PC Board Fantasy Draft-Judging Over...Congrats Myth-Breaker!

[mudyez]

wow...even a blind monkey would have achieved what I did: getting swepped in the first round as a 5th seed!

why all the work from me...plz give me the "most entertaining"-award!!! PLZ!!!!

[penbeast0]

I'd like to see all the losers get votes in the round after they lost actually (in addition to the current judges). It gives us more input and keeps the people who sweated and participated active if they want to be.

[mudyez]

I'd like to see all the losers get votes in the round after they lost actually (in addition to the current judges). It gives us more input and keeps the people who sweated and participated active if they want to be.

that brings up ome questions:
are the loosers forced to vote?...if not, how many votes make you advance to the next round? will someone feel bitter and vote against his former opponent? will someone make his former opponent win, as he could say, he lost to the eventual champ?

I'd like to vote (would be only some short thoughts, as I'm stressed with my tests right now), but I think its ok to keep it easy and fast with only judges voting

btw.: as I said, I'd like to start another draft, second half of feb...would like to know if the guys here are interested in participating...just to know, if its a good idea to start a new one (I'd rather do that in winter, than summer)...so, plz let me know, if you are interested!

[TMACFORMVP]

Alright both the judges are out, I will be looking to find replacements. If anybody here wants to do it, please speak up.

[dunkonu21]

Eastern Conference

1. Philadelphia 76ers vs. 8. Toronto Raptors
Myth Breaker has the advantage at the PG position. Hinrich and Tinsley compliment each other well, one plays great d and one is a great playmaker...Terry is usually a SG, so ball handling is gonna be sloppy, Farmar is developing nicely, but needs more time before he can be counted on...

I have all the respect in the world for Mr. Bowen, but Gil is by far one of the premier scorers in the league. Now, the 76ers have the best player to combat Gil with, but I still think Arenas will put up some big numbers throughout the series. Not a Ricky Davis fan, AT ALL. Ronnie Brewer is a fantabulous player for the Jazz this year, but it's not enough. Big Advantage to Wezbo.

Josh Howard is going to abuse Josh Smith, simply because Smith is actually a PF in real life. Now, I am a fan of Josh Smith, make no mistakes. I just do not think he has the latteral quickness to get the job done against one of the best all-around SFs in the game. This is gonna be a close battle in the end, because Josh Smith is an absolute beast and can prolly make some mid-game adjustments. In the end, due to poor positioning, I see Howard as the ultimate winner. Advantage: Myth Breaker

PF is a great match-up. Boozer is truely one of the top five PFs in the game and will do well against anyone, even Duncan. Duncan has everything and we all know what he can do, it's not worth typing because if I tried I'd prolly sell him short. Duncan is the greatest PF the league has ever seen. They both will get big numbers, but I would imagine the Raptors would put Kurt Thomas/Kwame Brown on Duncan as much as possible. Kurt Thomas and Kwame Brown are two of the best low post defenders, and Biedrins is a large body to help. Myth the edge.

Bynum is looking really good, but who knows if he can keep it up. I suspect he can, in this series against Biedrins he should have a good match-up. Duncan + Bynum is too much Advantage: Myth

I think the 6ers got this series in 5 games


2. Detroit Pistons vs. 7. Milwaukee Bucks
Chris Paul is going to match-up well with anyone, Felton and Barbosa could give him as much trouble as anyone though. Ray Allen is more playoff tested than K-Mart, but K-Mart has the edge in size. Mike Miller is a great shooter, but Durant is better than him in every possible way. KG trumps anyone, besides Duncan. Al Jefferson is a load and could prolly guard Camby luckily, Camby ain't stopping Jefferson on the block, but I believe that KG could. KG is the glue to this team and I think this game would end up being extremely close. Paul is gonna give the Bucks a major edge. Also due to the Bucks good depth I think they could slow down KG enough to get the victory. Bucks win this in a close 7 game series. Great job both of you.


3. Washington Wizards vs. 6. Boston Celtics
Big fan of Andre Miller, he'd flourish with these weapons. Bibby is clutch, but getting up there in age. Manu Vs. PP is a great match-up, hard to give the edge to either. RJ is a very good athletic player, but he aint f'in with Bron. Gerald Wallace is too small to play the PF, luckily he gets to play Bosh who is as soft as the other side of the pillow. Sheed is a very good player and has maybe the most experience of any player besides Kobe, Shaq and Duncan. LMA is a fine player, but he and Bosh play pretty much the same game. Sheed will be able to beat either in the post. The Wizard make up for their poor starting PG with great depth behind him in AD and Rondo. Only person worth mensioning on Bostons bench is Gordon, much like their real bench-pretty weak. Wiz have good depth and better overall talent. Bron/Wiz take this series in 6 games.


4. New York Knicks vs. 5. Miami Heat
Baron Vs. Parker is a good match-up, they both should keep each other in realitive check till the big plays need to be made, in which case they will both make them. Roy is much better than Redd. Prince and Salmons is a good match-up, I think they could play eachother pretty decently, but Prince does the little stuff much more. West Vs. Marion is gonna be nice as well, Marion is too fast for West. West has a great post up game, but I don't think he is that much stronger than Marion, I'll take Marion in this battle. Yao is much better than Big Ben, but Brad Miller is a new man and may become an X-Factor. Al Harrington and Sean Williams cancel eachother out. I like Roy, and Yao too much and I think they will get the W. Sorry B-Diddy. I'll take the Heat in 7.


Western Conference

1. Portland Trailblazers vs. 8. Seattle Supersonics
Deron Williams is probably my favorite PG in the league right now and even if he wasn't he'd have no trouble dispatching of Jose and Mo. VC is an enigma to me, but he is prolly one of the most talented players in the league, Anthony Parker doesn't stand a chance. Butler is an awesome player, Grant Hill is too old to keep up with him and none of the bench could either. Elton Brand is so fun to watch, I miss him. AK47 is also fun to watch, but does not cancel out Brand. Dwight is gonna man handle Z and prolly avg 30 and 15 in this series, but I like Z's passing with all these weapons around (especially VC). Portland has the SF and C spots dominated, but their PG, SG spots are too weak to let them pass. Sonics get this in 6 games.


