The honorable CCJ Moneyball challenge

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Okay, nate. I'm just hating on you because you really outworked me on this one.

I saw Blake at 4M and thought about Lebron plus Dwight but abandoned the thought pretty quickly. Besides just not wanting to use Queen James, I didn't see the Barea's and other bargain basements it would take to squeeze 9 more guys under the cap with the two megastars.

Going with Blake at PG is good because you figure he led UMCP and he could dish to those two while not turning it over, playing adequate defense, and nailing threes. I like your team, nate.

If my team can't beat yours I'd have to go Chuck Daly/John Chaney on you .... We both have Howard. We know Sheed and Dice do nothing to Lebron. But I'm going to use a multitude of fouls on James with guys like Dudley, Powell, Blatche, and late in the game Wallace and McDyess.

I'd run Parker at Blake all game.

We both have and like West and Mason and Blatche. (Really, our teams are darned similar except for Parker/Dice/Sheed v Blake/James). I like Morrow and House to not miss much, but in reality you can only go 8-9 deep in the playoffs.

Good mental challenge ...

[MJG]

* Must have 12 players (feel free to add up to 15 if you want)
* Must stay underneath the $57.7M salary cap
* Must use 2009-10 salaries (sorry all you fans of the Pauls - Chris & Millsap)
* Only players off-limits are Lottery picks still on rookie contracts
* Can only use a #1 overall pick if he's already changed teams (Iverson, Kwame, and Shaq, but not LeBron, Dwight, Duncan, etc.)

From that:

Starters
PG: Chris Paul (13.5)
SG: JR Smith (5.5)
SF: Danny Granger (9.9)
PF: David West (9.1)
C: Brendan Haywood (6.0)

Backups
PG: Rodney Stuckey (1.8)
SG: Rudy Fernandez (1.2)
SF: Anthony Parker (2.6)
PF: Marreese Speights (1.7)
C: Andray Blatche(3.0)

Others
1: Anthony Morrow (0.7)
2: Nick Fazekas (0.8)

[verbal8]

I tried to get as close to the league minimum as possible and still field a competitive team(unlike the Grizzlies' owner who seems to only care about payroll). I also excluded rookie contracts.

PG Jameer Nelson 7.7 mil
SG Delonte West 4.4 mil
SF John Salmons 6.4 mil
PF Luis Scola 3.3 mil
C Haywood 6.0 mil

Bench
Chris Quinn 1.0 mil
Shaun Livingston 0.8 mil
Roger Mason 3.8 mil
Ricky Davis 2.4 mil
Craig Smith 2.3 mil
Matt Bonner 3.3 mil
Blatche 3.0 mil

The total is 44.4 million.

[verbal8]

This exercise made me realize how few players in the NBA are underpaid. It also made me realize how important the draft is. Not only with acquiring talent, but also in containing costs.

[Ruzious]

Good stuff. I'll try to put together my team tonight - just haven't had time to do it. I'll leave Kwame Brown off my team this time.

[spaceman_E]

Can anyone build a championship team with no lotto picks and still fit under the cap?

PG Tony Parker $12.6 / Rajon Rondo $2 / Mario Chalmers $750K
SG Rudy Fernandez $1.1 / Courtney Lee $1.2 / Nick Young $1.7
SF Danny Granger $9.9 / Nic Batum $1.1
PF Al Jefferson $12 / Luis Scola $3.2 / Dejuan Blair $900K
C Brendan Haywood $6 / Kendrick Perkins $4.7 / Javale Mcgee $1.5

14 players - $58.65 million payroll

Heck, you could make a team of non lotto picks just from the 2001 draft
Tony Parker
Gilbert Arenas
Gerald Wallace
Mehmet Okur
Brendan Haywood
with Zach Randolph, Earl Watson, Dalembert, Hassell on the bench