RealGM

Bracket 1

Magic v. Bucks

Sixers v. Bulls

Bracket 2

Pacers v. Blazers

Warriors v. Rockets


Lets try to get through this quickly, so voting begins Saturday morning.

1000 word max for optional write up.

Rockets vs Warriors:

first of all, I disagree with your 1000 word max rule, I hope I won't surpass it, but who knows ? and what happens if I do ? do I get punished for that in some way ? I hope not.

anyway,

Warspite wrote:C Wilt/Carroll/Biedrens
PF Larry Smith/Jamison
SF Barry/Mullin
SG Sprewell/Short
PG Hardaway/Floyd/Rogers

62 Wilt 50ppg 25.7rpg HoFer
83 Carroll 23ppg 8rpg
09 Biedrens 14ppg 13rpg
85 Smith 11ppg 11rpg
03 Jamison 22ppg 7rpg
75 Barry 30ppg 6rpg HoFer
93 Mullin 26ppg 5rpg 45% 3pt allstar
85 Short 28ppg 5rpg
96 Sprewell 19ppg 4apg 5rpg
65 Rogers 14ppg 7apg
95 Hardaway 20ppg 10apg
86 Floyd 17ppg 9apg

I'm using:
Moses 79 - HoF
Hakeem 93 - HoF
Rudy T 74 - all-star
Battier 08
Francis 01

Thorpe 91
Horry 95
McCray 87
Elie 95
Mobley 02
Kenny 91
Floyd 89

Moses 35-40*/Hakeem 13
Hakeem 27/Horry or Thorpe 21
RudyT 35/McCray 13
Battier 35/Elie 13
Francis 35/Floyd 13

* - depending on how many mins he can play (foul trouble against Wilt)

write-up to come

bastillon wrote:first of all, I disagree with your 1000 word max rule

I wrote in the word max as a way to really speed this thing along. I see it as a rough guideline my assumption was that everyone would adhere to it. Even after editing I tend to get lengthy in my write ups and some people have been bothered enough by it to post complaints. Perhaps a word limit will help to weed out peripheral arguments and really get to the points one considers most important.

This thing is quick and experimental anyways so I figured why not put a word limit in there and see how it goes.

The Pacers cannot possibly hope to touch the Blazers since their starting big is better than both of our starting bigs combined. The only way we win is if we're going by 3-point shooting, which our team is the best out of all the teams in this competition.

I'll try to be quick about it, so I won't expand my points unless it's completely necessary. I'll provide the numbers instead.

[edit: after two paragraphs, my task is to be quick about it is a complete fail, I hope you won't punish me for that, but at the same time I'll continue and try to be quick about it as much as I can]

[edit2: sorry if it sounded cocky, didn't mean to insult anyone.]

1.rebounding
I took all Rebound Rates from B-R, and estimated it for Wilt by TLAF's formula.


to adjust for mins, I gave Warspites' team this rotation:

Wilt 48
Smith 24/Jam 24 (Smith is much better rebounder but can't stay on the court that long, is a foul prone and a terrible liability on the offensive end considering lack of range for both bigs at the same time)
Barry and Mullin had the same Rebound Rate
Spree and Short had the same Rebound Rate
Hardaway 30/Floyd 18 (the more Floyd, the better Reb Rate so I was generous)

I gave my team rotation listed in my first post in this thread, with Moses playing 38 MPG, Hakeem 10 at C, 30 at PF, and Thorpe playing all the remaining mins at PF.

then I adjusted TRB% for mins played and got the following:
Warspite


I'm crushing Warspite on the glass. I have significant advantage at every position, except SG where I win it slightly anyway. averaging out TRB% advantage at every position, my team +2.73. adding it all up, it's +13.67. that's a massive gap and I'll fully take advantage of it.

2.Wilt's stats

FT% is largely inflated due to different rules regarding FTs. this is what I wrote in another thread:

Wilt's TS% should be lowered because of different rules of shooting free throws pre-1964 because they widened the circle that year and I believe it let Wilt some of the things that other players couldn't do at the time. he benefited without a doubt - he shot 58% in the first four years and 47% afterwards.

Wilt after adjusting his TS% with 47% FT (career average post rules changes) is at 51% TS, which isn't even dominant in his own era - it'd place him in TOP15 in 1962, but no higher than that. playoff TS% after the same adjustment - 48%, which is frankly, inefficient.

why should we do pace-adjustments ?

Doctor MJ wrote:Well, I'll just chime in to say: There's more to the differences between leagues than pace differences, but pace adjustment is a must adjustment. The purpose of the game is to score as many points per possession as possible, you get no brownie points for getting those points in 5 seconds instead of 20 seconds. It makes zero sense to favor a player because he got more possessions than another player.

Warriors shot 9152 FGA per 82 games. league average in 2000, a milestone that I chose for no specific reason besides it's a nice number, was 6732. my OpenOffice calc does the math... and pace adjusted scoring puts him at 37.1. and even that measurement doesn't explain all the difference in pace, because Warriors were shooting astronomic amounts of FTs, but I won't even get into that. after adjusting for FTs being made at 47%, it's 35.3. we should also note that Wilt's scoring took a huge dropoff in the playoffs as he scored only 69% of his RS points. so let's do the same adjustments in his playoff scoring - since we're playing in the playoffs here. pace-adjusted playoff scoring (going by what Warriors did in the playoffs of course; excluding again FTA in this pace-adjustment) puts him at 28.5. FTs adjustment (less made bc of lower FT%) - 26.8.

I'll be really generous and leave assists the same. it was harder to get credited for assist but pace is much bigger factor than 10%. nevermind, it'll stay at 3.1 (his playoff APG).

so we have a playoff statline of:

a much more reasonable numbers. still dominant, but nearly to the same extent. he WAS inefficient though, which was my point in the first place. what should also be noted here is that offensive goaltending was allowed when Wilt was doing all those crazy things with scoring. imagine that he was by far the biggest player on the court and he could catch his teammates' shots and just dunk it any time he wanted to do so. or better - imagine what would Dwight's points average look like if he was put in the same circumstances. this myth about Wilt Chamberlain being a GOAT scorer has to stop. not only he had different rules, but also insanely higher pace than we have now. and I'm not even bringing up the fact that 65% of the league was white at the time... and no international players either, so it's like Chris Kaman and Kevin Love would be TOP10 players today. funny ? that's the reality of the 60s.

this is where my dislike of that era plays an important role, but my points are either factual or statistical evidence that have to be taken into account when talking about Wilt's stats.

