Scavenger Hunt Draft Winner: Sachmo!!!

[captaincrunk]

Sorry guys I just found that Anthony Morrow have never played in NBDL,so I decide to pick Dahntay Jones for NBDL as the substitute.FWIW,I picked Morrow on my phone without doing research since my laptop was dead.

I think Dantay was taken.

EDIT: Also I'd love to play Takuya's team. Dwight or Oden (if he pans out) would eat Pau up in the post.

[Takuya Kimura]

Great squad, really. Billups is actually the biggest question mark here, he's not the same player he was offensively OR defensively, and I don't love Jack as his backup. Plus you really just want distribution with the rest of those weapons, and that's never been his forte.

The only other real concern is whether the team gets enough rebounding with Landry or Smith in the game, and the alternative (Gasol/Camby) isn't slated to play much, and depends on actually having Marcus Camby play. Still, they've got to be one of the favorites.

Billups just had the 2nd highest TS% in his career,and Jack has been proven to be an excellent backup PG in Toronto.
Josh Smith has an above average rebound rate among PFs playing next to Al Horford,who himself is an above average rebounder among Cs despite being out of position.
Also,
1.My guards and swingmen are excellent rebounders(Billups,Durant)
2.Average rebounding team can win titles(see Celtics,Mavs)

Sorry guys I just found that Anthony Morrow have never played in NBDL,so I decide to pick Dahntay Jones for NBDL as the substitute.FWIW,I picked Morrow on my phone without doing research since my laptop was dead.

I think Dantay was taken.

EDIT: Also I'd love to play Takuya's team. Dwight or Oden (if he pans out) would eat Pau up in the post.

D.Jones is not picked by any team after double (rough)checking,if he is picked then point it out.

And,
1. 2009 NBA finals stats
Dwight Howard 15 ppg on 48%
Pau Gasol 18 ppg on 60% playing mostly at C since Bynum was out.

2. You wanna use that soft label on Gasol? Fine but he took that label off after 2009 finals against Dwight Howard of all people.

3.Using Oden as your argument seems weak,when he was last on court he was just a 20 mpg bench player.I can say Sean May is a worldbeater if healthy since nobody can disprove it.

[captaincrunk]

And,
1. 2009 NBA finals stats
Dwight Howard 15 ppg on 48%
Pau Gasol 18 ppg on 60% playing mostly at C since Bynum was out.

2. You wanna use that soft label on Gasol? Fine but he took that label off after 2009 finals against Dwight Howard of all people.

3.Using Oden as your argument seems weak,when he was last on court he was just a 20 mpg bench player.I can say Sean May is a worldbeater if healthy since nobody can disprove it.

Dwight is a different beast now dude. He can play "offense" on purpose and everything.

EDIT: also, that's a pretty small sample size, and you just have a small frontcourt in general.

EDIT2: And secondly, that was Pau in his prime vs. Dwight not in his prime. Dwight is about to have the best season of his career yet, and pau is about to have the worst since he entered his prime. There's a reason Bynum played injured all through the 2010 finals (risking further injury), it's because Pau starting center is not a good idea, especially not anymore.

EDIT3: And lastly, I think someone changed their mind on D. Jones, or maybe I got him confused with Dorell Wright.

[Takuya Kimura]

1.The finals is where the best players show up,and 12% FG difference is inexcusable,and Dwight just averaged 5.5 TOs in the playoffs,invincible I guess?I don't recall any offensive superstar having such a high TO number,not even the elite PGs who handle the ball at all times.

2.What makes you think Gasol is gonna have his WORST season after his prime?Is it his divorce?Or that his game purely bases on athleticism?I can say the same for every player over 30.

3.
Pau Gasol 7'0 wingspan 7'5
Camby 6'11 wingspan 7'5
Josh Smith 6'9 wingspan 7'0
Carl Landry 6'9 wingspan 6'11
Durant 6'10 wingspan 7'5
Battier 6'8 wingspan 6'11

not sure if serious about my "small" frontcourt.

[captaincrunk]

1.The finals is where the best players show up,and 12% FG difference is inexcusable,and Dwight just averaged 5.5 TOs in the playoffs,invincible I guess?I don't recall any offensive superstar having such a high TO number,not even the elite PGs who handle the ball at all times.

