Scavenger Hunt Draft - finals - Fred Wins!!!

[LamarMatic7]

I'll do mine tomorrow, I've been busy.

[LamarMatic7]

Payton/Hardaway/Blaylock
Jordan/Toney/Bates
Rodman/English/Novak
Webber/Wallace/Walker
Parish/Daugherty/Bol

Chris Paul/Baron Davis/Derek Harper
Mitch Richmond/Dan Majerle/Hersey Hawkins
Carmelo Anthony/Bernard King/Ken Norman
Karl Malone/Kevin Willis/
Tim Duncan/Bill Laimbeer/Kevin Duckworth/Will Perdue

Gary Payton vs. Chris Paul

What a great match-up of two guys who basically are wired the same way. Two great competitors, trash talkers, defensive players. I want to say that GP has an advantage because of his height, however Paul is a tough mofo, so I suppose both of them would single the other one out. Evenly matched.

Michael Jordan vs. Mitch Richmond

Now, Richmond, Majerle and Hawkins are a good combination of defenders to put on MJ, however none were capable of really stopping him. I have a feeling that Mitch and Majerle lack the foot speed. The only thing that Richmond would do - he would make Jordan work hard on the defensive end, I bet Fred will bring this up later - Jordan said that Richmond was the toughest guy to guard or whatnot.

Anyway, of course, it's advantage MJ and even though this might be a cheesy card to play, but you have to acknowledge the fact that his is a basketball tournament in which every single all-time great from the 80s till today is participating in. Wouldn't Jordan make it his mission to prove everybody that he's the best?

Rodman/English vs. Anthony/King

I suppose Melo and Bernard will play somewhat equal minutes, so I turned this into a small forward battle. Now, I personally think that these are guys very suited for Rodman to guard. Remember that Larry Legend struggled the most against Dennis just because of his quickness and athleticism. Rodman would feast on guys that couldn't get past him and relied more on their mid-range game, so I think he could slow down Carmelo and Bernard. As for Alex English, he could score with the best of them, so I have no problem giving him minutes in this series as well, since the guys he faces aren't defensive-minded themselves. When Alex enters the game, this would turn out into a "who can outscore" who game. It's hard to decide who wins this match-up, simply because Rodman can stop these guys, but he, of course, doesn't offer the same offensive production. So my bottom line would be that Rodman is capable of defending Melo/King, English can score with them. It doesn't seem like this one determines the outcome of the series.

Webber/Wallace vs. Malone

I want to hear how Fred actually plans to use Karl in this series on the offensive end, but it would be dumb to argue that he couldn't beat this guys. I just want to add one thing - Rasheed was a pretty good post defender. Advantage Malone.

Parish/Daugherty vs. Duncan

Again - the same deal. Parish was a good defender, yet I can't act like Duncan isn't better. I can only state the following two things:

Fred made a case that he could beat Fat with his size. Well, in this series it seems like I have the upper advantage as my team is stacked with big guys. Blaylock isn't dressing up as we're bringing in Manute Bol, remember - the dude could swing games in his team's favor with a good five minute run of blocked shots and defense. It's six good bigs in the three W's, Daugher, Parish and Bol versus Malone, Duncan, Willis, Laimbeer. (Duckworth was a good player, but not in the class of those guys previously mentioned)

Your guys can't make a living out of scoring in the paint. Granted, they are good, but they still are facing good defenders.

Hardaway vs. Davis

Two similar guys who can come in, pick up the tempo, shoot threes, excite the home crowd. I could say that Timmy was a bit more reliable, but no advantage here.

Toney vs. Majerle/Hawkins

Three guys who are just synonymous to the term "great guy to have on your team", "guys that played on good teams". They differ in their style of play, but all are likely to contribute when the two big guns (MJ and The Rock) are resting. No advantage.

Wallace/Walker vs. Willis

Walker is more of a 12th man in this series, he can come in and shoot some threes though. But Wallace is likely to play the same amount of minutes as Webber does, because those two can bring Malone and Willis out of the paint. Willis played a fair amount of center during his career and while he was an agile player, he wouldn't play out in the perimeter, so I'd like to say that Sheed could light it up. Advantage Wallace.

Daugherty/Bol vs. Laimbeer/Duckworth

Same deal as with my power forwards, Bol is more of a guy I would insert in specific moments rather than a rotational player, while Daugherty is sharing his minutes with Parish. Now, Laimbeer was the worst, but could he really bother Daugherty? Maybe Fats has some input, but Brad wasn't really the guy to get pissed off at somebody. He obviously has more talent and athleticism than Bill, so we'll try to use it against Laimbeer - he'll have to try and keep up with Daugherty. I guess this can go both ways, I'd want to say that there's a slight advantage to Daugherty though. I don't know whether Fred is playing Duckworth or Harper, but it doesn't make that big of a difference I think.


