 point shooters, and I think he will thrive on this team.
SG- Ray Allen:
18/4/3 with 1 spg, 41% from 3, 48% from the field and 95% from the free throw line.
The best 3P shooter in the league, and probably the best off the ball star in the league as well. His job will be similar to what he does in BOS spread the floor, run off screens and rain the threes. We want to tire Kobe out, and will have him fighting through countless screens to get to Allen. A big reason that I traded for him was because he is such a good player off the ball. He is very active, and will cut and set screens and do all the little things that win games. It is a rare quality, a star that is willing to hustle for that extra possession. He has no ego and that is important in a league like this.
Allen's an outstanding clutch player, too, and a good defender. His defense largly goes unnoticed, he isn't a bowen or battier by any means, but consider the fact that he rarely goes for the steal and concentrates instead of staying in front of his man and contesting shots.
PG-Chris Paul:
23/11/6 with 3 spg, 36% from 3, 50% from the field and 87% from the free throw line.
Best point guard in the game. After a season in 2007-08 that ranked with the best point guard seasons in history, he simply topped it in 2008-09, raising his rebounding, scoring, shooting percentages, and steals. Not bad for a guy who has now led the league in assists and steals twice in four years as a pro.
He is a tough physical defender that will make you work for every basket, he was an all NBA defender, first team. Fantastic passer, great dribble penetrator, and a great all-around player. Has no real flaws he can hit the three at a pretty high %, he knows when to get everyone involved and when to take over. He's the primary playmaker on our team but we will have him be aggressive due to the lack of defense at the opposing PG spot.
Paul had no help in NO, here he has a team that is basically tailor made to suit him. Bosh is a legit 1st option on most teams, here he takes a ton of pressure off of Paul and in turn Bosh benefits from having a playmaker of Pauls caliper. I want the ball in Paul's hands as much as possible, and having Allen in our backcourt makes this possble. Allen with be getting a ton of open looks from 3. Paul is the ball-handling guard and Allen is the perfect off-ball guard.
A link that gives a bit of perspective on what Paul accomplished this season.
http://www.3hoopsfans.com/2009/03/10-ga ... ld-be-mvp/
Ladies and gentleman, the Panthers starting 5.
BenchWe feel that our bench is a realistic one that has low maintaince guys that can accept their roles and do them well. This is the playoffs and we feel that our starters can handle heaver minutes, so we have them playing enough minutes to have as big an impact on the game as possible, but get enough rest to stay relatively fresh.
I've got size and rebounding in my front-court. Our frontcourt also has great defense and offense in both Variejo and Harrington. Posey will do his thing off the bench, lockdown defense, and hit the open three, spread the floor. Another reason I love Posey is that he is a savy vet that has rings and can be that calming presence on our team, a guy that knows what it takes and can guide some some our younger guys. Bell is similar to Posey except at the SG spot, he will make Ginobli take lower % attempts, and Harrington is my “score in bunches” guy. Salmons can handle some PG duties, but for this series I'll play Crawford as my backup PG, his job will be to bring the ball up and dump into Bosh or give it to Allen. Crawford is also an explosive scorer and can really boost my benchs offensive production.
Ladies and gentle men the Panthers bench!
StrategyWe built our team on three platforms. Defense, efficiency and balance. All starters shoot above at or above 47% from the field. My three point shooters are highly efficient, Ray Allen is the most efficient player in the league and Salmons is also amongst the league leaders in 3P%.
Defensively all my starters are commited two way players, Bosh is the worst defender out of all of them but now that he isn't carrying the team he will have more energy to concentrate on it, much like with the Olympic team. In terms of balance, everyone has a clear and defined role. Paul is the go to guy, Allen is the off the ball shooter, Salmons is the secondary wing creater and primary wing defender, Bosh is the dominant big, and Perkins is the defensive anchor. My bench is built the same way, our team chemistry should be perfect.
In terms of our gameplay, the team will run through Paul. Paul/Bosh pick and roll/pop will be near impossible to stop. We will primarily be a half court team, though we can ignite the fast break with our tight defense. Paul is a one man fast break. In the half court, we have a very balanced attack, and can score in a variety of ways, be it Allen raining 3's off of created shots from Paul, Bosh can create for himself and take also take advantage of the oppurtunites that Paul creates, same with Salmons.