3.spacing

Wilt - no 3pt range, inefficient midrange game, career 47% FT shooter
Larry Smith - little to no range as evidenced by his 53% career FT shooting
Barry - great midrange, but no 3pt range as evidenced by the years he spent in ABA where he shot 1.6 3PA and only made 28% of them
Sprewell - good midrange game, but no 3pt range either. he shot 32% from the 3P line when it was shortened. he had trouble adjusting to normal 3pt line as he struggled in his first two seasons when they moved it (19%, 27%, then improved and made 35%). he doesn't have time to adjust and won't shoot 3s and even with line shortened, he was no serious threat from there anyway.
Hardaway - shot 38% from 3 in that season, but again, with shortened line. he's somewhat a threat even with a normal line, but he never excelled from there and is below average 3P shooter overall

on the bench you have: Rogers (I can shoot better), Floyd (3P% =33), Short (31%), Jamison (31%) and even though Mullin is great at 45%, he's playing limited mins behind HOFer Barry.

that's absolutely atrocious spacing - not only you have 2 starting bigs who have little to no range, but also no legit 3P threat in the entire team, as Mullin's mins will be limited. even Jamison won't help that much, because he's not a reliable 3P threat.

contrary to this awfully shooting team, I have:
Moses - good shooting C, as evidenced by his mid 70s FT%, which is very high standard for centers
Hakeem - one of the best shooting big men ever, 20 foot range, can shoot contested 15 footers and make them at good efficiency
RudyT - not 3P shooter, but very good from midrange as evidenced by his 85% FT and 53.6% FG while mostly shooting jumpers, somewhat comparable to Barry in that regard
Battier - 38% 3P shooter
Francis - 40% 3P shooter on 4.2 3PA

on the bench: Thorpe (reliable midrange shooting PF), Floyd (37% 3P), McCray (very athletic and effective slasher/cutter with 61% TS, can shoot from midrange too)... and then Horry, Elie, Kenny, Mobley are all 3P shooters as well.

I have elite shooting on my team; in contrast with Warspite's team I have GOAT shooting team though, as he was unable to collect any legit 3P threat that would play significant mins.

4.defense

Rockets:
Hakeem - DPOY, 1st all defense over DRob, Ewing, Pippen etc; anchoring 3rd best defense in the NBA alongside no other significant defender on his team; 4.2 BPG, 1.8 SPG; arguably one of the GOAT defensive seasons
Moses - 2nd all defense behind KAJ, 1.5 BPG 1 SPG, very good defender
RudyT - don't know much about him, but seems like a mediocre defender
Battier - 2nd all-defense behind DPOY KG and DPOY-caliber Duncan, 3rd in DPOY voting, anchored 2nd ranked defensive team in the league, behind legendary C's 08
Francis - above average defender, insane athlete, 1.8 SPG

off the bench: Thorpe (good D), Floyd (mediocre-to-bad), McCray (2nd all-D, member of 3rd best defense in 87), Horry (very good D, smart and insane athlete), Kenny (atrocious, but won't play), Mobley (avg, won't play), Elie (mediocre-to-avg)

that's a great defensive team - anchored by one of the best defenders ever in Hakeem, with elite rebounding from Moses alongside Hakeem's GOAT-level shotblocking, great perimeter defense with Battier, Francis and RudyT will secure the rebounds.

Warriors:
Wilt - 48.5 MPG on worst defensive team in the league:

I regularized opp pts by doing pace-adjustment (team shots relative to lg avg). Warriors are dead last. also you could see the reason why Russell was the MVP of that season, not the stat-padding Wilt. the difference between Celtics and Warriors was historically great. Russell deserved the MVP, Wilt's impact wasn't epic if you include the defense. after all, there's a reason they criticized his defense in his early years.

L.Smith - atrocious defensive big with no shotblocking whatsoever, playing on the worst defensive team in the league as well
Barry - good team defender, mediocre man defender
Spree - member of the 21st defensive team (out of 29)
Hardaway - member of the 25th def team (out of 27)

your starting five, excluding Barry, were members of one of the worst defensive teams of the league at different times in the history. Wilt was even the centerpiece who played all of team's mins on that repugnant defensive Warriors of 1962.

the bench doesn't help much either: Jamison is even worse than Smith and a blowby waiting to happen, not to mention that he was a SF and will be defending Moses, Hakeem or Thorpe, hilarious; none of your bench players have noticeable defensive impact, in fact they're bad defenders mostly.

another contrast and enormous advantage for the Rockets - defense is one side of the court and Warriors can't save their lifes to play any.

5.efficiency.

Rockets:
Moses - 60.4% TS, 117 ORtg
Hakeem - 57.7% TS, 114 ORtg
Rudy - 58.7 TS%, 10.8 OWS (though Win Shares aren't that reliable pre 1978), ranked 2nd in the league in both categories, played on 3rd best offense that year too, and was a perennial member of 1st ranked offenses of the 70s Rockets
Battier - 56.1% TS, 117 ORtg
Francis - 56.3% TS, 113 ORtg

bench: McCray 61% TS, Thorpe 60% TS, Floyd 56.5% TS, variety of 3P threats making my offense fluent

Warriors:
Wilt - around 50% TS depending on what you think about his FTs
L.Smith - 55.3% TS, 112 ORtg, efficient in extremely limited volumes, homeless Rodman in general
Barry - this is what I wrote about him in other thread:
he was a good versatile player, but nowhere near "as good as any perimeter player ever" label that he put on him. Barry's passing is awesome... unless we look at huge turnover totals in ABA which strongly suggest he was a turnover machine and thus his passing isn't that great. his rebounding and defense is nothing to brag about. also, he's not all-time level scorer, even at his best. it's important to note that he didn't have 3pt range (as evidenced by his years in ABA) and he was ridiculously poor in DrawF as well. his FTA/FGA ratio is 0.20 in '75 which is plain awful. he was a midrange jumpshooting SF and there's no way that can be efficient way of volume scoring. that's reflected in his TS% which is very poor even for his era. ~50% TS is worse than Iverson and about as good as Kidd. Barry is, to me, one of the most overrated players on realGM, because people fail to acknowledge his poor efficiency.
turnover machine, no 3P range, non-existent DrawF, basically Rip Hamilton in that he shoots 2P jumpshots all game long. not an efficient volume scorer in any era. Tomjanovich posted FAR better efficiency in the same exact era. Barry wasn't epic offensive player like people are making him out to be.

