25' Top 8 Clubs Draft - CHAMPIONSHIP - Laimbeer** vs wackbone

[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. Once the writeups are posted, I will add a poll, and the team with the most votes after 24 hours will advance. EACH MANAGER SHOULD ALSO VOTE FOR THEIR OWN TEAM IN THE POLL - IF YOU FAIL TO DO THIS, YOU ARE SIMPLY GIVING AWAY A VOTE. If the votes are tied, we will decide the matchup via AI vote.

You are not required to state or explain your vote, but you are free to comment in the thread if you want to.

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).

[Laimbeer]

Bill Walton ( 1986 ) 5.1 -
Paul George ( 2014 ) 17 -
Jayson Tatum ( 2024 ) 19.3 -
Chauncey Billups ( 2010 ) 13.2 -
Tyrese Haliburton ( 2025 ) 13.8 -

Isaiah Hartenstein ( 2024 ) 4.9 -
Anthony Mason ( 1995 ) 6.6 -
Brent Barry ( 2002 ) 7.4 -

87.3

Bill Walton (28) / Isaiah Hartenstein (20)
Paul George (30) / Anthony Mason (18)
Jayson Tatum (38) / Paul George (10)
Chauncey Billups (30) / Brent Barry (18)
Tyrese Haliburton (38) / Chauncey Billups (10)

Good luck, wack.

On offense, we've got playmaking and scoring galore. Hali will run the team most of the time with Billups as backup providing 48 minutes of top notch playmaking. With Jokic at center and McDaniels at the four, the interior defense is quite weak.

Defensively, Walton/Jokic, Tatum/McDaniels, George/Wiggins, Billups/Mitchell, Hali/White is solid. Having IHart off the bench is huge, giving us 48 minutes of two guys well suited to slow Jokic.

I like our bench a bit better with IHart, 6MOY Mason, and Barry.

[wackbone]

Donovan Mitchell - 2025 - 18.6 FGA - 1st Team All-NBA, 36.8 3P% on 8.9 att, 1st Place in the East
Nikola Jokic - 2023 - 14.8 FGA - 2nd in MVP, 38.3 3P% on 2.2 att, NBA Champion
Andrew Wiggins - 2022 - 14.0 FGA - All-Star, 39.3 3P% on 5.5 att, NBA Champion
Derrick White - 2024 - 11.5 FGA - 2nd Team All-Defense, 39.6 3P% on 6.8 att, NBA Champion
Jaden McDaniels - 2023 - 9.1 FGA - 39.8 3P% on 3.4 att
Aaron Nesmith - 2025 - 8.4 FGA - 43.1 3P% on 4.3 att, NBA Finalist
Serge Ibaka - 2012 - 7.4 FGA - 2nd in DPOY, NBA Finalist
Nick Collison - 2013 - 3.7 FGA - Highest WS/48 of Career
Total: 87.5/88 FGA

Rotations:
Derrick White (36) / Donovan Mitchell (12)
Donovan Mitchell (26) / Aaron Nesmith (22)
Andrew Wiggins (36) / Aaron Nesmith (12)
Jaden McDaniels (34) / Serge Ibaka (14)
Nikola Jokic (40) / Nick Collison (8)

Writeup:

Helluva team as always Laimbeer, best of luck.

Defensively we will start with White on Haliburton, Mitchell on Billups, Wiggins on PG, McDaniels on Tatum, and Jokic on Walton.

I think we match up really well here defensively. Jokic rests on 1986 Walton. We have 3 good-elite PG/Tatum defenders in Wiggins, McDaniels, and Nesmith. They will rotate through those assignments.

1986 Walton is going to have one helluva time trying to guard Jokic, and is going to offer little offensive value to make Jokic work defensively. As a whole Laimbeer's starting group doesn't have the most optimal fit - Haliburton/Billups/Tatum/PG are all at their best as the primary or secondary creator, and Walton's main offensive value is also his playmaking at this stage. Does not seem to make for a well-oiled machine.

I think we are going to thrive offensively with subpar answers for Jokic. Walton was an elite defender but is well past his prime here and not an ideal defender for Jokic. Haliburton leaves a lot to be desired on that end as well. Not sure how good of a defender Billups was by 2010. Regardless, we are going to heavily feature the Jokic-Mitchell two man game as always. Jokic makes the whole team better. And here he has a significant upgrade over Murray in Mitchell as well as a ton of shooting to space the floor. The Murray-Jokic two man game has been nigh-impossible to stop at times in the playoffs the past few years, keeping them in games/series where the Nuggets had a noticeable talent disadvantage. Hell, they brought OKC to 7 games this year!

It's just a well-fitting offense with a dynamic duo as the offensive engine. Jokic-Mitchell lead the way, with White/Wiggins/Nesmith/McDaniels all in complimentary roles.

Bear in mind this is 2010 Billups, at the tail end of his prime; 2014 PG, who is much more of the primary playmaker (which doesn't fit well with this group); and 1986 Walton, who is well past his prime.

[durantbird]

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Matchup is open. Wack and Laimbeer please vote for yourselves

[GeorgeMarcus]

I was confused why this matchup was tied until I realized what season Walton was being used.

Still, I'm going with Laimbeer. Full transparency I'm lower on Wiggins than most. I understand the appeal of a 14FGA AS who (a) won a ring (b) shot well from 3 and (c) offers strong on-ball defense/switchability. Sounds like a steal when I put it that way but I'm just not a believer his impact translates the way it "should" on paper. Pairing him with McDaniels in the forward spots is a nice counter for Tatum/PG but puts a little too much pressure on Jokic/Mitchell to carry the load offensively. Laimbeer's strong bench was the ultimate needle mover for me.

[durantbird]

Laimbeer wins!!

Everyone said this isn't a good draft to be picking at the bottom. Laimbeer proved otherwise

[Laimbeer]

Good game wack.

I was pleased I could win that game with Celtics Walton. I think he's an excellent alternative as a low cost starting center but rarely gets used that way

Sent from my Pixel 6 using RealGM mobile app