Enjoy.

2.What makes you think Gasol is gonna have his WORST season after his prime?Is it his divorce?Or that his game purely bases on athleticism?I can say the same for every player over 30.

I'm not saying the season after that won't be any worse.

Let's put it this way, Gasol just failed HARD in these last playoffs. What makes YOU think he'll return to 2009 form?

3.
Pau Gasol 7'0 wingspan 7'5
Camby 6'11 wingspan 7'5
Josh Smith 6'9 wingspan 7'0
Carl Landry 6'9 wingspan 6'11
Durant 6'10 wingspan 7'5
Battier 6'8 wingspan 6'11

not sure if serious about my "small" frontcourt.

Camby is the closest thing to a true center you have and even he is a PF/C.

[Fred Williamson]

Chris Paul/Mo Williams/Ramon Sessions
James Harden/Wilson Chandler
Stephen Jackson/Tayshaun Prince
Al Horford/Ryan Anderson/James Johnson
Andrew Bogut/Spencer Hawes

Discuss The Reasoning Behind Your Team Selection:
I picked players that play in a more half-court oriented system but who are also able to adapt and play a more fast paced game, lead by the best point guard in the game. However, I also have playmakers at 2 and 3 and one of the best passing big-men in the league, who can take off the playmaking load from CP3.



Describe Your Team's Style Of Play (defensive & offensive strategies):
Obviously half-court oriented. Offensively, Paul has a lot freedom to create and find an open man, or play pick&roll with Horford and Bogut. To switch things up, he can also play pick&pop with my jumpshooting bigs Anderson and Hawes. Harden, Jax and Chandler also have the ability to make plays with the big men, or do their own thing offensively by shooting from outside or driving to the hoop. For a more fast paced game I would put Paul(or Mo)/Harden/Chandler/Anderson/Horford (or a similar lineup with Horford at center) on the floor and shoot the lights out. Defensively, I think my players can hold their own against any player in the league, especially Horford and Bogut who can shut down any big. I also have defensively oriented wings and Paul is without a question one of the better defending point guards in the league. Moreover, defense specialist Prince will put pressure on your go-to-scoring wing.


Your Go To Players:
Paul, Harden, Jax, Bogut, Chandler

Tell Us Why Your Team Can Win The Finals:
I think the combination of Paul/Horford/Bogut and the bunch of shooting wings is enough to cause havoc against any team. Paul will go to the rim at will, and if not my high BBall-IQ bigs will help him by setting picks. Plus, I have plenty of offensive power at my wings who are all able to play either shooting guard, small forward, and some of them are even able to play PF by going small.

[Takuya Kimura]

Nice team Fred,I don't want to lose to you again this year.

Camby is the closest thing to a true center you have and even he is a PF/C.

Since 06-07 Pau Gasol has logged more minutes at Center,regular season and playoffs included,during this timespan he is a 3-time allstar,3 time all-nba and won 2 rings.Period.

Thanks Cap,I don't watch a lot of Lakers game and I would have the same false perception as you do if Gasol weren't on my team.

[Diop]

Fred's team looks real good.

[BigSlam]

Sachmo's team is awesome. It's got pretty much the perfect starting 5 IMO. I keep looking at that starting 5 and shaking my head it's that good. Only problem is that with such a soft bench you'd need the starting 5 to play 40mpg each per night for all 82 games plus playoffs. I guess you could chop and change and remove one starter for one bench player as your sub pattern so that at any given time there are at least 4 starters and only one bench player on the court at any given time, but even then you would be really putting a lot of weight on the old shoulders, knees, ankles etc of Kobe, KG and TD.

Awesome starting 5 though and no doubt the team to beat in the 2K11 sim portion of this contest.

[BigSlam]

Love Rose and Joe together - they are a perfect back court duo. From there though things go down hill pretty quickly for countryboi's team IMO. LMAM is a sort of tweener and you might be better to start Batum with LMAM proving energy off the bench? Boozer was awful last season and Perkins the same once he joined the Thunder. Carter is longggggggggggggg gone as a legit threat and SCB still the great unknown. It's a pity because the team started off so well with Rose and Joe heading it up.