Sprewell - 52.7% TS, 108 ORtg, inefficient scorer with decent playmaking skills
Hardaway - 55% TS, 112 ORtg, efficient player with good playmaking
but remember, both enjoyed the benefits of shortened line

bench: Jamison 54% TS, Mullin with a great offensive season (but again, not playing much with Barry at SF), Short with a very good season too... only Guy Rodgers is poor because he can't shoot - even if he fell of a boat, he wouldn't hit the water.

offensive anchor is inefficient, Spree and Barry are well below average wings ito efficiency, L.Smith is just poor offensive player and useless aside from getting on the boards, bench helps certainly but without any spacing they won't make that much impact either. inefficient team overall. not in the same ballpark as the Rockets on offense. insane inside out combo of shooting and post-up players, Moses and Tomjanovich anchored some 1st ranked offenses in the 70s too.

6.no answer for my bigs.

while Wilt can be argued as a great defender, he wasn't that guy in 62. even if you assume that he'll try and play very good defense, PF defense is absolutely atrocious. Jamison-Smith in the ATL ? are you kiddin me ? putting Jamison at PF is a crazy idea on many different levels anyway - poor rebounder, awful defender, his matchups are strong post-up players, played at SF and won't evolve into a PF in one day. Larry Smith is at least giving you some rebounding, though he's a foul prone, doesn't play defense, is undersized which makes him a liability on post-ups. Wilt can guard Hakeem/Moses. who will guard the other big ?!

incredible matchup advantage that I'll use as long as it's possible.

also, not only I have excellent spacing, but I have also Battier as my post entry passer and he's one of the best post passers I've ever seen - not only that he has 1.0 TOV as premier post passer to Yao Ming (who is known for his terrible positioning), but he had 0.5 passingTO (according to 82games.com data) which makes him even more impressive... but the lone fact that he didn't turn it over at all passing to Yao is incredible. Rudy T knows how to throw those passes too, there's a reason why Rockets were so succesful in the 70s offensively, not to mention that he utilized Hakeem much better than anyone had ever done when he was a coach.

my post-up game has no flaws.

there are more points, but I won't get into them... how is Wilt going to respond playing with bunch of guys who have their egos ? Barry and Wilt on one team is a disaster waiting to happen and then you have Spree etc. terrible chemistry. how are you going to play when my team is packing the paint with nobody able to punish me for that ?

I think I've made my point - my team is superior

penbeast0 wrote:Shaq (HOF)/Horace Grant
DHoward (2006)/Bo Outlaw
Tracy McGrady/Hedo Turkoglu
Nick Anderson/Mike Miller
Penny (All-star)/Darrell Armstrong

Plus maybe Dennis Scott, Scott Skiles, and/or Jameer Nelson

(penbeast0, you can’t use Mike Miller, because he played only 2 and half seasons with Magic – in his third year he was traded to Memphis)

vs Milwaukee Bucks
STARTING FIVE
Abdul-Jabbar (1971) C
Sikma (1989) PF/C
Dandridge (1974) SF/SG
Moncrief (1984) G
Robertson (1971) G

BENCH
Bogut (2010) C
Baker (1994) PF/C
Cummings (1987) PF
Marques (1984) F/G
Pressey (1986) F/G
Redd (2003) SG
Cassell (2003) PG

General outlook
Bucks are built around arguably GOAT in one of his best seasons (IMO the best one). Insane production(31.7 PPG, 16 RPG, 3.3 APG, .577 FG%) and later in playoffs, on his way for his first championship he defeated several of the greatest centers of all time – Thurmond, Wilt and Unseld. Unstoppable offensive force, but also defensive anchor – 1971 Bucks were the best defensive team that year with .424 opponent FG%.

His second banana is Oscar Robertson who also in real life was KAJ’s second option in 1971 (so we know for sure that this combination will work). This version of Big O was still in his prime (but near end of it) and highly motivated to play team ball and won title. He sacrificed his numbers (but still was great: 19-6-8, .500 FG%, .850 FT%), became true floor general, who also provide above average defense, clutch plays and also could take over games (like for example in game 4 of 1971 finals, when he scored 30 points on 11/15 FG).

Rest of the starting five:
- Moncfrief, great all around player, arguably the best perimeter defensive player ever (DPOTY award was created because of him); 1984 Bucks were 2nd in defensive rating
- Dandridge, another great all around player, very underrated, but could give you anything you need: especially defense and clutch shooting (the best example happened in 1979, when his clutch shooting and D helped defeat Spurs)
- Sikma, forward/center with great range(.380 3P%, 2.7 3PA, .905 FT%), will stretch the floor so KAJ would have more room in the paint. Also very good passer and solid defender.

Bench
Bogut for defense, Cummings for offense, Baker (12th man in rotation) if I need fouls. Redd and Cassell if I need threes, Pressey for defense and playmaking if something goes wrong with Big O, Moncrief and Cassell. And of course the great Marques Johnson, another all around player on this team, who in his time was on the same level as Dr J.

Offense
Half court offense built around KAJ and controlled by Robertson. I don’t have three point shooters in starting five (however Robertson probably had range), but every guard and SF were very good midrange shooter and FT% support that: Big O .850, Moncrief .848, Dandridge .818 (bench also is very good: Cassell .861, Redd .805, Pressey .806 and Marques .709 – ok, he’s not so good). And there’s also Sikma with his great range (.380 3P%, 2.7 3PA, .905 FT%), so doubling KAJ would be extremely dangerous for my opponent. But leave him one on one with Shaq or very young Dwight (penbeast0 is using 2006 version, his second year) is probably even more dangerous

Robertson is a point guard but Moncrief or even Dandridge also could be playmakers during some stretches of game if some elite perimeter defender would be put on Big O (however Magic don’t have such good defenders).

Defense
Defense wins championship and my Bucks have elite or very good defenders.
- 1971 KAJ anchored the best defensive team in the league (Big O also was part of it – he was second in minutes played)
- 1974 Dandridge was second best player (KAJ was the best) for the best defensive team in the league
- 1984 Moncrief and Marques played for 2nd best team according to defensive rating, but the best one when we look at opponents eFG%
- even 1989 Sikma was part of (was second in minutes played) the 6th best defense in the NBA.
- 1986 Pressey was first in minutes played for 2nd best defensive team in the NBA
- 1987 Cummings played the most minutes for 4th best defensive team in the league
- and 2010 Bogut is anchoring 4th best defense in the NBA

So clearly my team defense would be very good – man to man and help D in the paint, perimeter stoppers, rotations, passing lanes, you name it.

