3 Ring Circus Draft Play-In #1 - Dr Positivity* vs. durantbird

[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. Please ensure you give a rationale for your vote; votes with no explanation will not be counted.

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).

**First to 3 votes advances.**

[Dr Positivity]

PG: Kyle Lowry (2018: 12.1 FGA) - 1 ring
SG: Vince Carter (2001: 22.1 FGA) - 0 rings
SF: Jimmy Butler (2020: 13.1 FGA) - 0 rings
PF: Kevin Garnett (2005: 16.6 FGA) - 1 ring
C: Marc Gasol (2019: 11.0 FGA) - 1 ring

PG: Tyus Jones (2018: 4.0 FGA) - 0 rings
SF: Kyle Korver (2010: 5.4 FGA) - 0 rings
C: Dikembe Mutombo (2005: 2.7 FGA = 3.0) - 0 rings

87.3 / 88

PG: Kyle Lowry (36) / Tyus Jones (12)
SG: Vince Carter (38) / Kyle Korver (8) / Kyle Lowry (2)
SF: Jimmy Butler (30) / Kyle Korver (18)
PF: Kevin Garnett (38) / Jimmy Butler (10)
C: Marc Gasol (32) / Dikembe Mutombo (16)

GL durantbird

Defensive matchups: Lowry on Porter, Vince on Harden, Butler on Kawhi, Garnett on Kemp, Gasol on Dwight. Vince/Harden may not be best matchup but if Harden is guarding one of Vince or Butler we can get some of it back on the other side. Our frontcourt help D on that Harden matchup should be really strong. (Edit: With Porter on Carter and Harden on Lowry I think this can cancel out the issues with Vince guarding Harden)

While durantbird has a talented team I think our team makes more sense than two dominant wings with Kemp and Dwight frontcourt. I wasn't in love with the real life Harden and Dwight combo and Harden has historically done best with at least one shooting big. Being closer to the basket puts KG in a great position to play help defense.

Gasol is a bad matchup for him for multiple reasons, for one thing I think he can do a great job against Dwight in the post who struggles most against size, and secondly as it's the 2019 version he can stretch Dwight's shotblocking out to the 3pt line, if he wants to try Dwight against KG he still gets dragged out and isn't used to guarding that perimeter skillset. Jimmy's slashing will be hard to stop without as much defense in the paint.

I prefer our bench as I'd take Jones and old Mutombo as 7th and 8th man over Prigs and old Covington, and Korver can match older Majerle.

Butler and KG can be as effective a combo as Harden and Kawhi in this series if not moreso, whereas Vince, Lowry, Gasol is a better cast for them than Dwight, Kemp and Porter. We should be able to play great defense on them with Butler-KG-Gasol guarding Harden's drives and Dwight in the post and use spacing and chemistry to score on offense.

[durantbird]

PG: Terry Porter 91' - 11.7 - All Star - 41% 3
SG: James Harden 18' - 20.1 - MVP, 37% 3
SF: Kawhi Leonard 17' - 17.7 - MVP (3), 38% 3, DPOY (3)
PF: Shawn Kemp 96' - 11.9 - All Star, 63% TS, All NBA Second
C: Dwight Howard 10' - 10.2 - MVP (4), All NBA First, DPOY

Bench: Robert Covington 22' - 7.0 - 38% 3
Bench: Dan Majerle 00' - 6.1 - 36% 3
Bench: Pablo Prigioni 14' - 3.0 - 46% 3

Rotation:
PG: Terry Porter 38 / Pablo Prigioni 10
SG: James Harden 38 / Dan Majerle 10
SF: Kawhi Leonard 38 / Dan Majerle 10
PF: Shawn Kemp 24 / Robert Covington 24
C: Dwight Howard 38 / Shawn Kemp 10

87.7/88

vs


PG: Kyle Lowry (36) / Tyus Jones (12)
SG: Vince Carter (38) / Kyle Korver (8) / Kyle Lowry (2)
SF: Jimmy Butler (30) / Kyle Korver (18)
PF: Kevin Garnett (38) / Jimmy Butler (10)
C: Marc Gasol (32) / Dikembe Mutombo (16)

Matchup:
- Defensive assignments: Porter vs Carter, Harden vs Lowry, Kawhi vs Butler, Kemp vs Garnett, Howard vs Gasol.
- We've got nice matchups like having Kawhi on Butler and Terry Porter as a versatile and big defender to match up well with Vince. Kemp-Howard-RoCo provide a formidable defensive group against KG-Gasol and Vince/Butler's slashing. We've got some great perimeter defenders like Porter, Kawhi, Prigioni, Majerle, RoCo to match up against their perimeter, and help Harden on defense. On the other side, they might struggle to hide Vince against the explosive Porter-Harden-Kawhi backcourt.
- Both teams feature a 5 star starting lineup, but I like our bench trio more with better two way talent in Majerle-RoCo-Prigioni. Comparing the leading trios of Vince-Butler-KG vs Harden-Kawhi-Howard, I think ours fits a bit better and has an higher offensive ceiling, with two of Dr P's stars being lesser spacers, and Vince even though having range, still relies heavily on his slashing game. Starting two paint oriented bigs is mitigated by having Butler on the other side as a leading offensive creator.

[Fadeaway_J]

While he has the advantage in pure talent, I feel like adding Kemp to that starting 5 makes the fit needlessly complicated for durantbird. There isn't much marginal benefit from a scoring standpoint when you already have Kawhi/Harden/Dwight/Porter as a core, and he's not a good complement at all for how Dwight or Harden prefer to play. Whereas you could maybe see past it in other matchups, it seems especially problematic against a KG-Gasol big man combo. I'm already not wild about Dwight's prospects of scoring effectively against Gasol without KG in the vicinity guarding another interior-focused big for half the game. Jimmy isn't a major outside threat but he's flanked by Vince, Lowry, and Gasol, plus KG who is proficient from deep midrange. Dr P also has plus passers at every position except maybe SG, which should help make his offensive group greater than the sum of its parts.

Vote: Dr Positivity

[flaco]

Agreed with Fade that Kemp clogs the paint for Dwight. I also think Dwight is a questionable fit with Harden. More often than not, prime Dwight was demanding touches in the paint instead of attacking in space. Unfortunately, we don't have access to PnR frequency numbers from his prime seasons. The earliest we can go is 2015-16 when he was scoring just 9.3% of his total points as a roll man which equals to 1 FGA per game. That's uninspiring to say the least for a mobile big. Mind you, Dwight and Harden were teammates at the Rockets that season. We have debated Dwight's PnR offense numerous times in our games. Problem is, the lack of data analytics from the 00s/early 10s makes it practically impossible to come to a consensus. All in all, I think Dr P's team clicks a bit better and is more balanced on both sides of the ball.

Vote: Dr Positivity

[Snakebites]

Definitely a case where I love the perimeter but it feels like it needs a different front court paired with it for Dr P.

Neither team has a very good bench but I trust the starting group of Dr P to gel a little bit better.

Vote Dr P

[Fadeaway_J]

Dr P advances