[BigSlam]

Takuya Kimura with an interesting line up. I'm not a Billups fan at all but maybe playing with an offensive stud like Durant might be good for him (although it didn't seem to matter in NY with Melo - Billups still took bad shots rather than feeding Melo/Amare the ball when he should have). Smith and Gasol are an exciting pairing and I like that you have Battier and Camby holding down the 2nd unit as wiley vets. A good 6th man scoring option in Gordon balances things out nicely. It would all come down to Billups though - who I think is worse than Westbrook when it comes to looking for his own rather than looking to get the ball to others. If that happens the it reduces the effectiveness of Durant, Smith and Gasol.

[BigSlam]

Fred's team is good............so long as Bogut stays healthy (which he hasn't been able to do for 3 or so seasons now). If Bogut goes down then you are forced to play Horford out of position at the C spot and that makes Ryan Anderson your starting PF - which makes your team wayyyyyyyy less sexy IMO. That starting line up though, if it stays healthy, rivals Sachmo's. A great blend of skills and abilities. The depth is pretty pretty good 1-3 but the 4 and 5 spots look really bare. I do love that starting 5 though.

[Takuya Kimura]

Sachmo's team is perfect except it has no shooting in its starting lineup,and they have to rely on a downhill Lewis and a end of bench Dudley to spread the floor.This allows teams to double team Kobe and guess what?Kobe will start taking double teamed fadeaways.Other then that they are a contender.

Edit:
Even with the non-eligible pool considered,this year's competition is much more fierce,which is nice to see.Well done guys!

Edit 2:
Billups only had 20 game to mesh with Melo and Amare,two of the worst BBIQ franchise players,even the Heat took some time to mesh.

[JMAC3]

Depth Chart:
PG: Stephen Curry - JJ Barea-
SG: DeMar Derozan - Louis Williams - Rudy Fernandez
SF: Carmelo Anthony - Hedo Turkoglu
PF: Taj Gibson - Charlie Villanueva - Thad Young
C: Brook Lopez - JaVale McGee

Discuss The Reasoning Behind Your Team Selection:
I drafted 12th overall and was able to grab a top player in this league in Melo who can do it all. Next I was able to grab two young players to round out my big three in Curry and Lopez who I fill fit really well with Melo. Then I went on a defensive minded run with Derozan, McGee and Gibson.
I wanted to make sure I had plenty of outside shooting throughout my team. I think I was able to do that well especially with my bench players. Curry and Melo hit plenty of threes for my starting lineup but when I was able to grab four more guys in Hedo, Barea, Fernandez, and Villanueva as well who all shoot the three extremely well I knew I would have good balance. I think my teams overall depth is unrivaled in this draft with everybody on my team having a role and being able to contribute in several ways. I think I have great balance of ball handlers, shooters, rebounders, scorers and defense that would make my team a nightmare for anyone to play against. My team has really good youth so I will not have to worry about them breaking down late in the season.

Describe Your Team's Style Of Play (defensive & offensive strategies):

Iso for Carmelo on his sweet spots, post ups for Lopez, let the double teams come to help on them and let Steph get wide open threes all day. I also would run some screens for DeMar to get him open mid range and cutting to the bucket for dunks and to get to the line. I really like how much my team gets to the free throw line and shoot a good percentage and how balanced my scoring attack can be with 4 guys in my starting lineup able to score at least 16 easily. Taj is mainly my hard nose guy in the starting lineup who can rebound, block shots and make the hustle plays for my team. His man defense is very underrated so he can guard the opposing teams best big and that will keep Lopez out of foul trouble. I also would use some mismatch pick and rolls involving Taj and Melo rolling or popping with Steph either hitting the open shot or finding them for easy buckets. My bench will play a little faster then my starters with Lou Williams running the show as my combo guard and athletic bigs with JaVale, Villanueva, Hedo and Young. Hedo would handle the ball a lot since Lou is more of a scorer then a facilitator. I also like the penetrating and kick lineup for threes with JJ at point, Rudy at the other guard, Hedo at SF, Villanueva at PF and JaVale at Center to play defense and rebound. I would like to use Lopez and McGee together at times to play with a twin towers lineup. I also like the versatility of Thad to play the 3 or 4 and cause matchup problems, his rebounding would be helpful at times at the three when Lopez is in. My main bench scorers are Lou and most likely Villanueva being able to score double digits off the bench too scoring in so many ways. Hedo is also a very nice bench player who can handle the ball and make threes. JaVale would also get a ton of minutes off the bench being my main defensive anchor swatting anything and everything. DeMar is a good defender at 6'7'' with long arms and extremely athletic playing good defense on teams best wing scorer usually. Carmelo isn't a defensive stopper, but he isn't going to let Luol Deng or Grant Hill like players score easily. I like Lou Williams off the bench to be a good defensive player on bigger athletic point guards such as Rose and Westbrook type players because he is athletic quick and has good overall size. Thad is also a nice defensive player to matchup with the Josh Smiths of the NBA. My team has great depth with really no one player who should not belong. My center duo is the best in this draft and McGee would be starting on half of the other teams.