Matchups

KAJ vs Shaq
Sikma vs Dwight
Dandridge vs McGrady
Moncrief vs Anderson
Robertson vs Penny
---
Bogut, Cummings, Baker vs Grant, Outlaw
Marques vs Hedo
Redd, Cassell, Pressey vs Armstrong, Skiles, Nelson, Scott

First of all, Shaq can’t be stopped. But he could be slowed down and Bucks have enough quality bigs to do it. I’ll make him earn his point – Jabbar’s size, length, strength and basketball IQ will create problems for O’Neal. Combination Shaq-Dwight isn’t too good for Magic because this allow Bucks to double team Shaq. Even now Dwight had no range and his offensive moves are limited, in 2006 he was still very raw so his offensive impact is limited to offensive rebounding.

Against Magic Vin Baker would play at least 6 possessions so he could commit 6 fouls on Shaq and Dwight Also Bogut, Cummings or Sikma could intentionally foul DH and O’Neal in second half, so it’s for example at least 12 possessions (3 fouls from each of my bigs expect KAJ) in which Howard and Shaq would try their luck on free throw line.

Magic aren’t too depth in the frontcourt, Bo Outlaw is rather SF (6-8, 210, BTW, another player with poor FT%) so it leaves Orlando only with Grant from the bench. If Dwight or Shaq will have any problems with fouls (and it’s very probably that they will have - try to stop so offensively skilled bigs like KAJ, Sikma or Cummings ) Magic will have problem as a team. And my offense would go through KAJ, who could score anytime he want, for sure more often on Shaq than Shaq on him. And remember dear judge that my PF, Sikma, would be standing behind three point line, so no help for Shaq from Dwight (who BTW wasn’t great on defensive end in 2006, his Magic were 24th in defensive rating).

So Bucks have deeper frontcourt, are better defensively and with more options offensively.

At small forward position Magic are better, no doubt about it, prime McGrady was amazing, IMO very underrated player with no holes in his game (expect one – clutch play). But again, Bucks have people who could slow him, make him work very hard: Dandridge, Marques or even Pressey.

Backcourt is another story. Young Penny was great player, very smooth, but no way he was better than 1971 Robertson. Big O was stronger, more talented and more skilled. But Penny would be guarded by Moncrief (back to back DPOTY). Lock down defense all the time (when Moncrief will rest, Pressey will come) and this will seriously limit Magic offense.

Two guard, in this case Nick Anderson would be guarded by Robertson. On the other hand Magic don’t have anybody who could successfully defend Big O. Penny? Anderson? Hedo? McGrady seems to be the best solution, but he’s the only Magic advantage on the offensive end so it wouldn’t be wise to lose his stamina on the D.

Two other important points:
- Bucks are much more experienced, they know how to win, that sometimes they have to sacrifice their stats and play together. On the other hand Magic are young, some players even undeveloped (Dwight) and their young egos could create problems. We all know about Shaq’s ego and his problems with Penny, so what will happen if two another big personalities (Dwight and McGrady) will be in the same team?

- Bucks have many very good clutch players (KAJ, Dandridge, Cassell, even Moncrief, Big O and Marques could make big shots), but Magic? Shaq and Dwight are poor FT shooters, TMac never was big in the clutch (he don’t even know how it is to play in the second round….), Anderson missed four clutch FT in the finals, so who would be taking shots when game will be on the line? Penny with Moncrief on him? Good luck

Portland Trailblazers

'92 Terry Porter (34) / '79 Lionel Hollins (14)
'09 Brandon Roy (36) / Drexler (12)
'92 Clyde Drexler (24) / '95 Cliff Robinson (24) / '87 Kiki Vandeweghe
'91 Buck Williams (20) / '02 Rasheed Wallace (28)
'77 Bill Walton (34) / '96 Arvydas Sabonis (14)

v.

Indiana Pacers

Don Buse/Mark Jackson
Reggie Miller/Billy Knight
Danny Granger/Chuck Person/Clark Kellogg
George McGinnis/Dale Davis
Mel Daniels/Jermaine O'Neal/Rik Smits

I have constructed my team to have impeccable balance, nice scoring punch from the starters and bench, and fantastic defense.

Offensive balance:
Drexler and Roy are our primary playmakers while Walton is our primary post scorer. Walton, Wallace, and Sabonis all had excellent range and Williams had respectable range, opening up the inside for one of the GOAT slashers in Drexler as well as Roy.

Porter, Roy, Robinson, Vandeweghe and Wallace will provide exceptional spacing.

Roy and Drexler are very good playmakers, Porter and Hollins can play off the ball or with the ball, Sabonis and Walton are possibly the two greatest passing big men to ever play the game. Our BBIQ is off the charts.

Walton and Williams will clean up the boards very well and we rebound well at every position.

Our post defense will be exceptional, led by Walton and Willams with young Sheed doing his part. Porter and Hollins will provide good pressure on the opposing PG while Roy and Drexler can defend adequately. Robinson is a nice versatile defender to being off the bench and Kiki is one of the worst ever but he probably won't play much.

Our PGs are not primary scorers or playmakers, so Hollins and Porter will focus on applying pressure to Jackson and Buse, making it difficult to get the ball to their scorers. Cliff Robinson's length will really bother Granger and he will be on him for 24 minutes. Miller will be tough for Roy and Drexler, but Reggie must also defend one of them on the other end and both are very strong players. I'm confident in Buck and Rasheed's ability to play Jermaine, George, or Mel straight up and I will use Walton as the anchor of our defense.

Overall, I believe that Indy will score a lot of points, but they don't have the defense, especially inside, to stop our skilled big men and slashers. In my estimation, the only way we would get into big trouble is if this series turned into a shootout. I think that we can control the tempo or at least prevent it from becoming an up and down game for more than brief stretches with our smart players and excellent rebounders.

The Warriors vs Rockets

A contrast in styles in maybe the fastest team in this league and maybe the slowest. The Warriors will do what they always do. Play uptempo and get easy baskets in transition and look for early offense. If the def is able to get back we simply go to the GOAT and let Wilt in his greatest scoring season dominate.

The Warriors just have too much talent and firepower. The Rockets are a top heavy team with a weak backcourt and and very little if any defense. Battier would like to play def but hes simply unable to keep in front of any of the Warriors. Steve Francis at PG is a weak link that will be exploited.

