Nineties Players Redux Draft R1 - wackbone vs Snakebites*

[durantbird]

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**

[wackbone]

Gary Payton - 1996 - 15.8 FGA - DPOY, 6th in MVP
Kevin Garnett - 2008 - 13.9 FGA - DPOY, 3rd in MVP
Alonzo Mourning - 1999 - 13.8 FGA - DPOY, 2nd in MVP
Dan Majerle - 1993 - 13.4 FGA - 5th in DPOY, All-Star
Eddie Jones - 1998 - 12.6 FGA - All-Def 2nd, All-Star
Ron Artest - 2010 - 9.6 FGA - 6th in DPOY
Steve Kerr - 1996 - 5.9 FGA
Greg Ostertag - 2002 - (2.7) 3.0 FGA

88/88 FGA

Gary Payton (38) / Steve Kerr (10)
Eddie Jones (38) / Steve Kerr (10)
Dan Majerle (36) / Ron Artest (12)
Kevin Garnett (36) / Ron Artest (12)
Alonzo Mourning (38) / Greg Ostertag (8) / Kevin Garnett (2)

Writeup:

MJ is always scary, best of luck Snake.

Defensively we will start with Payton on MJ, Jones on Billups, Majerle on Vince, KG on Rodman, and Mourning on Sabonis. We also have Artest off the bench as yet another elite defender to throw at MJ/Vince. Note that we can rotate our perimeter defensive matchups based on whatever works best.

The whole idea on my team is centered on defense. Payton/KG/Mourning were all the DPOY in the chosen season. Majerle and Artest were both top 6 in DPOY voting. Eddie was All-Def 2nd. Billups/MJ/Vince is an explosive perimeter to be sure, but we have no defensive weaknesses in our starting group to attack. Also, very importantly, neither Rodman nor Sabonis are much of offensive threats, allowing both KG and Mourning to pretty freely help.

We have a very balanced offensive attack with KG/Mourning (3rd and 2nd in MVP, respectively) in the frontcourt, Payton (6th in MVP) in the backcourt, All-Stars Eddie and Majerle on the wings, and high level bench pieces in Kerr and Artest off of the bench. While neither KG nor Mourning are 3 point shooters they don't really occupy the same space offensively, with Mourning primarily in the paint and KG all over the court.

[durantbird]

PG: Chauncey Billups 2006 12.5 FGA
All NBA 2nd, All Defensive 2nd, 5th in MVP

SG: Michael Jordan 1991 22.4 FGA
MVP, FMVP, All NBA First, All Defensive First

SF: Vince Carter 2001 22.1 FGA
All NBA 2nd

PF: Dennis Rodman 1995 4.9 FGA
All NBA Third, All Defensive First

C: Arvydas Sabonis 1996 9.9 FGA

B: Aaron McKie 99-00 7.2 FGA
B: Sam Perkins 97-98 5.8 FGA
B: Bo Outlaw 95-96 3.0 FGA

Rotation:

Billups (39)/Jordan (9)
Jordan (30)/Mckie (18)
Carter (39)/McKie (9)
Rodman (35)/Outlaw (8)/Perkins (5)
Sabonis (30)/Perkins (18)

[Snakebites]

PG: Chauncey Billups 2006 12.5 FGA
All NBA 2nd, All Defensive 2nd, 5th in MVP

SG: Michael Jordan 1991 22.4 FGA
MVP, FMVP, All NBA First, All Defensive First

SF: Vince Carter 2001 22.1 FGA
All NBA 2nd

PF: Dennis Rodman 1995 4.9 FGA
All NBA Third, All Defensive First

C: Arvydas Sabonis 1996 9.9 FGA

B: Aaron McKie 99-00 7.2 FGA
B: Sam Perkins 97-98 5.8 FGA
B: Bo Outlaw 95-96 3.0 FGA

Rotation:

Billups (39)/Jordan (9)
Jordan (30)/Mckie (18)
Carter (39)/McKie (9)
Rodman (35)/Outlaw (8)/Perkins (5)
Sabonis (30)/Perkins (18)

My bad, thought I had more time.

GL Wackbone.

Wackbone has an undeniably elite defense, and will be difficult to contest. That said, I think I've got enough to push past him here.

Firstly, we've got the two best scorers in this series by a country mile, and Billups in the selected season is around the level of Wack's top guys as a scorer. Together with the best player in this tournament (MJ) they form the best backcourt in this competition- Billups is the ideal complement to Michael Jordan, and they also form an imposing defense to go against Payton/EJ.

Vince Carter proved in New Jersey that his game doesn't depend on being ball dominant, he can play alongside other guys who make plays and has some cutting and off ball ability. He's also a capable shooter in the chosen year, a year in which overall he lead the league in OBPM. Some may shirk at the fit between him and MJ, but I think they're a competition that is nearly impossible to guard.

By the selected season Dennis Rodman had fully transitioned into a strong power forward who still retained some defensive versatility, and I think he's an ideal complement to Sabonis in our front court with his mobility and rebounding. Sabonis himself is an imposing post presence due to his size, and I think his relative lack of mobility is largely negated by Wack's offense, which is going to be pretty dependent on scoring closer to the basket with his top three scoring options all being non-outside shooters.

Overall I think my team is more balanced on both sides of the ball. As great as Wack's defense is, he doesn't have one player who can simply hand the ball and expect him to reliably generate scoring opportunities. His defense will keep it close, but I don't think Michael Jordan loses close games to a team without it's own go-to scorer.

[DCasey91]

I can be convinced either way too close to call imo.

I do think the main source for balancing the scoring/offense will come from Payton and Majerle.

If there was a team Jordan would struggle this would be it

Love Billups too ain't a fan of Carter with Jordan as you lose out on Pippen's amazing versatile defence (but I mean who can get that)

I'll reserve the vote for now. Love the defence from Wack, don't love the offense in totality

Obviously Jordan + Billups + Rodman is awesome its the surrounding pieces as well

So yeah I can be convinced either way just need to sift through some things.

We all are going to have quality players so I'm priotizing, synergy above all else and matchup dependency.

[Dr Positivity]

I think KG being able to help off Rodman with elite perimeter D makes this hard matchup for Jordan, and not sure about Carter is maxxed out playing beside better version of him. I also prefer wack's bench by a bit. Vote wackbone.

[Fadeaway_J]

For me, the problem for wack is that while he has probably the best defensive team in the game, Snake is pretty strong on that end himself, especially at the positions where wack will be generating most of his offense. He can certainly slow MJ down as much as reasonably possible, but on the other end how much traction is he getting posting up Payton on Billups or running things through KG with Rodman guarding him? This is a series where points will be hard to come by, and in that context having more reliable individual scorers takes on added importance. I also feel like Billups running the show helps keep MJ and Vince from stepping on each other's toes too much.

Vote: Snakebites

[durantbird]

Wack has one of the best defensive teams I saw in this but I'm not sure he has enough offensive punch to overcome snake.

Vote Snakebites

[durantbird]

We need to get voting going

[lilroddyb]

Wackbone has the best defense in the tournament and will make things difficult for Snakebites. Snake has really good defense aswell but I think Snake has quite a bit better offense overall with good spacing around MJ,VC and Billups

vote Snake

[wackbone]

GG Snake, tried something different

[durantbird]

Snakebites advances