2. New Orleans Hornets vs. 7. Denver Nuggets
Chauncey is gonna eat AI for dinner IMO, AI is a warrior, but Billups has the whole package. Kobe is gonna smoke J-Rich, Azubuike could guard Kobe a little better than J-Rich. Nocioni has been a great surprise thus far, he'd be a thorn in T-Mac's side. Wait, I'm gonna change this Kobe and T-Mac are gonna gaurd eachother and I'll give the slight edge to Kobe. Nocioni vs. J-Rich is a tie. Jamison could take Z-Bo all day long, but Randolph is gonna grab a lot of boards. Kaman vs. Shaq is fun to see, but Oden vs. Shaq is even more fun. I'll give this match-up of big men a tie, Shaq gets the benifit of the doubt in my book. Stephon Marbury give the Hornets a minus 2 for no reason other than he is a big douche. Overall these benches are solid, but I like the Hornets bench much more, beside the cancer. This is a pretty solid match-up, Sadly for the Nug, they had to face a very good team cause I think they are 2nd round material. Hornets get the vic in 6.5 games...Don't question the judges, I said 6.5 and I meant it.


3. Los Angeles Lakers vs. 6. Dallas Mavericks
JKidd eats little boys like T.J Ford for dinner. Iggy vs. JJ is a good match-up, in light of Iggy's recent success I still think JJ is more well-rounded. Artest vs. Stephen Jackson is as gangster as it could possible get in the NBA, I'm a little scare. Amare vs. Dirk is a little played out, but I still think Dirk is the better player, I find some major weaknesses in Amare's game that I can not get over and he doesn't even seem to be working on them. Dirk has a great work ethic and I think it shows in this match-up. Chandler is one of my favorite players, Nene is a lazy bum, but his offensive game is much better than Chandlers. Sadly, Nene's weakness is one of Chandler's strengths as Tyson DOMINATES the board in this match-up. I love the Lakers bench, it has a very good balance, prolly the best bench I've seen thus far. I think this is the closest match-up yet, but that fabulous bench gets it done for me. I'll give the Lakers the edge in 7.


4. Houston Rockets vs. 5. San Antonio Spurs
Personally, I'd give both these teams a free pass to the next round if I controled it. Nash is the best, even better than my fav. Deron, Harris and Cassell is a fantastic duo though. Cassell is possibly even more clutch than Nash is. Gay is not gonna be able to guard Wade, but Ellis prolly could. Gay is better than McCants (pains me to say, I'm such a homer for McCants). Granger vs. Deng is pretty solid, they both make smart plays and don't play better than their talent dictates, tie. Melo on JO is tough. JO is not quick enough to guard Melo, Melo is not big enough to guard JO. I'll give the spurs the edge tho cause Melo is pretty strong. Okafor vs. Gasol is a tie. Benches are both pretty much another starting five. Lewis on the bench is crazy, he'd be a big factor in this game and no one on the spurs could guard him. Haslem is one of my all time fav hustle guys, Horry is all clutch, they tie for these purposes. Dally is a big edge over the two young guys in Barg and Yi. Now talking strickly talent, I'll give the Spurs the edge. In closing, dispite having Horry, the Spurs can't match the Rox experience in Cassell, Wade, O'Neal and Haslem. I'll give the edge to the Rockets in 7 VERY VERY close games.

[randomhero423]

Eastern Conference
4. New York Knicks vs. 5. Miami Heat
Baron Vs. Parker is a good match-up, they both should keep each other in realitive check till the big plays need to be made, in which case they will both make them. Roy is much better than Redd. Prince and Salmons is a good match-up, I think they could play eachother pretty decently, but Prince does the little stuff much more. West Vs. Marion is gonna be nice as well, Marion is too fast for West. West has a great post up game, but I don't think he is that much stronger than Marion, I'll take Marion in this battle. Yao is much better than Big Ben, but Brad Miller is a new man and may become an X-Factor. Al Harrington and Sean Williams cancel eachother out. I like Roy, and Yao too much and I think they will get the W. Sorry B-Diddy. I'll take the Heat in 7.

ahhh. NYK has yao and roy. this is like the 2nd time someone's confused the teams!

[Teddy KGB]

ah well, gg dennis

[VintaGe36]

8-4 ?

[TMACFORMVP]

Wohoo, I finished one of my finals, took me like 4 hours. The longest I've ever been away from RealGM while being on the computer

Thanks for dunkonu21 for stepping in, great analysis.

[TMACFORMVP]

The only round that has not been decided is Milwaukee-Detroit which is tied up at 2-2. I'll try t find a replacement judge as soon as possible.

[Teddy KGB]

8-4 ?

yep

[MazzNets]

Milwaukee vs. Detroit

There's no question Milwaukee can fill it up by I question their defense on the perimeter and on the interior.

I believe KG dominate Odom and Jefferson and with KG and Camby you are getting defense and rebounding, both offensive and defensive that is frankly unmatched by Odom and Jefferson.

I believe Mike Miller and Kevin Martin would be the beneficiary of open threes as a result of double teams and kickouts, and if Felton was sturggling the team can go to Barbosa, who while isn't the most pure point guard has playoff experience.

Like I said, I'll take that type of experience and defense/rebounding on the inside anyday of the week.

[TMACFORMVP]

Thanks Mazz for stepping in, much appreciated.

The second round can start immediately. Match-ups are as follows and I'd guess lower seeded teams once again have home-court advantage.

East

Philadelphia 76ers vs. New York Knicks
Detroit Pistons vs. Washington Wizards

West

Houston Rockets vs. Seattle Supersonics
New Orleans Hornets vs. Los Angeles Lakers

GO!