The WARRIORS rotation will start out like

C Wilt 42mpg/Carroll 6mpg
PF Smith 16mpg/Jamison 26mpg/Biedrens 6mpg
SF Barry 36mpg/Mullin 12mpg
SG Spree 28mpg/Mullin 20mpg
PG Hardaway 34mpg/Floyd 14mpg

The Warriors have great spacing with Wilt down on the block and with Barry and Mullin on the floor for much of the game together they create spacing. Hardaway is a streaky 3pt shooter and when he gets hot its going to get ugly. The Warrior fast break starts off with a def reb from maybe the GOAT rebounder and teh ball is outletted to teh only true PG on either team and Hardaway has the option of going with the finisher in Barry/Spree or the spot up shooter in Mullin.

Normaly Spree with his great man def would play more but since the Rockets dont have scorers in the backcourt and are very TO prone Mullin will play more SG and allow the team to go big. I believe Jamison out on the wing will be able to draw out defenders and force the twin towers to seperate.

Rudy is a very good midrange shooter but hes unable to operate having to play with Moses and Hakeem because of bad spacing. Eitherway he cant guard Barry to save his life. Barry has the oppertunity to play the Kobe role and gets to play vs bad defenders and shotblockers that are preoccupied. Mullin gets to revise his 92 Dream Team role and shoot wide open shots from the corners and demolish there opponets.

Warriors def has the great shotblocking of Wilt and Barry and Mullin who avg about 5spg playing the passing lanes. They are not the Bad Boys by stretch of the imagination but how many stops do you need when you have a team that can score at will and even at a fast pace will have fewer TOs since they have better skilled guards. Every TO that the warriors create will turn into a basket while the Rockets will have to slow everything down and wait for there only scorers down low.

Its a battle of tempo and execution. I like Warriors simply because they will take better care of the ball and aare more ballanced with a top 20 player alltime on the wing and Wilt Chamberlain. They are aslo a deeper team and in an ironic twist they have the same guy as there backup PG. However I have Sleepy Floyd in his prime the yr before his allstar appearance. Thats a great example of our 2 teams. My team is just a step or 2 faster and its players much better at playing in a ATL pace.

it's not a rebuttal, just to clarify some things:

-I re-run my calculations and I must've made some mistake at first. anyway, Warriors were average defensive team, not the worst in the league. sorry about that.

it doesn't change my point though, as they have no defense anyway. Wilt is merely a good defender, PF defense is atrocious, they have no perimeter players known for their defense and most of them played on terrible defensive teams on given years. not to mention that even if they had superb defense at every position except PF, they're still getting pounded in the post as they have nobody to turn into, to play any defense against Moses/Hakeem. Jamison is a laughable defender who played SF that year. Larry Smith is an undersized banger who is more of a foul machine than a real defensive presence. they have no shot at stopping my offense, both Moses and Hakeem will abuse their horrendous PF defense, and both of them are elite scorers and extremely efficient as well.

-Barry is being guarded by Battier. I thought it was clear, but it seems like Warspite thinks that Rudy will be on him. make no mistake, Battier will guard him and his size and terrific defense will bother Barry and his already inefficient scoring. Battier will study Barry's game, just like he studied Kobe's, and will know every single one of his moves. Barry has never faced a defender like that and I believe his preparation will be a major factor in limiting Rick. I expect no more than sub-48% TS, it's not even much below his normal scoring anyway. when Battier is out of the game, McCray will come in. he's all-defensive player who can guard any of their SFs.

-my transition defense (I didn't know they're going to run so didn't mention this) is elite. Hakeem is one of the best running bigs in history and with Moses being GOAT offensive rebounder, Hakeem will be able to come back and set up in the paint, forcing the Warriors to shoot jumpers. not to mention that Battier is also known for his transition defense, not only with his ability to draw charges but he rotates very well as he's acknowledged as one of the smartest players in the game.

-I won't use either Francis or Rudy as my volume scorers. their job is to take advantage of the defense while it's collapsed because of Twin Towers' presence, obviously. but their primary task is to give Hakeem/Moses the ball, whoever is being guarded by Jamison/Smith (again, laughable-to-non-existent defenders against them). I have Battier and Rudy as my Post Entry Passers, and their PEPs won't produce any turnovers whatsoever. keep in mind that neither are turnover prone. Tomjanovic worked with Moses for years as they produced multiple 1st ranked offenses in the 70s. he worked as a coach with Hakeem and used him to his strengths as well, so he clearly knows a lot about PEPs. Battier, as I mentioned, was primary PEP in Rockets offense for several years and he had to work with Yao Ming, neither as versatile nor as quick as Hakeem. Olajuwon is elite big in terms of positioning and can catch it even 20 feet away and operate (back down/blow by/spin away, you name it) from there. this offense won't produce any turnovers and with everyone efficient AND at the same time having a huge matchup advantage, I won't have any trouble scoring the ball. the idea that Warriors will create turnovers is insane honestly. poor defense vs great offense will create tons of points for my team, no less.

-Tomjanovic's defense won't be used against me since he's guarding Mullin all of that time. not only he doesn't play out of his position but also he can stay in front of his man as Mullin was always more of a shooter than slasher.

-Warriors are using different MPG so here's the rebound analysis:
that was before the changes in MPG


now it looks like this:


so the rebounding advantage is even bigger for me now. that's a massive gap. basically when Wilt is out of the game, my team will have every rebound available. they may put up some quick shots... even if they miss they can offensive rebound anyways

-Warspite's spacing is much better now, but Jamison is a 31% 3pt shooter, Barry doesn't have 3P range at all, Spree is terrible from 3, Hardaway is below average at ~35% career (can't take that year since the line was shortened). Mullin does help but 3 defenders will sag off. most importantly, 46% of total mins will be spent with both bigs unable to operate outside of the paint. I won't even differentiate them here as they are all terrible shooters around 50% from FTs and no-range, mostly. Warspite has nice spacing... in 54% of the game. and he doesn't have many valuable 3P shooters anyway so he'll be shooting midrange jumpshots all game long (provided that he won't turn it over first).

-whenever Warspite's team gets hot in HCO (like Hardaway/Spree/Barry/Mullin), I'll take advantage of horrendous FT shooting from their bigs and make them shoot from the line. 50% FT won't hurt any efficiency as it's basically 100 ORtg which is terrible by today's standards (would be one of the worst in the league today).

bastillon wrote:it's not a rebuttal, just to clarify some things:

-I re-run my calculations and I must've made some mistake at first. anyway, Warriors were average defensive team, not the worst in the league. sorry about that.

it doesn't change my point though, as they have no defense anyway. Wilt is merely a good defender, PF defense is atrocious, they have no perimeter players known for their defense and most of them played on terrible defensive teams on given years. not to mention that even if they had superb defense at every position except PF, they're still getting pounded in the post as they have nobody to turn into, to play any defense against Moses/Hakeem. Jamison is a laughable defender who played SF that year. Larry Smith is an undersized banger who is more of a foul machine than a real defensive presence. they have no shot at stopping my offense, both Moses and Hakeem will abuse their horrendous PF defense, and both of them are elite scorers and extremely efficient as well.