Your Go To Players:
Melo, Lopez, and Curry in the first unit and Williams and Villanueva in second unit.

Tell Us Why Your Team Can Win The Finals:
I have a bonified superstar in Carmelo who has made it to the Western Finals. An up and coming lineup around him who are all great complimentary scorers. With some nice bench scoring in Williams and Villanueva. I have great depth at every position and nobody on my team struggles to score. I have a ton of versatility with this team with many being able to play several positions. I have scoring in every type of way be it the three ball, postups, Isos and very important in the playoffs free throw line. I think my team has too many offensive weapons to be able to stop them while still leaving your team with enough energy to score back on an above average defense. My team is also a very strong rebounding team as a whole and do not have to rely on Lopez himself to grab all the boards. My team is not extremely susceptible to injury either as I have guys who could step in and start behind them. Since injuries seem to be coming up a lot I though I should address that. Yes if Melo were to go down my team would struggle more, but Lopez, Curry and Derozan all could step there scoring up and make up for offensive absence.

[fatlever]

@ countryboi - the rose/johnson backcourt seems like a match made in heaven. i think those two would be great together. they could make up 50% of your scoring easily. i'm a little confused about your depth chart and rotations. for me, i would have started batum at sf and moved moute as the backup to boozer and kept beasley as batums backup and scoring on the 2nd team. just seems that moute is much more of a pf than a sf. and i would worry about haywood getting 20 minutes per game.

@ takuya - love that frontcourt, hate that backcourt. billups is pretty much done, imo, and jones is really hurting as a starting sg for a team trying to win a ring, even at 8 mpg. billups may have posted good %s but he's just getting slower by the minute. can durant, smith and gasol make up for it? maybe? gordon, as you said, would be the x-factor. he's really the only guy at guard who could really scare opponents. i guess you could always go big and move durant to sg. and i love the FAQ. and i am completely ok with gasol at center.

@ fred - great balanced team with lots of experience guys and solid defenders. horford and bogut is as good of a defensive pairing as anyone, other than garnett and duncan. i agree that halfcourt is the way to go with this team. my main questions would be about how jax handles playing in an offense where he is off the ball 95% of the time. that is not his strength. and my other question would be about who is the real crunchtime scorer? is it paul? or jax? if it's jax, then god save you. and if its paul, well, can you win it all with a pg taking all the shots in the 4th?

@ jmac - i think the team lacks experience and relies too heavily on youngsters. i do like the curry, melo combo as i think they could work well together. i think mcgee is a good complement for lopez as well. not in love with pf spots though. taj is a role player at best and charlie v and thad are more tweeners than real pfs. offensively this team would score, no problem. but defensively i think this team would get roasted. taj and mcgee are the only real defenders on the team.

[fatlever]

so we are still waiting to hear from ian, stun and lamar/doc, right?

[Paydro70]

Billups just had the 2nd highest TS% in his career,and Jack has been proven to be an excellent backup PG in Toronto.
Josh Smith has an above average rebound rate among PFs playing next to Al Horford,who himself is an above average rebounder among Cs despite being out of position.
Also,
1.My guards and swingmen are excellent rebounders(Billups,Durant)
2.Average rebounding team can win titles(see Celtics,Mavs)

Sure, Billups can still shoot, but that wasn't my point. He isn't the Billups who led the Pistons, and at no point in his career was he a big-time distributor. Your team needs to get the ball into the hands of those offensive weapons, none of whom are great ball-handlers. Also, Jarrett Jack sucks and I will hear no argument to the contrary. But as I said, this is a fairly minor question-mark as far as these teams go.