(I'll post mine later if I have the time. Finals ends tomorrow, so by no later than tomorrow night.)

[NO-KG-AI]

Western Conference Semi-finals:

New Orleans Hornets:

Chauncey Billups/Marbury/West/Knight
Kobe/Posey/West
Nocioni/Posey/Millsap
Randolph/Millsap/Posey/Thomas
Kaman/Oden

LA Lakers

Ford/Watson/lowry
Iguodala/Rip/
Artest/Thomas
Dirk/Wilcox/Joe smith
Chandler/Pryz

First thing I notice on the Lakers that I can take advantage of, is lack of deep shooting overall, particularly in the starting line-up. Dirk is terrific, but if he's hanging out at the 3-point line to spread it out for his teammates, that plays to my advantage.

The wing D on the Lakers is excellent, but there is one match up that can be exploited, and that is Chauncey Billups versus the small trio of PG's. Chauncey can post up, use his strength, or just shoot right over the top of all 3 of these guys, and that will make things much easier for my whole team, especially with him getting into the paint.

The Lakers have nice defensive bigs off the bench, but the starting lineup has Dirk who is horrible at protecting the rim, and Chandler is only slightly above average. Chandler has problems with stronger post players, so I think Oden and Kaman can keep him off the boards(as much as anyone can), and use their strength to get some easy baskets in the post.

His big men off the bench are really good defensively, but he lacks go to offense when Dirk leaves the game, and if I bring Randolph in with the second unit, he should be the best player of the bunch, and Millsap can defend and rebound with either one.

Randolph and Dirk is the match up that will decide how I use my line up. If Randolph is doing an ok job on Dirk, and abusing him on the offensive end and on the boards, he will play big minutes. I'm not worried if he can't though, because I can play Posey and Nocioni together, along with Millsap, and they are all the type of defender that gives Dirk fits. When Dirk posts up on the elbow, and does his patented spin away from the basket into a fade away jumper, sending Kobe/Posey/Noc/Billups in at the last second like GS did should throw his game off. Golden State gave the blue print, and I have the personnel to use it.

Kobe is going to have a tough time with Artest or Iguodala, both are great defenders, and they can rotate on him, but Kobe is a guy who can heat up against anyone, and if he does, this series is over before it's started. Kobe can set up teammates and still lock down his man either way. The problem for them is the PG spot, which Chauncey is going to light up in the way he always does.

Defensively, Posy/Noc, whichever isn't on Dirk, can handle Artest pretty well, he's never been extremely efficient, and his offense stifles his team, and he's not a great shooter, but more of post up guy, which won't make things easier for Iguodala and Ford who aren't great shooters either. Talented wing, but not a real great fit offensively IMO. Rip isn't a huge issue, because I have terrific defenders, and I think they lack the playmaking and team shooting that would make rip his most effective.

As for Marbury(who everyone bashed last round), he's on a tight leash, if he does anything stupid at all, I have two very capable PG's, particularly for this series. Delonte West who can easily exploit his size on the small PG's much like Billups will. I'm not sad if he doesn't play well, I'm not lacking depth at PG. But if he comes out ballin', then I'm extremely deep.

Overall, I see a pretty tough fought series, both great defensive teams, but I think I have the better go to guys offensively, better at protecting the basket, better rebounding the ball, and the starting lineup only has 1 hole defensively, which I can cover easily with Posey/Millsap, and his starting lineup has 2 gaping holes which can be exploited, and neither of which can be fixed, because all of the PG's are small, and if he takes Dirk out of his team, he won't score in 80's.

Go Hornets

[NO-KG-AI]

I said they lack the playmaking to make Chandler a real threat, unless you think TJ Ford is anywhere near the pick and roll PG that CP3 is? It also applies to Rip, it's not that TJ isn't a good playmaker, but he's more of a get to the rim and create guy than a guy who can fit with rip like Chauncey will.

Earl Watson isn't slowing down Chauncey.... come on.

And I mentioned Artest stifling the offense because I'm assuming he will touch the ball a lot more than Randolph ever will on my team. And Artest has never averaged 20 or good efficiency in his career.... what makes him do this against good defense?

Posey is going to give Dirk fits, he did it on the biggest stage, he'll do it here, especially when he can focus solely on that.

Dirk is a superstar, but he has a huge flaw to his game that can be taken advantage of with the right personnel... of which I have.

The Lakers have too much "firepower" in the form of Dirk who can be slowed by this team, by Artest and Iguodala who both score under 20 as the man on poor/mediocre teams, on poor efficiency, and have proven nothing as the go to guy. Rip Hamilton who has the majority of his offense created for him Does Dirk take the last shot for you?

Kobe will have a lot of trouble with the tandem of Artest and Iggy, but he has big game experience against every type of defense there is, not really worried about him having too many problems in the end. He'll still shut his own man down, and far outplay whoever he is matched up with on that squad.

Dirk WILL have problems with Posey, he always plays his worst when he's played that way, there's no reason that will suddenly change, it showed in the Miami series, and more so in the GS series.

Chauncey is going to have his way with that PG rotation, offensively and defensively. There's no way around that.

LOL at 6 games.

[Myth_Breaker]

Philadelphia 76ers

GM - Myth_Breaker

I. Players drafted (2007/08 averages through December 13):

Round 1 (pick #1) - 6-11, 260 PF/C Tim Duncan
17,6 ppg/8,9 rpg/2,6 apg/0,9 spg/1,8 bpg in 32,3 mpg.

Round 2 (#32) - 6-5, 210 SF/SG Josh Howard
22,2 ppg/7,1 rpg/2,2 apg/0,8 spg/0,5 bpg in 36,3 mpg.

Round 3 (#4 - 6-3, 190 PG Kirk Hinrich
10,6 ppg/3,0 rpg/5,5 apg/1,0 spg/0,2 bpg in 31,6 mpg.