-Barry is being guarded by Battier. I thought it was clear, but it seems like Warspite thinks that Rudy will be on him. make no mistake, Battier will guard him and his size and terrific defense will bother Barry and his already inefficient scoring. Battier will study Barry's game, just like he studied Kobe's, and will know every single one of his moves. Barry has never faced a defender like that and I believe his preparation will be a major factor in limiting Rick. I expect no more than sub-48% TS, it's not even much below his normal scoring anyway. when Battier is out of the game, McCray will come in. he's all-defensive player who can guard any of their SFs.

-my transition defense (I didn't know they're going to run so didn't mention this) is elite. Hakeem is one of the best running bigs in history and with Moses being GOAT offensive rebounder, Hakeem will be able to come back and set up in the paint, forcing the Warriors to shoot jumpers. not to mention that Battier is also known for his transition defense, not only with his ability to draw charges but he rotates very well as he's acknowledged as one of the smartest players in the game.

-I won't use either Francis or Rudy as my volume scorers. their job is to take advantage of the defense while it's collapsed because of Twin Towers' presence, obviously. but their primary task is to give Hakeem/Moses the ball, whoever is being guarded by Jamison/Smith (again, laughable-to-non-existent defenders against them). I have Battier and Rudy as my Post Entry Passers, and their PEPs won't produce any turnovers whatsoever. keep in mind that neither are turnover prone. Tomjanovic worked with Moses for years as they produced multiple 1st ranked offenses in the 70s. he worked as a coach with Hakeem and used him to his strengths as well, so he clearly knows a lot about PEPs. Battier, as I mentioned, was primary PEP in Rockets offense for several years and he had to work with Yao Ming, neither as versatile nor as quick as Hakeem. Olajuwon is elite big in terms of positioning and can catch it even 20 feet away and operate (back down/blow by/spin away, you name it) from there. this offense won't produce any turnovers and with everyone efficient AND at the same time having a huge matchup advantage, I won't have any trouble scoring the ball. the idea that Warriors will create turnovers is insane honestly. poor defense vs great offense will create tons of points for my team, no less.

-Tomjanovic's defense won't be used against me since he's guarding Mullin all of that time. not only he doesn't play out of his position but also he can stay in front of his man as Mullin was always more of a shooter than slasher.

-Warriors are using different MPG so here's the rebound analysis:
that was before the changes in MPG

Code: Select all

        TRB%
Center  20.0
PF      14.5
SF       6.9
SG       7.1
PG       5.0

now it looks like this:

Code: Select all

Warspite
Center  19.1
PF      14.2
SF       6.9
SG       7.1
PG       4.9

bastillon
        TRB%
C       22.3
PF      17.2
SF      11.4
SG       7.4
PG       8.9

so the rebounding advantage is even bigger for me now. that's a massive gap. basically when Wilt is out of the game, my team will have every rebound available. they may put up some quick shots... even if they miss they can offensive rebound anyways

-Warspite's spacing is much better now, but Jamison is a 31% 3pt shooter, Barry doesn't have 3P range at all, Spree is terrible from 3, Hardaway is below average at ~35% career (can't take that year since the line was shortened). Mullin does help but 3 defenders will sag off. most importantly, 46% of total mins will be spent with both bigs unable to operate outside of the paint. I won't even differentiate them here as they are all terrible shooters around 50% from FTs and no-range, mostly. Warspite has nice spacing... in 54% of the game. and he doesn't have many valuable 3P shooters anyway so he'll be shooting midrange jumpshots all game long (provided that he won't turn it over first).

-whenever Warspite's team gets hot in HCO (like Hardaway/Spree/Barry/Mullin), I'll take advantage of horrendous FT shooting from their bigs and make them shoot from the line. 50% FT won't hurt any efficiency as it's basically 100 ORtg which is terrible by today's standards (would be one of the worst in the league today).

I didnt read your writeup to be fair because you do so for me. I could spend hours shredding your posts I refuse to lower myself to your level. Theres no point in argueing with a Rockets homer about the ability of Rockets players. I ask that voters take this into account or that Saba call it by forfiet.
I enjoy debateing but Im not going to argue the sky is blue or that water is wet. Bastillon thinks Hakeem is the GOAT and that Battier is better than Bird. Everything he says about any player that played for the Rockets is either a lie or an exaggeration to the point nothing he says is believeable.

1. Magic v. Bucks

The Magic have an incredible amount of talent for a newish franchise and the Bucks have one of the most formidable duos imaginable in KAJ/Oscar. Even though Robertson wasn't in his prime, he was still an incredible player. Overall, the Magic have a very potent offense and nice interior defense with Shaq and Dwight. The Bucks have a terrific defense across the board and great offensive pieces. Sikma and Kareem v. Shaq and Dwight is interesting to me because the Bucks big men are proficient shooters while the Magics are bulls inside. It's also worth noting that this is 2006 Howard, not today's Dwight. Shaq and Dwight can be pulled away from the bucket a bit to open things up for Sid and Oscar. The Bucks will have a hard time helping out on Shaq or Dwight because they can't leave guys like McGrady, Penny, or Anderson open. As always, I expect Shaq to have a big impact, but the Bucks do have a strong defensive anchor on him. To me, McGrady is the player who has to blow up to win this for the Magic. The Bucks have a backcourt advantage over the Magic, even with an older Robertson. Sid will have his way with Anderson.

Ultimately, I think that KAJ slightly outplays Shaq overall in this series, Sikma is lucky to be playing '06 Howard instead of '09 Howard and his range will be an asset. McGrady will score in bunches, but the Bucks can counter with Sid, Bob, and Pressey, perhaps leading to a couple of off games for Tracy. With what I see as a backcourt edge for the Bucks, I have to give them this series.

I thought the Magic would be one of the toughest outs in this thing, but I like how the Bucks were built and how they match up.

2. Sixers v. Bulls

In a series with no write ups, I really like that Sixers team with some of my favorite players in Cheeks, Toney, and Jones, but I have to give the series to Chicago with the MJ/Pippen/Gilmore trio.. not to mention a nice type of G to play with Jordan/Pippen in Gordon and one of the all-time great PF role players in Grant. Van Lier and Sloan off the bench make this team terrifying at G/SF.

