Playoff Upsets Draft - R1 - Laimbeer* vs Larry_Russell

[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).

[Larry_Russell]

Defense is straight up.

Laimbeer has a nice team, but with not peak Nash it hurts a bit here. Murray can play a bit off of Nash knowing that he is all about driving and creating. Want to force nash to beat us with floaters, not with creating.

We are going to play for that heavily. Kemp is a monster athlete perfectly capable of Defending Dirk with his elite speed, jumping and length. George is about as great a defender as one can ask for against scottie. Bane has what is needed to defend Klay.

Going to work to force isolations from Klay, Pippen or Lopez in late clock situation and control the glass.

I think we can put enough pressure defensively to make every basket challenging for the opposition



Offensively I have many points of attack.

Jokic is going to obviously remain my hub and he is going to keep Lopez in an absolute blender.
Murray will punish Nash
Kemp will punish Dirk

With Klay and Pippen as very good>great defenders I have to assume that Bane and George will have more trouble scoring in this one, but they only have to convert on the looks created by the other mismatches.

Jokic/Murray Pick and rolls pick and pops with Bane and George spreading and Kemp being a vertical dominate force.

[Laimbeer]

Brook Lopez ( 2023 ) 11.5 - DPOY (2)
Dirk Nowitzki ( 2011 ) 16.2 - MVP (6), Finals MVP
Scottie Pippen ( 1996 ) 15.8 - MVP (5), DPOY (2)
Klay Thompson ( 2015 ) 16.9 - MVP (10), All-NBA
Steve Nash ( 2003) 13.6 - MVP (11), All-NBA

Andrew Bogut ( 2016 ) 4.0 - Starter on WCC, All-D votes
PJ Tucker ( 2023 ) 3.0 - Starter on Playoff Team, All-D votes
Dan Majerle ( 2000 ) 6.1 - Starter on Playoff Team, All-D votes

87.1

Brook Lopez (38) / Andrew Bogut (10)
Dirk Nowitzki (38) / PJ Tucker (10)
Scottie Pippen (28) / PJ Tucker (6) / Dan Majerle (6)
Klay Thompson (38) / Dan Majerle (10)
Steve Nash (38) / Scottie Pippen (10)


We have a duo in Dirk and Nash that led one of top offenses in the league now joined by Pippen, Klay, and a floor spacing center in Lopez. Their defensive interior is weak with Miami Shaq and Batum/Butler playing most of the minutes at the four. Dirk will feast. Nash and Lopez working P&R/P&P against Shaq is another fire.

Defensively, Pippen is an all-time great cover for Jordan. Lopez has the size and skill (2nd in DPOY, 7'1 282 lbs) to provide a strong answer to Shaq. Then there's Bogut in reserve. Millsap and Butler are shaky as three point shooters. Dirk/Millsap, Klay/Butler, and Nash/Jrue are fine. Jrue isn't elite offensively and will be an afterthought in this offense.

Both benches are decent, but they have no bigs in reserve.

I like the scoring depth in our offense a bit better. The match-ups are favorable with us being in a better position to take advantage of defensive shortcomings as well as having great answers to their big two.

[durantbird]

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Voting is open. Team owners please vote for yourselves

[Fadeaway_J]

PG: Jamal Murray (2022-23) 16
20ppg, 4rpg, 6.2apg, 1spg, 40% on 6.6-3pta
Champion

SG: Desmond Bane (2024-25) 14.8
19.2ppg, 6.1rpg, 5.3apg, 1.2spg, 39.5% on 14.8-3pta

SF: Paul George (2017-18) 17
22ppg, 5.7rpg, 3.3apg, 2spg, 0.5bpg, 40% on 7.7-3pta
DPOY-4, NBA-3, AS

PF: Shawn Kemp (1995-1996) 11.9
19.6ppg, 11.4rpg, 2.2apg, 1.2spg, 1.6bpg
MVP-8, NBA-2, AS, 12th in DEF votes

C: Nikola Jokic (2022-23) 14.8
24.5ppg, 11.8rpg, 9.8apg, 1.3spg, 0.7bpg, 38.5% on 2.2-3pta
MVP-2 (robbed), NBA-2, AS, Champion

PG/SG: Terry Porter (1999-2000) 6.8
9.5ppg, 2.8rpg, 3.3apg, 0.7spg, 43.5% on 3-3pta

SF/PF: Thabo Sefolosha (2011-12) 3.7
4.8ppg, 3rpg, 1.1apg, 1spg, 0.5bpg, 43.7% on 1.7-3pta

C: Chris Andersen (2010-11) 3
5.6ppg, 5rpg, 0.5apg, 0.5spg, 1.3bpg



PG: Murray (38) / Porter (10)
SG: Bane (38) / Porter (10)
SF: George (38) / Sefolosha (10)
PF: Kemp (38) / Sefolosha (10)
C: Jokic (38) / Andersen (10)

88/88

[durantbird]

Laimbeer advances