Round 4 (#49) - 6-7, 200 SF/SG Bruce Bowen
5,6 ppg/3,1 rpg/1,3 apg/0,9 spg/0,2 bpg in 29,5 mpg.

Round 5 (#80) - 7-0, 285 C Andrew Bynum
10,9 ppg/9,7 rpg/1,5 apg/0,5 spg/2,0 bpg in 26,1 mpg.

Round 6 (#81) - 6-9, 245 PF/C Antonio McDyess
10,8 ppg/7,3 rpg/1,2 apg/0,8 spg/0,6 bpg in 29,7 mpg.

Round 7 (#97) - 6-3, 185 PG Jamaal Tinsley
14,7 ppg/4,5 rpg/8,6 apg/2,0 spg/0,2 bpg in 35,3 mpg.

Round 8 (#129)- 6-7, 205 SG/SF Ricky Davis
15,3 ppg/4,4 rpg/2,3 apg/0,9 spg/0,1 bpg in 35,8 mpg.

Round 9 (#130)- 6-7, 245 SF/SG Wally Szczerbiak
11,2 ppg/2,0 rbg/1,3 apg/0,3 spg/0,0 bpg in 21,0 mpg.

Round 10 (#162)- 6-11, 270 PF/C Kwame Brown
4,3 ppg/5,0 rbg/1,1 apg/0,9 spg/0,9 bpg in 21,0 mpg.

Round 11 (#176)- 6-3, 170 SG/PG Juan Carlos Navarro
10,9 ppg/2,0 rpg/2,0 apg/0,7 spg/0,0 bpg in 23,3 mpg

Round 12 (#177)- 6-10, 235 C/PF Theo Ratliff
8,2 ppg/4,5 rpg/0,8 apg/0,5 spg/2,8 bpg in 26,8 mpg.


II. Rotations:

A. Basic rotation
(you may call it offensive rotation, though I don't see any other roster better than it in defense )

PG - Jamaal Tinsley/Kirk Hinrich/J.C. Navarro
SG - Bruce Bowen/Ricky Davis/J.C. Navarro
SF - Josh Howard/Wally Szczerbiak
PF - Tim Duncan/Antonio McDyess/Kwame Brown
C - Andrew Bynum/Theo Ratliff, Kwame Brown

B. Defensive rotation

PG - Kirk Hinrich/Jamaal Tinsley
SG - Bruce Bowen/Ricky Davis
SF - Josh Howard/Wally Szczerbiak
PF - Tim Duncan/Antonio McDyess/Kwame Brown
C - Andrew Bynum/Theo Ratliff, Kwame Brown

C. Examples of veteran lineups for deciding stretches of games

PG - Jamaal Tinsley
SG - Bruce Bowen
SF - Josh Howard
PF - Antonio McDyess
C - Tim Duncan

or

PG - J.C. Navarro
SG - Bruce Bowen
SF - Josh Howard
PF - Antonio McDyess
C - Tim Duncan.

2nd round opponent - Knicks rotation:

PG- Tony Parker 35 /Derek Fisher 13/Randy Foye
SG- Brandon Roy 35 /Randy Foye 13/Matt Carroll
SF- Tayshaun Prince 34 /Shane Battier 13 /Matt Carroll 1
PF- David West 30 /Shane Battier 15/ Troy Murphy 3/Eddy Curry
C- Yao Ming 38 /Sean Williams 10 /Eddy Curry

III. General makeup of my team:

Despite run and gun style being so popular in this league, I went with approach that has been most successful historically, constructing defense-oriented team with offense based on halfcourt sets and run by real PGs, similar to real Duncan's team in Spurs (though with enough firepower and athleticism to speed up the pace if needed, again like real Spurs were able to do in Suns series). Tim is obviously our leader and 1st option in both offense and defense. Josh - 2nd option, like he is to Dirk and overall 2nd most important player as just like TD he's great at both sides of the ball. Emerging dominant bigman in Bynum will be our 3rd option - similarly to his role in the Lakers. Tinsley and Hinrich are unselfish playmakers, able to fulfill role of 4th options: the former also excels at steals, while the latter - in guarding both PGs and SGs, so will anchor perimeter defense of my bench. Bowen - again, just like in real life - won't be obliged to do much in offense - basically just sink his patented 3s from the corner - but instead will be our designated defensive stopper (duh! He's the only guy that consistently gives trouble to even Kobe!). Kwame will perform the same role as to bigmen defense (don't laugh, he's on of the best man-to-man defensive bigs in the league) - it's good to have such stoppers since even if they foul out, my team offense will barely take a note. Ricky Davis - a do-it-all guy who registered like 20-5-5 season when starting - will be my scoring spark off the bench, while Szczerbiak - another designated shooter able to utilize outside-inside tactic, shooting open 3s when opposing defenses collapse on Duncan and/or Bynum. Navarro is less known in the NBA, but he's great and experienced clutch shooter (like when he co-lead with Gasol Spanish NT to Worlds gold/defeating US Dream Team), able to play both backcourt positions. Read e.g. this:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/r ... od=1&set=0

McDyess will be my most important reserve big, with his tough defense, smarts, ability to play both at PF and C, and this midrange jumper that makes him perfect complement to Duncan's/Bynum's dominant post game. I envision playing him next to Duncan in deciding moments of the games (like Spurs usually do with Horry at PF and Tim at C), but also next to Andrew in other quarters (remember that though I listed Bynum as a starter, he's going to spend a huge chunk of his PT with a second unit, being 1st offensive option then).
BTW, Dice's playing great this season and constitutes main reason why Pistons don't want Webber back:

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=746143

I'll be the first to admit that I did NOT expect Dice to be able to play this many minutes or be playing this well this early. Usually it takes him about 6-8 weeks to play himself into shape, but knowing he'd be a starter this year he worked out over the Summer for the first time since joining the Pistons. And it clearly shows. Not only is he FAR more productive than Nazr was, but he's even making CWebbs short stint as a starter look pale by comparison. Better rebounder, better fg% & better
defense.
(Cowology)

And, finally, Ratliff: you could call him just another experienced vet, giving me 6 fouls a game: with that little difference he can give me like 3 blocks a game as well: he's timing for blocks is unbelievable.