4. Warriors v. Rockets

This is another very close series to me. On one hand, the Warriors will score no matter who they're up against. Wilt running with Hardaway and Spree is nasty. I also think the Warriors will have good spacing with several players who could consistently hit from mid-range and two elite shooters in Barry and Mullin. The Rockets have a phenomenal front two with Hakeem and Moses. They are really scary inside and I think that those two could play well together. That's probably the best 4/5 in the game and would be tough for any team to overcome.

The Rockets come up on top inside with Moses AND Hakeem v. Wilt and IMO Hakeem will have a monster series. I see Hakeem being the biggest single difference maker in this series due to the PF match up. However, from PG to SF, the Warriors have an advantage over the Rockets and Wilt will be tough for Moses to contain. I also think that they will be successful running against this Rockets team, especially with Francis guarding Hardaway.

Ultimately I have to give this series to the Warriors due to their greater overall talent and depth.


Any other GMs can feel free to vote.

Just finished writeup for first round, tried to post it and found I had been timed out losing my writeup. Will try to redo it as soon as I can. Basically, we are younger, taller, quicker, and able to use the 3 point line to space the floor and provide much greater efficiency outside the post, something Milwaukee can't match. They have better individual defenders on the wing but no answer to TMac and our long, quick players can use zones and rotating man defenses allow us to harass Kareem while there is no one on Milwaukee that can leave their man to help Kareem with Shaq (please have the slowed down, aging Sikma of 1989 try to switch and return leaving Dwight constant weak side dunks!). Had a lot more (though hopefully under the word limit) but ...

Here are the numbers anyway.



ORLANDO v. MILWAUKEE

... also known as the Offense of the 00s (Great length and 3 point shooting stretching the floor for great post play and slashing) v. the Offense of the 70s (Great post play complemented by physical defense and midrange jumpshooting)

STARTERS (Counterparts) -- all numbers adjusted to the average scoring rate of a game in 1971 to compensate for the much lower pace of our more modern players.

C SHAQUILLE O'NEAL'94 14.6reb 2.7ast 32.4pts @ .605tsp + Draws 10.5 ft/game
(C Kareem Abdul-Jabbar '71 16.0reb 3.3ast 31.7pts @ .606tsp + 8.3 ft/g)

PF DWIGHT HOWARD '06 14.5reb 1.7ast 18.3pts @ .565ts% (7.1 fta/g)
(PF Jack Sikma '89 8.0reb 3.7ast 13.8pts @ .554) HUGE REBOUNDING EDGE ORLANDO

SF TRACY MCGRADY '03 7.7reb 6.5ast 37.9pts @ .564ts% + 6.0 3pt @ .386
(SF Bob Dandridge '74 7.1reb 3.0ast 20.1pts @ .535) STRONG SCORING, EFFICIENCY, AND ASSIST EDGE ORLANDO

SG NICK ANDERSON '95 4.9reb 4.5ast 17.5pts @ .593ts% + 5.7 3pt @.415
(SG Sidney Moncrief '84 6.8reb 4.6ast 21.3pts @ .591ts%) (slight statistical edge to Moncrief)

PG ANFERNEE HARDAWAY '96 4.9reb 8.0ast 24.5pts @ .605ts% + 3.5 3pt @.318, 7.1 fta/g
(PG Oscar Robertson '71 5.7reb 8.2ast 19.4pts @ .563ts% with 5.6 fta/g) SCORING AND EFFICIENCY EDGE ORLANDO


TOP BENCH
F/C Horace Grant '95 10.8reb 2.5ast 14.2pts @ .593ts% just left CHI with 3 rings
F/G Hedo Turkoglu '08 6.3reb 5.5ast 21.5pts @.576ts% + 4.9 3pt @ .400 NBA MIP
G Darrell Armstrong '99 4.4reb 8.2ast 16.9pts @.575 + 3.8 3pt @ .365 NBA SMOY

DEEP BENCH
PG Jameer Nelson '09 Another small quick guard with 3 point range
G/F Dennis Scott '96 Another 6'8 wing who led NBA in 3 point scoring
F Bo Outlaw '98 Defensive minded forward in top 10 in NBA in eFG%, Off Reb, and Blocks
C/F Tony Battie '06 Basically just 6 extra fouls

SabasRevenge! wrote:1. Magic v. Bucks

The Magic have an incredible amount of talent for a newish franchise and the Bucks have one of the most formidable duos imaginable in KAJ/Oscar. Even though Robertson wasn't in his prime, he was still an incredible player. Overall, the Magic have a very potent offense and nice interior defense with Shaq and Dwight. The Bucks have a terrific defense across the board and great offensive pieces. Sikma and Kareem v. Shaq and Dwight is interesting to me because the Bucks big men are proficient shooters while the Magics are bulls inside. It's also worth noting that this is 2006 Howard, not today's Dwight. Shaq and Dwight can be pulled away from the bucket a bit to open things up for Sid and Oscar. The Bucks will have a hard time helping out on Shaq or Dwight because they can't leave guys like McGrady, Penny, or Anderson open. As always, I expect Shaq to have a big impact, but the Bucks do have a strong defensive anchor on him. To me, McGrady is the player who has to blow up to win this for the Magic. The Bucks have a backcourt advantage over the Magic, even with an older Robertson. Sid will have his way with Anderson.

Ultimately, I think that KAJ slightly outplays Shaq overall in this series, Sikma is lucky to be playing '06 Howard instead of '09 Howard and his range will be an asset. McGrady will score in bunches, but the Bucks can counter with Sid, Bob, and Pressey, perhaps leading to a couple of off games for Tracy. With what I see as a backcourt edge for the Bucks, I have to give them this series.

I thought the Magic would be one of the toughest outs in this thing, but I like how the Bucks were built and how they match up.

I largely agree except with TMAC having off games. Even when teams weren't concerned with guys like Shaq and Dwight he wasn't able to be stopped. That's enough for me to go Orlando in 7. Barely.
]][/quote]
4. Warriors v. Rockets

This is another very close series to me. On one hand, the Warriors will score no matter who they're up against. Wilt running with Hardaway and Spree is nasty. I also think the Warriors will have good spacing with several players who could consistently hit from mid-range and two elite shooters in Barry and Mullin. The Rockets have a phenomenal front two with Hakeem and Moses. They are really scary inside and I think that those two could play well together. That's probably the best 4/5 in the game and would be tough for any team to overcome.

