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).
24.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 5.2 apg, 1.6 spg, 0.4 bpg, .512 FG%, .398 3P%, .885 FT%, 101 3P (1.9 pg), .622 TS% - NBA All-Star - All-NBA First Team - All-Defensive Second Team
SG - Victor Oladipo (2017-18)
Spoiler:
23.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.3 apg, 2.4 spg, 0.8 bpg, .477 FG%, .371 3P%, .799 FT%, 161 3P (1.9 pg), .577 TS% - Led the NBA in spg, STL% (3.5) - Most Improved Player - NBA All-Star - All-NBA Third Team - All-Defensive First Team
Rotations C - Bogut (32), Howard (16) PF - Tucker (36), Leonard (12) SF - Leonard (26), Carter (20), Parker (2) SG - Oladipo (27), Parker (21) PG - Lowry (37), Oladipo (11)
FGA Per Player
Spoiler:
Kawhi Leonard - 17.5 Kyle Lowry - 12.1 Vince Carter - 8.9 P.J. Tucker - 7.6 Victor Oladipo - 17.9 Andrew Bogut - 13.2 Dwight Howard - 4.0 Anthony Parker - 5.9
Total: 87.1/88.0
Our team is built around a eye-watering defense that will make every bucket a struggle for the opposition. The keystone is peak Bogut, a dominant rim protector and post defender with tremendous basketball IQ. We have a monster perimeter group around him with Oladipo and Lowry wreaking havoc in the backcourt while Kawhi and Tucker make opposing forwards miserable. We can switch one through four with Tucker having good lateral quickness while Oladipo and Lowry both play much bigger than their size, or we can go conventional and funnel everything into Bogut. Dwight off the bench ensures we have 48 minutes of elite center defense. Vince and Parker are both solid wing defenders.
Offensively, Kawhi is one of the most reliable postseason scorers ever, and gets plenty of support from the Oladipo-Lowry pairing. Bogut adds another wrinkle with his ability to score and pass from the post. We have good to great spacing on the floor at all times with only our two bigs not being outside threats.
Matchup - Initial assignments will be Kawhi-Luka, Oladipo-Booker, Lowry-Bridges, Tucker-Dirk, Bogut-Gasol. While Laimbeer's group is pretty potent, we have no real weak spots to attack. - By contrast, Laimbeer's group offers plenty of scabs for us to pick at. 2020 Booker isn't a very good defender, and pairing him with Luka makes for a pretty flammable backcourt. The big man tandem of Dirk and old Gasol is slow-footed and can be exploited in space by either of our perimeter stars. Bridges is their only point-of-attack defender, except he's also the only guy with half a chance of guarding Kawhi (and even then his lack of strength makes it a suboptimal assignment). Oladipo and Lowry are going to have a field day, which closes the theoretical offensive gap significantly. - 34 minutes of 2020 Gasol is quite a stretch at this level, and 2022 Hartenstein was strictly a backup (albeit a very capable one). Bogut wins his matchup handily, and Dwight is at least on the level of both Laimbeer's centers.
Isaiah Hartenstein ( 2022 ) 5.4 James Posey ( 2006 ) 5.9 Norman Powell ( 2016 ) 4.7
87.8
Marc Gasol (34) / Isaiah Hartenstein (14) Dirk Nowitzki (38) / James Posey (10) Mikal Bridges (38) / James Posey (10) Devin Booker (30) / James Posey (10) / Norman Powell (8) Luka Doncic (38) / Devin Booker (10)
Good luck, Fade
Offensively we have a juggernaut led by two of the offensive GOATs, Dirk and Luka, with Booker as an absurd third option. Fade has a solid defensive unit, but Tucker doesn't really have the length to be a great cover on Dirk.
Their offense isn't overwhelming. Gasol/Bogut, Dirk/Tucker, Bridges/Leonard, Luka/Oladipo, and Booker/Lowry doesn't leave any glaring holes. We aren't a great defensive team, but their personnel just doesn't create anything really worrisome for us.
Our big three of Dirk, Luka, and Booker creates a gap too wide to be covered by anything they can throw at us.
Comments to rationalize bad contracts - 1) It's less than the MLE 2) He can be traded later 3) It's only __% of the cap 4) The cap is going up 5) It's only __ years 6) He's a good mentor/locker room guy