I must say that my squad has virtually no weak points. Name any aspect of the game and I've got at least 1-2 players excelling at that:

Rebounding? First of all Bynum and Duncan (who in meantime upped his rebounding average, relatively poor at the beginning of the season, to >9 rpg).

Scoring in the post? Again: Duncan and Bynum.

Man-to-man defense against bigmen? Duncan and Kwame, aided by McDyess.

Shotblocking? Duncan, Bynum, Ratliff...

Slashers? Josh Howard and Ricky Davis immediately come to mind.

Long range bombers? Szczerbiak, Bowen, Navarro, also Josh Howard this season improved his 3P% to almost 39%!

Creating/playmaking? I don't see many other teams with 2 PGs of starting caliber in a contending team like my Tinsley and Hinrich.

Stealing the ball? Tinsley is my most accomplished ball-thief, with J-Ho and Bowen complementing him.

Man-to-man perimeter defense? With Bowen, Hinrich and Josh Howard I feel I can stop anyone, anytime.

Veteran experience? Duncan and Bowen are obvious. Josh went to the Finals, while Tinsley - to ECF. The only starter which is relatively unexperienced is Bynum, but even he's in his 3rd year in the league and has already been to the playoffs. Furthermore, I've got experienced vets on the bench like McDyess or Hinrich to counterbalance his youth.

But having veterans doesn't mean my team is unathletic: Josh, Ricky Davis, Kwame or Bynum prove otherwise.

It is also worth noting that I can put on the floor a team which is very big and imposing physically. Rotating 3 7-footers, 260-285 pounds each, plus tough McDyess, always physical Bowen, and even Tinsley and Hinrich being one of the stronger 1s here, gives me possibility of beating opposing team to a pulp.

In summary, I feel like I constructed a team that could win even with real Spurs. Duncan and Bowen? Check. Josh offsets one of Manu-Parker duo, and while I don't have 2nd player of that caliber, I have overall even more offensive firepower, even more suffocating defense and more potent bench. In addition, Bynum is better than any of Spurs centers since Admiral retired. These guys were basically garbage, yet Duncan was still able to win titles with them - now imagine how much easier his task will be with young beast in Bynum competing with him for focus of opposing defense!

So it looks like my Sixers > real Spurs, and as Spurs are defending champs/title favorites... you do the math.

IV. 1st round matchup vs. Raptors:

Sixers swept Raptors.

V. 2nd round matchup vs. Knicks

PG - Jamaal Tinsley/Kirk Hinrich/J.C. Navarro
SG - Bruce Bowen/Ricky Davis/J.C. Navarro
SF - Josh Howard/Wally Szczerbiak
PF - Tim Duncan/Antonio McDyess/Kwame Brown
C - Andrew Bynum/Theo Ratliff, Kwame Brown

vs.

PG- Tony Parker 35 /Derek Fisher 13/Randy Foye
SG- Brandon Roy 35 /Randy Foye 13/Matt Carroll
SF- Tayshaun Prince 34 /Shane Battier 13 /Matt Carroll 1
PF- David West 30 /Shane Battier 15/ Troy Murphy 3/Eddy Curry
C- Yao Ming 38 /Sean Williams 10 /Eddy Curry

First three arguments from my duel with Wezbo apply to Eastern semifinals as well:

First, defense wins championships: and my team has the best defensive starting 5, prolly the best defensive bench, and of course the best defense overall.
Second, in the playoffs more experienced teams have an upper hand: and my team has clear edge in experience.
Third, when opponents are comparable, team featuring the best player almost always wins. Hey, it often happens even when opposing teams are more talented (think Jordan's Bulls over Suns or Shaq's/Kobe's Lakers over Kings and Blazers)! And I don't have to convince anyone that in TD I have the best player in this comparison, natural winner and leader, have I?

Fourth argument was that my squad is better and more balanced anyway. Some clarification: I like randomhero's team better than Wezbo's and it may match mine as to pure talent. Yet I'm going to show why my squad is more balanced, specific pieces fit better and so the final product is superior.

PG - I've got some mixed feelings here. Tinsley is more prolific distributor than TP, while Hinrich - much better defender, but Parker is undoubtedly the best player overall. On the other hand, both my guys are starting caliber points, while Tony has no reliable backup. I know and love Fish, but he's in fact undersized two and may play successfully at 1 only in triangle offense (and it does not look like Knicks GM wants it nor it has suitable personnel), as proved by his stint in Utah, where instead of backup PG he was made starting SG out of necessity. Foye is combo guard as well plus is completely unproven (while randomhero didn't attribute any PT to him anyway) - so looks like there's no real PG to run the show for the Knicks competently when Parker is out. HUGE minus, causing me to declare draw in matchup at this position.

SG - Brandon Roy is a nice and promising player, but let's not get ahead of ourselves with his hype. 19/5/5? These are numbers of my BACKUP in Ricky Davis when he was starting in Boston/Minnesota. Of course, I'd rather have Roy, but his hype comes mainly from great overall team play from McMillan's Blazers. Either way, Brandon has no playoff experience and I reckon can be quite easily frustrated and contained by Bowen. Then there's another inexperienced youngster in Foye - and one-dimensional shooter in Matt Carroll, with no PT given by Knicks GM anyway. So, similarly like in case of PG, after closer look this position doesn't seem to be so great for NYK. And even if you underestimate importance of playoff experience (what is IMO great mistake: even Kobe was awful during his first playoffs), you can give Knicks here only slight edge anyway.