I don't think your team is going to be an average rebounding squad. Billups is near the bottom of rebounding point guards, Gordon's would be average for a PG, Jones is below-average, Battier is average. Plus, remember that you're not competing against regular squads, you're competing against other fantasy teams. Smith and Gasol combined for about 30% last year, compare that to some others: Mine (36%), Fred's (34%), Slam's (40%), Fats' (36%), Crunk's (40%). It's not exactly crippling, but I think it's a disadvantage.

Also, I think both you and Crunk are exaggerating regarding your centers. Howard is flagrantly better than Gasol, but Gasol is by no means done as a player and is a legitimate center in this league.

[Paydro70]

OK, the rest of the teams:
Countryboi - I think Slam pretty much sums it up... the Rose/JJ combo, particularly on offense, should be potent, and there are some good stoppers at the 3. But that frontcourt is reaaaally troubling, particularly since the best player (Boozer) is coming off perhaps the worst season of his career.

Fred - We've yet to hear from a few of the other teams, but this is my favorite of those posted so far. This team really has it all... the best PG in the league, great rebounding, great defense across the board, some quality bench players too. Others have mentioned Bogut's health, but Horford is more than competent as a center himself, and Anderson (and maybe some smallball with SJax) would be able to pull up the slack more than most teams here could deal with their starters going down.

JMAC - Basically I just think this team would suck on defense. Good PGs will rip this team apart, there's no swingman stopper, Lopez is awful... so you're left hoping Hickson can control the paint, I guess? Offensively, it should be quite good. Lopez provides the scoring down low, there are shooters, penetrators, and an all-around offensive star in Anthony (though I don't really believe him to be a superstar).

[BigSlam]

JMAC3 with a nice point/wing combo in Curry and Melo - but that's pretty much where it ends IMO. I'm not sold on Derozan at all other than a guy who can put up some points by attacking the rack and getting to the line. He's a terrible defender, has no range on his J and can't create for himself or others. Lopez is a massive black hole with a tiny, tiny BBIQ and Hedo is a joke. I think the team is undersized too with Lou Williams as your main SG back up and Young at the 4. As Paydro pointed out as well, Curry, Derozan, Melo and Lopez would all get scorched on D too - not to mention JJ, Lou, Hedo and Charlie V.

[JMAC3]

I think DeMar Derozan is an extremely underrated defender with his length and athleticism. The dude is 6'7'' and one of the best athletes in the league. Stephen Curry was 15th in NBA in steals per game that isn't everything, but it cant be totally thrown out. Carmelo is not a defensive stopper, but the dude is still pound pound one of the strongest and most physical players in the league. Lou Williams is always in the passing lanes and is also an athlete who can slow down other teams quicker guards. Thad Young is one of my defensive stoppers and I think matches up about as well as you can to guys like LeBron, Josh Smith and Kevin Durant. And of Course I have hustle man Taj Gibson who per 48 defensive and hustle numbers are Anderson Varejao good. JaVale is JaVale and is going to impact the paint on every possession. Also Brook Lopez is a legit 7 footer who also is 16th in the league in blocks JaVale is second in blocks. Taj Gibson 5th in blocks among PF and 11 overall per 48. This defense will be one of the highest in blocks and it has several defenders capable of slowing down the opposition.

I understand that my team is young, but I have some guys with legitimate playoff experience. JJ Barea just won a championship which I think is a pretty nice thing to have in a backup point guard. Carmelo has been in the playoffs just about every year and has had success making it to the Western Finals. Hedo also has a ton of playoff experience making it to the finals with Orlando and going deep several other years. Rudy has playoff experience, Taj has playoff experience, Lou Williams was the go to guy for Philly in the playoffs this year. I should not be punished for taking good players on bad teams such as Steph and Brook.

I think my team would have great chemistry as opposed to some teams with guys that constantly need the ball to be successful. I have no one guy who needs the ball at all times and do not say Melo because he can play off the ball just as well. Unlike guys such as Westbrook, Wade, Kobe, LeBron, and Nash. I think DeMar is really the perfect guy for my team because he is absolutely an off the ball scorer with his midrange and how many alley ups he catches. Same can be said for Curry who can easily be the beneficiary of the kick out of open shots or be the one generating those open looks.