On defense we will attempt to stop Ginobli by tiring him out on the defensive end, by having him chase Allen around screens just like we did with Kobe. It is a tiring task guarding Ray Allen, and on the other end Allen will have help guarding Ginobli. We have Raja Bell coming off the bench and his task is to force Ginobli into taking lower % attempts, and basically making him work for every shot. Salmons and Posey will also see some time on him, and we will try our best to play him straight up but will double when needed. Salmons and Posey will guard Prince.
Bosh can handle Camby or Scola and now that he doesn't have to carry the team all by himself he will have the energy to concentrate on defense.
Paul is a first team all nba defender and will give Williams hell on the defensive end. Our bench is also built around defensive stoppers that will make the opposing team work for every basket and force them into turnovers and lower FG%'s.
A few quotes regarding Pauls incredible defense.
But any and all small lapses aside, Paul's defensive pressure in the half court game is what truly makes the Hornets defense go. Putting pressure on the ball is what keeps the opponents' dribble drive to a minimum ... and that is what allows the team to double as much as it does. That can be a point of contention among critics of Byron Scott's scheme (why double at all?), but it's hard to argue that Paul's presence at the top of the key does not impact the effectiveness of this defense significantly.
Of course it is the doubling itself which is where he makes his living in the steal department, so to speak, so I'm not going to pretend like that isn't helping his numbers. But it can also be argued that the scheme works only because he is so good at generating turnovers out of it.
Regardless, Paul's importance on the defensive end is profound, and it's time people started recognizing that. Take the anecdotal evidence out of the equation, and you're still left with the best thief in NBA history.
http://blog.nola.com/gladow/2008/12/chr ... llian.html
My perimemter defenders are all good and our rotations will be tight and help defence will be there in case anyone gets beat..
We feel the opposing team have a few holes on their team, that we can exploit. The first is their frontcourt. It is good defensively IF Scola is coming off the bench, but no matter what way you cut it the oppising team has no answer for Chris Bosh. Scola is a crafty player but he is a role player and he doesn't have the lateral quicks to stay with Bosh. Same with Camby/Nene and Bynum, they along with Scola are all low post defenders and they can't slow down a perimemter big like Bosh. Also they aren't dangerous offensive players, Scola is the best scorer out of all of them. Bosh is a top 2 offensive big and a top 10 player in the game arguably. Simply a huge mis-match problem and the key to this series.
The second is for all of ShaqSux's talk of being “the best defensive team in the league I'd argue that he is up againest a comparable defensive team. I have a ton of post defense, Perkins is one of the best defensive anchors in the league, and Varejo is great as well. I have better defense at the PG spot. Bench defense is comparable though Bowen at this point us living off reputation. So Shaqs main advantage in most series is matched by me.
Now I assume ShaqSux is going to bring up the h2h matchup numbers between Williams and Paul and say that since Williams has the better numbers/most wins, that Williams is better or that ShaqSux has the advantage in the series. The thing about basketball is that its a team game. Williams had a lot more weapons, a better coach, and a better team defense. A lot of Williams assists came off of Okur hitting 3's off the drive and kick. All Paul has in NO is West, thats it. He took a pretty medicore player in Chandler and made him a lot better but other then that Paul has nothing to work with. NO has the worst wing rotation in the league so it all falls of Paul. I argue that on this team Paul murders Williams, and this is the reverse of the NO/UTA situation. Paul has Bosh as his big/primary weapon who does Williams have? Scola? Is that the primary weapon? Most of Ginobli's points come off of his own created shoots, he doesn't rely of a PG to create for him. I have Ray Allen as a guy that both doesn't need the ball in his hands to be effective and can also take over a game with his scoring. Outside of the backcourt ShaqSux (Even their 6th man, JR Smith is a guard) they have very little offense, Prince is similar to Salmons in that he is primarily a defender (both are damn good) but he isn't really a guy you want to rely on for offense, he is more of a very good gluy guy.
To some it up both teams are defensive monsters, and very balanced as well, but the opposing team has no answer for Bosh and simply can't match my offensive production. Ginobli isn't the player he used to be, he's been hampered by injuries all year and simply isn't as good as he used to be. Also he no longer has Tim Duncan to attract doubles and take the attention off him. The lack of offense out of the opposing frontcourt lets me concentrate of slowing down the opposing teams backcourt.
Panthers in 6.
, Salmons put up better offensive numbers then Prince (14ppg compared to 18) and same with Posey and Bowen (3ppg compared to 9). Also both Salmons and Posey are exceptional defenders. Er looks like that backfired