SF - Prince is basically poor man's Josh Howard. But I must remark that his forte - defense - doesn't look so great anymore when he hasn't got 2 excellent help defenders in Sheed and Big Ben behind him as a safety net. Now it's J-Ho, who - unlike in real Mavs - will have the luxury of funneling opponents into arm reach of my Twin Towers in Duncan and Bynum.
In turn Battier may be considered poor man's Prince. Solid at everything and good team player, but nothing spectacular - and Houston fans are quite disappointed with him this season. But I'd give him the edge over Szczerbiak. Yet overall Sixers are better at 3 (unless you think this funny 1 mpg given to Carroll may change it ).

PF and C - I'm going to talk about these 2 categories together since they are closely related. At first look someone might say: Duncan has big advantage over D. West, but also Yao still has advantage over Bynum, so maybe this all almost evens out? Not so quite: first of all, if we compare players from similar tiers, not on basis of positions, you'll see that there is no 2 more different 20/10/2 players than TD and Ming, though they are similar on paper. It's widely known that Duncan is natural competitor, who activates another gear in the playoffs, so even fans of bigmen with such great regular season numbers like Dwight now or Amare in the past rarely have been declaring them better than TD, knowing it's not the case. Yao also enjoys impressive regular season stats (though shoots below 50%, what is awful for traditional elite bigman), but as to playoffs he never showed any extra gear to speak of - what partially explains Rockets playoff failures. The fact that Houston has better record playing without Yao than without T-Mac also speaks for something: can't imagine it would be the case if McGrady was paired with Duncan. All these facts plus well-noted Yao passivity during the games lead to conclusion that his numbers are much less meaningful than in case of TD.

As to comparison of secondary post scorers, I hope everybody noticed that Bynum is already more dominant player than West both in offense and defense and none sane GM would trade 'Drew for David.

Speaking of defense: I've got advantage in rebounding and especially shotblocking with like 21 rpg and 4 bpg between my starters, while in Knicks only Yao has significant impact at shotblocking, mainly due to his sheer size. Also man-to-man defense goes to me, even not considering the obvious fact that West - undersized at PF, so thriving there only in running game - stands no chance to contain both much bigger and better TD. In fact Knicks have NOBODY to guard at least adequately my most important player! (Of course Yao is not mobile enough.). My situation is more favorable cause although I won't shut Ming down, unlike other teams in this league I've got 2 athletic and strong dudes to throw at him, 7 feet and almost 300 pounds each! Explanation: Kwame is officially 270, but e.g. Amare swears he's easily 300 after playing against him. Plus I have the luxury of not caring much if not-so-important Kwame gets in foul trouble anyway - so you may expect huge amount of brutal pounding and hacking Yao; and he seems prone to such tactic ever since his first games vs. prime Big Ben.

But someone might say that while Sixers bigs are better at rebounding/shotblocking/defense, Knicks bigs at least are scoring more points, having 2 20-ppg scorers in Ming and West. Not so quite. You perhaps remember I praised randomhero's starting 5 selections - but with exception of West, due to the simple fact that there will be not enough shots for both closer to the basket to maintain their offensive production. At the current pace of the game - and remember that pace generally slows down in playoffs, while my team likes to slow it down even more - there's simply no chance for having 2 20-ppg scorers as C - PF duo (someone might say Dwight and Shard are close, but Shard is false 4, who relies in offense on his excellent perimeter shooting, so his game doesn't interfere with Dwight's so much - and we're talking about playoffs, not regular season). There's a reason why West flourishes next to Chandler, who's defense-oriented and basically garbage in offense. And a reason why Rockets fans would like defense-oriented PF next to Yao and this team plays freakin' 6-6 Chuck Hayes there since he's the closest thing to it they have! Therefore, NYK duo wouldn't get their theoretical 40 ppg combined; rather closer to 30 ppg, which my duo gets as well anyway (before someone asks: Duncan and Bynum won't limit each other because they take fewer shots in their native squads than West/Yao, also at much better efficiency; actually Andrew leads the league in FG%!).

In summary, pairing Yao and West doesn't make much sense neither from offensive standpoint nor from defensive standpoint: the former would be better off with someone like Haslem or McDyess.

There's no need to analyze backup bigs in detail: Dice is clearly the best of them anyway. Battier playing significant time at PF is IMHO wrong: he's so undersized there that not only Duncan, but also McDyess will have a field day shooting over him, plus his presence will increase my advantage on the boards. Murphy can board (and shoot jumpers, and basically that's it), but with 3 mpg he's not going to make a difference either way. Curry at PF - I understand that without any PT attributed randomhero allows it as theoretical possibility, but it's horribly wrong anyway. Maybe it's an attempt to counter my size advantage, but Curry has absolutely no skillset to play at 4: and I think I don't have to remind what all his other terrible limitations are, no matter as C or PF. Sean Williams at center also amazes me: he's severely undersized there (imagine him vs. the likes of TD, Bynum or even Kwame), and is another guy without playoff experience, plus so far excels only at blocking shots. Even Curry would be better off as Yao's backup: too bad that Knicks GM didn't assign any PT to him!
OK, I realize Kwame and Ratliff are one-dimensional as well - but I am not going to rely on them much plus you may see why overall I like my bigs better, no matter how randomhero could shuffle PT of his guys for matchup with me.

Now a couple of words on strategy: I assume the Knicks are going to play halfcourt and at slower pace, similarly to my Sixers (though won't be as good as a result of it due to weaker defense - this disadvantage magnifies in slower game). If so, West is the odd man out (and, as I've mentioned, him being undersized becomes even bigger problem). If not and they'd like to try some running game, Yao is the odd man out, with his suspicious mobility and stamina (the same concerns his possible backup in Curry). Either way, something does not work for the Knicks.
As to my team, there's no need to change the general strategy described earlier. The notable changes would be giving more PT to Kwame in order to cover Yao and focusing on intercepting passes to Chinese center. Yao won't do anything without the ball and Knicks won't do anything without him, it's that simple: and I have excellent personnel - Hinrich, Bowen, Josh, also Tinsley as to steals - to shut down the only 2 above-average Knicks playmakers that can deliver the ball to Yao regularly in Parker and Roy.