To sum it all up, I don't know what to make of this series. It's actually great to see that two evenly matched teams have made it to the finals. I tried to make some sense of the advantages in each match-up, yet I suppose you shouldn't pay much attention to it as this one is really tight.

As for our game plan - my team might pick up the tempo a bit. I have a feeling that Rodman, Webber/Wallace and Parish/Daugherty should out-run their match-ups. Of course, Malone and Duncan could run the floor just as well as their respective opponents could, but I feel like that it would take them out of their comfort zone a bit. I don't think that Karl would like playing out on the perimeter against Webber and Wallace or that Duncan would rather run with Parish and Daugherty than play the post game.

[Fred Williamson]

There's nothing much to add from my side. some points though:
I think Paul is a more complete and offensively dangerous player than Payton.

Duncan/Malone/Laimbeer are also too much to handle for Webber/Wallace/Parish. Especially Malone would have a field day here if Lamar decides to keep Webber on the floor for 30+ minutes. I don't remember him being a good defender.

Rodman and English would also have their hands full with Melo and King.

And obviously Jordan is the biggest threat here and almost impossible to stop, but I think Richmond would bring his A-game if he faces MJ. Of course MJ would win this matchup, but it won't be a cakewalk.

My gameplan would be draw up many setplays for Paul and Malone and also run a lot of plays for Melo and King. Richmond and the backups would be in full lockdown D mode on MJ and I'd put a lot of double teams on him, because IMO it's affordable to pay less attention on Rodman on offense.

[LamarMatic7]

There's nothing much to add from my side. some points though:
I think Paul is a more complete and offensively dangerous player than Payton.

Well, in my opinion Gary Payton is the most complete point guard ever, there literally isn't a thing he couldn't do. The fact that he had a post game, that he could rebound and that he could guard taller players makes him more complete, in my opinion.

Duncan/Malone/Laimbeer are also too much to handle for Webber/Wallace/Parish. Especially Malone would have a field day here if Lamar decides to keep Webber on the floor for 30+ minutes. I don't remember him being a good defender.

Well, I said that Webber and Wallace will play the equal amount of minutes. Sheed was a very good defender and communicator on the defensive end. Actually, when I think about it Wallace might even take over the starting spot and get more minutes, since of his defensive advantage over Webber and the fact that Chris might not take the pressure of the Scavenger Hunt Finals. You're right, he wasn't that good on defense.

Rodman and English would also have their hands full with Melo and King.

But Dennis could guard them.

My gameplan would be draw up many setplays for Paul and Malone and also run a lot of plays for Melo and King. Richmond and the backups would be in full lockdown D mode on MJ and I'd put a lot of double teams on him, because IMO it's affordable to pay less attention on Rodman on offense.

You should remember what happens if you don't box out Rodman though.

[fatlever]

i just realized i didnt add the poll yet. i just added it. i'll leave it open for a few days.

[fatlever]

4 to 4 tie.

i'll let this go until Wed and 11PM. somebody come break the tie.

[BigSlam]

Well done Fred!

[fatlever]

fred wins 5 to 4. this is the equivalent of fred winning game 7 in overtime.

great draft everyone.

next year i am adding MJ to the "do not draft list" if we keep similar parameters.

[Walt Cronkite]

FRED! YOU DID IT!

[Takuya Kimura]

Ok so I have been waiting for this a long time but it has to be done:
What makes my team that far from Fred's??

Wade/Moncrief/Fisher
D.Ellis/Wade/R.Lewis/Kerr
G.Hill/G.Rice/Ehlo
KG/Cummings/L.Smith
DRob/Gasol/Ostertag


vs


Chris Paul/Baron Davis/Derek Harper
Mitch Richmond/Dan Majerle/Hersey Hawkins
Carmelo Anthony/Bernard King/Ken Norman
Karl Malone/Kevin Willis/
Tim Duncan/Bill Laimbeer/Kevin Duckworth/Will Perdue


I mean,I have a really hard time picking the winner in these two and I think people have forgotten that this is a one-peak-season game,picking Malone/Duncan so easily over KG/DRob.In fact,the entire roster is very very close to me.


Edit:I have been losing to Fred for like the last 5 years so please forgive my grudges. =D

[Diop]

I agree it's not that far from Fred's. no teams were, that is what makes voting for these drafts so tough.

I think you could argue for all teams winning their match up.

[fatlever]

for the record, i had fred #3 and tayuka #4, well, 4 and 5 if you consider i should have been #1.

so many good teams this year. i think at least 7 teams had a legitimate argument to be the winner.

[LamarMatic7]

the worst way to lose

[BigSlam]

Ok so I have been waiting for this a long time but it has to be done:
What makes my team that far from Fred's??

He has a real PG - and a damn good one.

[Fred Williamson]

but I agree, it was really close this year