Degree of Separation Draft CHAMPIONSHIP - Snakebites vs. MadNESS**

[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 wins the championship.**

[MadNESS]

PG: Steve Nash (36) | Alex Caruso (12) | Kobe Bryant
SG: Kobe Bryant (38) | Alex Caruso (10) | Jimmy Butler
SF: Jimmy Butler (36) | Trevor Ariza (12) | Kobe Bryant
PF: Dirk Nowitzki (37) | PJ Tucker (11) | Trevor Ariza
Cc: Tyson Chandler (34) | PJ Tucker (14) | Dirk Nowitzki



06’-07’ Dirk Nowitzki - 17.2 FGA
MVP | All NBA 1 | All Star | 42% 3’s

05’-06’ Steve Nash - 13.4 FGA
MVP | All NBA 1 | All Star | 44% 3’s

07’-08’ Kobe Bryant - 20.6 FGA
MVP | All NBA 1 | All NBA D 1 | All Star

08’-09’ Trevor Ariza - 7.3 FGA
Champion | DPOY (16) | MIP (17) | 1.7 SPG

19’-20’ Jimmy Butler - 13.1 FGA
All NBA 3 | All Star | MVP (11)

18’-19’ PJ Tucker - 6.4 FGA
38% 3’s | 3 & D Swing | Enforcer

11’-12’ Tyson Chandler - 5.7 FGA
DPOY | All NBA 3 | All NBA D 2

22’-23’ Alex Caruso - 4.3 FGA
All NBA D 1 | DPOY (11) | 37% 3’s

Total: 88.0 | 88.0

Write Up:
GL Snake!

Defense:
Nash on Lowry, Kobe on Wade, Dirk on Jones, Butler on Bron and Tyson on Gasol to start.
At this stage of his career Eddie was a solid swing, but on a team with Wade and Bron he becomes a corner shooter.
Dirk can defend that.
The key here is that Wade and Bron have to ELITE defenders on them.
We also have Tucker and Ariza off the bench to defend them.
Caruso will also see a bunch of time on Lowry.
Overall, we have a great team defense, with great options to defend his best offensive players.

Offense:
We will let Nash pick his poison again. He has the world on a platter with this line up.
Kobe, Butler, Dirk, Tyson lobs, etc. I am not sure anyone can defend Nash, Kobe, Butler and Dirk effectively.
The team is just cohesive.
A ton of pick and rolls and pick and pops, attacking the weak points wherever we can.

This is Heat Battier who played 24 minutes a game off the bench, not 29. Too many minutes.
This is Cav's Jefferson who scored 5.5 points per game.
Mourning was a solid bench piece at this stage, probably his best bench player.
All in all, the bench is pretty weak.

I have three 3 & D players, all in their primes/peaks. No Off Seasons.

Overall, I think team Ness has this series, although it will be tough against a Lebron team, we have the talent to do it.

3 MVP's to Snakes 1.

Vote Ness!

[Snakebites]

Lebron James 12-13 17.8 FGA - MVP, Finals MVP, All NBA First
Dwyane Wade 05-06 18.8 FGA- Finals MVP, All NBA 2nd
Shane Battier 12-13 5.0 FGA- NBA Champion
Marc Gasol 18-19 11.0 FGA- NBA Champion
Kyle Lowry 17-18 12.1 FGA- All Star
Eddie Jones 03-04 14.3 FGA
Alonzo Mourning 05-06 4.8 FGA- NBA Champion
Richard Jefferson 15-16 4.2 FGA- NBA Champion

Total: 88/88 FGA

Lowry (37)/Wade (11)
Wade (26)/Jones (22)
Jones (16)/Battier (20)/Jefferson (12)
Lebron (39)/Battier (9)
Gasol (30)/Mourning (18)

Alrighty lets do this.

The 3 MVP's to my one is technically correct but also misleading, as I simply don't view Dwyane Wade as being on a different level from Dirk, Nash, or Kobe. He just never happened to take home a trophy. Lebron on the other hand is a clear step or two above any of them.

In any event, I think we have a solid matchup here. Dirk guarding Eddie Jones is probably the best decision given the circumstances, but that doesn't we aren't in a position to damage him there. EJ may not be as big an option as Wade or Lebron, but he's certainly capable of being much more than a corner shooter and we'll have the option to make use of that against Dirk. In general I think Dirk allows us to hunt for mismatches quite a bit here- he's a general liability in a matchup with 4 capable perimeter creators in the starting lineup.

Steve Nash also has nowhere to hide here, and gives us a second matchup that we can heavily exploit- Kyle Lowry's size will be problematic for him to deal with. This coupled with Chandler being drawn out of the paint by Gasol's shooting overall puts together a picture here- Lebron and Wade are in position to have an extremely effective series here, and our offense, despite the prowess of Jimmy Butler, has a favorable matchup.

On the other end it's also worth noting that this version of Dirk, while an MVP, wasn't as good at using his size to his advantage as he'd become by 2010-11, so he himself isn't as big a mismatch vs Lebron as a later version likely would have been- this isn't the QUITE the same Dirk as the one that defeated Lebron four years later. Battier will also see time on Dirk in this matchup as well.

On the perimeter, we have no defensive weaknesses. Given Kobe will be the primary scoring option out there, look for us to use Eddie Jones on him, while Wade (also a strong defender at this stage in his career) will guard Butler, who will predominantly be playing off ball in this series.

GL Ness.

[Dr Positivity]

I think MadNESS has the best team in this one with 3 MVP caliber stars and Butler being an OP 4th guy for this pool, and Nash/Dirk shooting makes the Kobe/Butler fit fine. Benches are close. Vote MadNESS

[Fadeaway_J]

The difference here compared to the previous round is that Ness actually has a solid corps of perimeter/wing defenders to contend with LeBron and Wade, both in the starting lineup and off the bench. I can buy this younger, more athletic version of Dirk doing an adequate job on Jones. With Ness already having more top-end talent, LeBron and Wade will need to absolutely dominate this series for Snake to take it, and Ness's defensive unit makes that a tough ask.

Vote: MadNESS

[Laimbeer]

I agree with the above and would add Butler is also getting a bit overlooked as an absurdly over-qualified fourth option.

Vote - Ness

[Fadeaway_J]

Ness wins!

[Snakebites]

Yeah, I didn't really think anybody had a shot against the group Ness put together there. I probably should have gone the Green/Embiid route and taken either Butler or Harden in the 3/4 round. Wade, despite being the obvious best player available, was the wrong path if I wanted to win.

Lebron/Wade got me this far but I was always going to run into this group. I at least could have denied him Butler.