To summarize: now you all can see why I consider my team more balanced - as to man-to-man defense, experience, passing or rebounding - and clearly stronger than sum of his elements. Also stronger than NYK, which in turn look a bit weaker than sum of their elements (just like in reality ): I like their bench much less than the starting 5. Experience, defense, team play and much better frontcourt (which is almost always decisive in the playoffs) are going to prevail over homecourt advantage. In the first round I said: Sixers in 5 - and judges generally agreed with me. Now I'm saying: Sixers in 6. GO SIXERS!

Good luck, randomhero! And thanks to all active participants and judges for their work!

[TMACFORMVP]

Houston Rockets

PG-Harris/Cassell
SG-Wade/McCants
SF-Deng/Lewis/Outlaw
PF-O'neal/Haslem
C-Gasol/Bargnani/Perkins

Seattle Supersonics

PG-Deron Williams/Rafer Alston
SG-Vince Carter/Hedo Turkoglu/Carlos Delfino
SF-Grant Hill/Carlos Delfino/Marvin Williams
PF-Elton Brand/Jason Maxiell
C-Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Nick Collison/Etan Thomas


First off........... I'd like to say good luck to Kosta and the Seattle Supersonics. You seriously have a great team and may the best team win.

The first thing that stood out to me, was that he has nobody that can guard Wade (who I feel is the best player in the series). Carter, Hill, Turkoglu and Williams aren't really known for their perimeter defense moreso for their offense and Wade should have his way. And I know I've said it a billion times but I feel Wade is a Top 3 playoff performer in the league IF not the best.

On the other side, though great offensive players in Carter, Brand, and Deron, I feel I at least have players that will make that big three work with Deng on Carter, Harris on Deron and Jermaine on Brand. By no means will they shut them down but make them work, tire em out and force them to play both ends of the floor.

Overall defensively I feel I have the edge as well. Ilguaskas-Brand front-court is definitely intimidating as they're both good shot-blockers but it's essentially a wash comparing it with mine since Gasol and Ilguaskas are comparable defenders while I feel O'neal is the better defender than Brand. Where I feel I pull away is my perimeter defense, Deron, Carter and Hill are average defenders at best while Harris and Deng are two of the best at their position and Wade also being an above average team defender. While I also think I have the weapons on the offensive end to keep up with him

I acknowledge he does have the home-court advantage but again, it's not too much a factor IMO if you are the younger less experienced team. Marvin, Delfino, Maxiell, and even Deron are youngsters. Hill, Brand, Thomas and Alston really haven't experienced playoff success. Carter has never been past the second round, so frankly the only player besides Deron last season to advance DEEP into the playoffs was Ilguaskas who went to the Finals last season and was sweeped by the far more experienced team.

On my end, I do have Outlaw, Perkins, McCants and Bargnani that do not have as much experience as well, but my main core has seen the playoffs multiple times and many times have advanced (excluding Gasol haha). O'neal's been to the ECF finals and on some real good Pacer teams, Wade is an NBA Champion/Finals MVP, Cassell is a 2-time NBA Champion, Haslem is also an NBA Champion. I just feel the experience factor really negates the home-court advantage in the series.

Overall he has a great team and it should be a close series, but I feel having the better defensive squad all around while also being pretty much being a push on the offensive end and having the intangibles such as leadership, and experience gives my team the slight advantage.

I just feel Wade would erupt in a series like this, especially knowing his playoff history.

[TMACFORMVP]

TMAC4MVP:
1. In your defensive matchups, you say Harris on Deron. While Harris is an excellent defender (and a flopper haha), I think he'll have quite a problem with Deron, who can and will outmuscle him IMO...Also, if you are sticking Deng on Carter, then you'll be forced to defend Hill with Wade...which is definitely a no-go. You only have to go to the last playoff series...where they defended Gordon with Posey, leaving Wade to deal with Deng...which was a huge failure. So yeah, while Hill isn't as offensively skilled as Deng, he will still give Wade pretty big problems IMO. Your 3rd defensive matchup with O'neal may also run into problems. O'neal really isn't known for his post defence...he's more known for his excellent help defence and rotating, which when he's in full flight, is DPOY worthy. Brand will definitely collect his 20+ points on good efficiency if he's iso-covered by o'neal for large parts of the game.

I never said they'd shut them down. I just said that I'd limit them better than he could limit Wade. Harris should have at least the foot quickness to limit Deron from getting out and running which makes it a more half-court game where I feel I'd have the advantage.

I'd rather have Hill beat me than Carter. And like you said Hill is not as good offensively from a scoring standpoint then Deng especially last season where his mid-range slashing game was as good as any player in the league. Not to mention it was painfully obvious Wade was hurt in that series, and not fully himself considering he had just come back from an injury to where he missed over a month to two months of game action. I'm sure a healthy Wade and what I feel much better help defense than what the Heat had last season should do a much better job on Hill than what the Heat did with Deng last season.

I also don't know where you got O'neal isn't a good man defender. He has great strength and athleticism to stay with anyone. His Dtrg is always one of the highest in the league and when healthy his defensive win shares is off the chart. He IMO is definitely one of the best man to man post defenders in the league and obviously then a tremendous shot-blocker.

Again, I never said I'd shut them down, rather make them work considering all the guys mentioned are above average defenders. And do a better job on his star players (mainly Wade) then mine.

[Myth_Breaker]

Just some points about Myth Breaker and TMAC's arguments...I'm kinda bored so I'll just make some points...