The Rockets come up on top inside with Moses AND Hakeem v. Wilt and IMO Hakeem will have a monster series. I see Hakeem being the biggest single difference maker in this series due to the PF match up. However, from PG to SF, the Warriors have an advantage over the Rockets and Wilt will be tough for Moses to contain. I also think that they will be successful running against this Rockets team, especially with Francis guarding Hardaway.

Ultimately I have to give this series to the Warriors due to their greater overall talent and depth.
[/quote]

Agreed on all-counts. GS in 7

wow, the Warriors win the series without rebounding, 3pt shooting, efficient scorers or defense
I'm shocked. Rockets would have 56% of rebounds available. that's about as overwhelming as the worst rebounding team in the league going up against the best.

maybe I'm biased here as I don't like Barry and Spree, hate Wilt and I don't appreciate the rest of those guys either... but these are numbers only so I don't know how you can even make a case for such an inferior rebounding team.

just wondering - 56% in normal pace (~95 poss/game) would be about 10-15 rebounds advantage

as for other matchups:
-Magic can't overcome poor FT shooting from their bigs - Bucks win a close series
-Bulls are too good for the Sixers... quick sweep
-Blazers win, I think Sabas' write-up and pretty much nailed it

I’ll vote tomorrow before Celtics – Knicks game. I hope it wouldn’t be too late.

And I want clarify one thing:

SabasRevenge! wrote: The Bucks will have a hard time helping out on Shaq or Dwight because they can't leave guys like McGrady, Penny, or Anderson open.

Shaq would be double teamed only by Sikma (or other big playing alongside KAJ), who will guard Dwight 2006 – so no much threat from Howard. On the other hand Magic can’t double team KAJ, because my perimeter players and SF are very good midrange shooters and Sikma of course had great range too.

Will try to get votes in later tonight; was out of town last week. Apologies to anyone inconvenienced by the late writeup and voting.

I vote for the Bucks, the Warriors, and the Blazers.

I technically am not allowed to vote for the Blazers, but I will anyways.

Bucks have a more polished frontcourt, but I think the matchup is decently even there. I think Moncrief and even an older Big O give the edge to the Bucks here.

I think the Warriors win the matchup by a little bit. I think bastillon's writeup is way off base, but I've said crazier things, so that's not why I am not voting for him. I just think that when you have Wilt Chamberlain and Rick Barry in prime years backed up by Run TMC, the firepower alone is overwhelming. It isn't inefficient or one-dimensional, it's good, healthy, balanced scoring. I think Battier is one of the worst starting players in this competition, even though I personally like him a lot. Francis will contribute greatly to the Warrior's fastbreak effort with his turnovers.

Miller4ever wrote:I vote for the Bucks, the Warriors, and the Blazers.

I technically am not allowed to vote for the Blazers, but I will anyways.

Bucks have a more polished frontcourt, but I think the matchup is decently even there. I think Moncrief and even an older Big O give the edge to the Bucks here.

I think the Warriors win the matchup by a little bit. I think bastillon's writeup is way off base, but I've said crazier things, so that's not why I am not voting for him. I just think that when you have Wilt Chamberlain and Rick Barry in prime years backed up by Run TMC, the firepower alone is overwhelming. It isn't inefficient or one-dimensional, it's good, healthy, balanced scoring. I think Battier is one of the worst starting players in this competition, even though I personally like him a lot. Francis will contribute greatly to the Warrior's fastbreak effort with his turnovers.

Yep. Let's be honest: Wilt is no Paul Milsap in the post

sorry this was late guys I decided to spend time with my kids during the hoilday

HOFer: Moses and Doc
AS: no AS seasons will be used

PG: Mo Cheeks (84), Aaron McKie(01), Eric Snow (03),
SG: Andrew Toney (85), Chet Walker (69), Doug Collins (75), Hersey Hawkins
SF: Doc J (81), Andre Iguadala (07), Clarence Weatherspoon (94)
PF: Caldwell Jones (81), Bobby Jones (83), Steve Mix (75)
C: MOSES (83), Sammy Dalembert (08), Daryl Dawkins (80)

PG's:
Mo was a great leader and floor general plus a 1st team All defensive player
A.McKie: solid shooter and defender 6th MAN OF THE YEAR
E.Snow was also a great leader and a 2nd team All Defensive player
SG's
Boston Strangler was clutch and a great shooter (finished 15th in MVP voting as a non AS)
Chet Walker: great scorer and rebounder and solid defender
Doug Collins: solid all around player, could pass, shoot and defend
Hersey hawkins: great shooter
SF's
Doc: MVP, All NBA 1st team, AS do I need to say anymore
Iggy: good all around player great defender
Spoon: great rebounder and solid scorer
PF's
Caldwell Jones was a great defensive BIG (1st team all defensive)
Bobby Jones could do it all! 6th MAN OF THE YEAR and 1st team All Defensive in the same season
Steve Mix: Beast on the Boards and pilled up the steals
C's
MOSES: MVP, Finals MVP, 1st team All defensive, 1st team All NBA, AS....... BEAST!
Sammy D: great shot blocker and double double
DD: attitute, shot blocking, personality , toughness and comic relief all rolled into one.

I really like this team filled with some great role players and super great defenders to pair with the 2 legends. I have shooting and defense and team work all surrounding my main men. I also was able to use all non AS seasons for these role players and still included 2 6th men of the year and some 1st team all defenders. This team would have NO chemistry issues at all. I have plenty of scoring and GREAT defense and leadership. I have some great shot blockers and lots of rebounds. My game plan is basically ride Doc and Moses and shut down my opponents. I have enough shooting around my BIG 2 to make teams pay for doubling them

I am going to post really short posts (contrary to my normal style):

Indiana v. Portland -- Indiana is a team in disarray, their coach is quitting on them so I have to vote for Portland despite what could have been an interesting matchup of Mel Daniels and George McGinnis against Bill Walton and Buck Williams. Portland

Golden State v. Houston -- Again, the writeup decided it for me. Golden State isn't a team I'm fond of but Houston's writeup is so far off base from my evaluation that I think their coaching and decision making would be poor enough to seriously affect the matchup. Golden State

Philadephia v. Chicago -- Barring any writeups and assuming the chemistry works (which is a BIG assumption with MJ bitching out talented teammates), the Sixer team is basically the fo fo fo squad while the Bulls team is more talented than either of the two 3-peat Jordan/Pippen squads. Thus I have to give it to the Bulls despite their lack of a clutch scoring threat.