whitehops wrote:imo quotatious you picked a terrible first player to build around and you didn't put together a very good team around him.
* not talent-wise particularly, but fit-wise. that is if you plan to run the offense through kobe (which I am assuming you will otherwise drafting him with that pick would be even more baffling)
That's perfectly fine with me if you think that my team isn't very good. I wasn't only hoping for flattery, but rather for some honest and unbiased evaluation of my roster. That said, I don't really agree with you sentiments here.
First of all, I really don't see how Kobe is a bad first round pick. I had the #9 pick in the first round, and I was only really considering two players - Kobe and D-Rob. Decided to go with Bryant, because I wanted a reliable first option on offense, and a true go-to-guy/closer, who can deal with tough defense effectively. If you look at Kobe's playoff numbers between 2007 and 2009, you can see that his stats (both raw and advanced) were just as good if not better (if you consider how much more difficult it is to score efficiently in the playoffs than during the RS).
I think the only thing that can be bothersome with Bryant is his perceived 'selfishness', but he could still get his 25 points here, and I'm sure he would appreciate having great offensive talent around him here. You have to understand the dynamics of Kobe's development as a player during that stretch - he was becoming more and more responsible and unselfish as a leader, and understood his role better than he did earlier in his career.
I really couldn't pass up the opportunity to draft a poor man's Jordan.
Neither English, Mullin or Billups were selfish players, if anything, they were the opposite. English was a scorer first and foremost, but he was also content with playing as a point forward and moving off the ball a lot. If you actually watch Alex play in his prime, he was one of the least ball dominant 25+ PPG scorers that I've ever seen. Probably only Larry Bird was more unselfish among the 80s players. English had quite a bit in common with Dr. J as far as his personality and approach to the game (he was willing to do pretty much everything that was asked of him). He moved extremely well without the ball and had the ability to find openings in opposing defenses. He didn't have a three point range, but he was an excellent midrange shooter with pretty good range (his shot was literally impossible to block and he could make 18-20 footers with ease, even shooting over opponents' hands). There's really no such thing as contesting English's shots, because of his extremely high release point on his jumpshots. He also averaged over 5 assists per game during the 1982-84 stretch and wasn't very turnover prone, so you could count on him to create a few good looks for his teammates, even though he wasn't a particularly impressive ballhandler for a wing player and that's NOT a role that I want him to play on my team. He'll mostly move off the ball, while Billups or Kobe handle it most of the time.
Alonzo needs his touches in the post and he's not a good passer, to say the least, but he could give a few hand-offs to shooters like Kobe, Mullin, English or Billups, or even execute simple passes to cutters if he has a good position to make such a simple pass (I don't want him to put himself in a situation where he can really turn the ball over).
I also like the fact that almost all of my players are above average, or even really excellent defensively. Mullin and Miller are the worst defenders on my team, but Mully was actually very smart and crafty, could provide great help down low and steal the ball, and really play excellent team defense. He was a lot like Larry Bird - he didn't have the athleticism or the footspeed to effectively guard guys 1 on 1 (he was quicker than Bird, but didn't have the size or strength of Larry). Brad Miller was a little below average defensively, overall, and especially poor as a team defender (not a shotblocker), but he was solid in terms of man defense in the post, and pretty strong.
One judge who I'm pretty sure will vote for my team is Penbeast.
I feel like he really thinks highly of a few of my players (English, Buck, Billups, probably Zo), except Kobe...
Well, you cannot have everything, I guess...Fortunately, Brad Miller and Odom are both EXCELLENT passing bigmen, and this is something that I'm very grateful being able to accomplish. Initially, I wanted either Sabonis or Divac as my backup center, but my timing with them wasn't quite good enough...Still, prime Miller isn't really that far behind them, and provides two very specific skills that I was targeting - passing and outside shooting as a bigman. 
It's a good thing that both English and Mullin can play very well off the ball, and most importantly, are both WILLING to do so.