Myth:
Ricky Davis is exceptionally well known as putting up good stats on losing teams,

Were these teams supposed to be great and only his presence stopped them? If not, there is not much to speak of.

while being detrimental to team play.

Gross exaggeration. And this season Miami fans in majority support him.

Roy is almost exactly the opposite.

I've already said earlier I prefer Roy. But what conclusions exactly do you want to draw from comparing my BACKUP to opponent's STARTER? Was my backup supposed to be better than his starter?

Bynum is DEFINITELY nowhere near the offensive player that West is. West is a great slasher/penetrator type forward with a great jumper. Bynum...is still mostly putbacks/pick and rolls/dunks, with an occasional post move/hook thrown in there.

You are confusing having diversified offensive arsenal with being potent offensive threat. Rasheed beats prime Shaq by light years as to arsenal: does it mean Shaq is "nowhere near offensive player that Sheed is"? Of course not: and as a Laker fan you should know how much opponent teams fear Bynum in the post and how hard it is to stop him (#1 in NBA as to FG%!).

Also, IMO, Yao and West would definitely average more than 30 points..as mentioned before, West has a very good mid-range jumper, and won't take up the space that Yao needs in the post.

First of all, I said originally "closer to 30 ppg". Second, it won't certainly be 40 ppg; show me PF-C duo averaging so much during playoffs in the current NBA. Third, I didn't even touch in the initial post this problem from not only standpoint of Knicks offensive spacing/sharing the ball, but also from standpoint of my defense, much more efficient than my opponent's. Add this factor and I'm quite certain that NYK's starting bigs will average lower PPG than mine (it might be exactly 30, might be not); also while taking more shots, what will additionally hurt their team.

Your plan of shutting down passing options to Yao also won't work IMO. Parker can, and WILL torch both Tinsley and Hinrcih(whose lost a step defensively)

??? Where did you get this from that Hinrich (who's in his prime, just like Tinsley) lost a step defensively?
Wait, there's another problem I didn't touch before (thanks for making me
find even more arguments ): to what extent West is product of CP3's crafty passes? I hope you're not going to tell me that TP or Roy are even close to C. Paul as passers.

and get into the paint, and find easy buckets for all the players. Roy is one of the best playmaking SGs in the business, often taking PG duties at Portland...but he will be hampered somewhat by Bowen, yes.

Roy is not Kobe/T-Mac caliber playmaker, who's able to replace starting PG fully effectively. And "somewhat"?! Remember what happened to Kobe during 1998/99 playoffs vs. Jazz/Spurs - with Kobe being like thrice as talented as Brandon - and you'll have a picture of what my defense and team play can do to Roy, who did not play a single game in the playoffs before; but only approximate picture considering I have much better individual perimeter defenders than even those powerful defensive squads!
I may also put Bowen on Parker (it worked perfectly against Billups during 2005 Finals) and Josh on Roy, with Prince not being much of an offensive threat anyway. I have really MANY options.

[TMACFORMVP]

Hey guys, I'm finding these arguments interesting.
And don't think I'm being biased, I'll argue anyone who posts. lol.

TMAC:
1. Utah aren't really a running team anyway; Deron runs set offences like PNR with Boozer, and he's got a perfect replacement in Brand here.
2. Deng really isn't the fastest SF around...he could work for short bursts, but I think Vince has got the dribbling ability and speed to get past his man if he guards him for long periods of time...and Wade simply doesn't have the size to guard Hill...as I mentioned, Hill won't torch them as the same extent as Deng, but he will put up good points on good efficiency IMO...
3. I don't know what dtrg or winshares are, but when I see him play, he always takes the weaker post player, leaving Foster and co to take the stronger player...and its pretty painfully obvious watching this season that he's definitely lost a step and some athleticism...
But yes, I do agree your defenders do a better job on his stars than his on yours.

Keep the arguments going!

1. Nonetheless Utah has been running more this season and Deron though excellent in both systems also looks to push the tempo, and Harris I feel can do a good job of not letting him and get in transition to get easy bucket opportunities.

2. Again, I never said I'd stop VC but Deng has made Carter work every single time they've faced each-other from Deng's sophomore season. In the last 7 meetings, they've faced each-other, here are Carter's stats.

25 points on 8-25
28 points on 9-27
24 points on 10-23
21 points on 8-22
18 points on 7-21
21 points on 7-15
24 points on 6-21

So he's averaging 23 points per game on 35%. I'd frankly take that any day. Not to mention in the playoffs Carter's FG% averages take a pretty noticeable drop (41 and 35). Deng has done a great job in the past on Carter and I expect him to make him work real hard if he's going to burn me in the series. Not to mention I also have very good help defenders if he slips with two players that are generally 2 block per game guys.

And Hill is not really known for being a guy that uses his size. He's a terrific mid-range/slasher type player and that's essentially it. He does other things at times but that's his game. I don't think his size over Wade is such a dis-advantage especially considering Wade has a pretty large wing-span and what I feel even stronger. He should have a good series, but if you think that's enough to out-weight the series Wade should have, then I really don't know what to say.....

3.) That really doesn't mean much considering Foster is an above average defender as well. You don't see Kobe guarding the other team's best player the whole game, just in crucial moments/4th quarter. Doesn't mean he isn't a good man defender, when in reality he's one of the best. Same with Jermaine, he's a terrific man defender that has the strength and athleticism to stay with ANY big man in the NBA. Especially in this case where he's not looked to be a first option, or even a second option.

I really don't think he's lost a step either. It's just more that he's constantly injured. In December when he was relatively healthy, he averaged near 19 points per game, 8 boards, 3 assists, 2.6 blocks on 48%> Rebounds are a bit low, but when healthy (which this game counts as) he's one of the best two way players in the league and I don't think there's really anybody that can deny that.

And like you said at the end I feel I'll do a much better job on his big guns than he'd likely do on mine, which is the tipping favor in this series along with the defense and overall experience IMO.