Piston All-Time Fantasy League 1st Round: Warspite* (4) vs. Timmaytime (5)

[Laimbeer]

Do NOT vote or discuss in this thread until Warspite and Timmaytime have posted their writeups.

[Warspite]

Timmytime Vs Warspite

SG: Long 29mpg/Vinnie 19mpg
SG: Houston 29mpg/Vinnie 10mpg/Kelser 9mpg
PG: Hill 30mpg/Bynum 14mpg/TMac 4mpg
Bigs: Dele 32mpg/Leattner/28mpg/Ratliff 30mpg/Hill 6mpg

Offense:

We are useing an unconventional style with out a true PG. Similar to the 90s Bulls and 00s Lakers. This allows us to play bigger in the backcourt. Running the offense through Grant Hill (who is maybe the best player in this league) and allowing his dribble drive to set up Houston on the outside and run pick and roll with a very mobil Dele/Ratliff and some pick and pop with Leattner. John Long is a secondary slasher with that great 80s mid range game. Vinnie well we know what he is going to do when he enters the game. Kelser will be Hills backup but we will go to a traditional offense with TMac or Bynum playing the more traditional offense.

Leattner/Dele/Ratliff will be playing a 3 man rotation with Grant Hill or Tmac playing some 4 in a small ball type lineup.


Defense:

Ratliff, Hill, Long provide the interior, wing and guard defense on primary scorers. With mobile bigs and wing defenders we are going to try to switch more often.



Matchup:

Hill vs Prince is a key matchup here and IMHO Grant Hill is more like a LBJ type that gives Prince problems. Prince is a greta help defender and a great defender of shooters but vs slashers his length can be negated and his slight frame hurts him vs the more physical slasher. Sean Elliot in his Pistons season is suffering from kidney failure and had serious trouble with the more physical play of the eastern conference. Kelser is thinking he can wear down the old man and TMac thinks being guarded by Elliot is the fountain of youth.

Long vs Billups I like this match up as Long is bigger, longer and wont be posted up by Billups. Keeping Billups out of the paint will be much easier with bigger, longer and stonger SGs on him.

Thorpe/Soup vs Dele/Ratliff: These are all guys who dont demand a double team in the paint nor have a ton of offense run through them. Dele might be the best scorer of the bunch but Soup/Thorpe are better defenders so I dont see much of an advantage.


Conclusion:

I see this as a very entertaining throwback series. Both teams with big bruisers, slashers and limited shooters and stars on the outside. I believe my team would win for the following reasons

1. Our elite shooter will get more open looks and will be guarded by a man playing out of position who never guarded in space out on the 3pt line.

2. We have 3 20ppg scorers and they have none.

3. Grant Hill is the best player on the floor.

My teams stats

1982 John Long: .492FG 3.7RPG 2.1APG 21.9PPG
1996 Allan Houston .453FG 3.7RPG 3.0APG 19.7PPG
1997 Grant Hill .496FG 9.0RPG 7.3APG 21.4PPG
2000 Leattner .473FG 6.7RPG 2.3apg 12.2PPG
1998 Bison Dele .511FG 8.9RPG 1.4APG 16.2PPG
1998 Theo Ratlif .513FG 6.7RPG .7APG 9.9PPG
1983 Microwave .513FG 4.3RPG 3.7APG 15.8PPG
1980 Special K .472FG 5.5RPG 2.2APG 14.2PPG
2011 TMAC .442FG 3.4RPG 3.5APG 8.0PPG
2010 Bynomite .444FG 2.3RPG 4.5APG 10.0PPG

[Pharaoh]

Can you post your minutes and rotation Warspite?

Gives me an idea of how much small ball and/or traditional line up you plan on playing

[Timmaytime]

Chauncey Billups (38) | Darrell Walker (10)
Tayshaun Prince (24) | Jon Barry (24)
M.L. Carr (36) | Tayshaun Prince (12)
Otis Thorpe (30) | Antonio McDyess (18)
Antonio McDyess (18) | Elden Campbell (18) | Aron Baynes (12)

Offense:

We'll run a lot of high PnR/PnP with Chauncey and Thorpe/Dice. John Long is big enough to slow down Chauncey's post ups but he is not a good defender, and Billups was crafty enough. Thorpe and McDyess are excellent mid range shooters, and that's why I picked them, we'll run Dice at center and draw Ratliff out of the post, giving Carr/Prince room to cut.

I only see 2 above average defenders on Warspite's team. Those would be Hill and Ratliff. I already spoke to how I will neutralize Ratliff's rim protection. Against Hill, we'll continually keep Prince and Carr moving, running around screens, cutting to the basket, looking for open shots. The more we make Hill work defensively the more fatigued he'll get.

Defense:

Between Dice/Campbell/Baynes we shouldn't have any trouble at the rim. None are super elite rim protectors but all can hold their own, especially against Ratliff/Dele.

We'll switch Prince onto Houston and Carr onto Hill. Prince's length will disrupt Houston's shooting and Carr is stronger/meaner and can handle Hill's drives.

Warspite's team has a lot of ball-dominant players, and other than Hill, i'm not worried about any of them. Only a matter of time before someone wants to play hero ball, and we all know it'll be Will Bynum.

[Laimbeer]

I can see these are going to be tough. Props on your teams and write-ups.

For Warspite, Hill is the best player on the floor. I like the Rattler's defensive presence while Houston and Long seem like really nice complements to Hill.

For Timmaytime, Chauncey is an ultimate floor general and overall I like his big depth a bit more.

End of the day, I've got Warspite in a series that could go seven.

[RexRyan]

Good matchup - I think there's a big hole at shooting guard for Timmaytime that would be exploited. There's a reason Prince never played shooting guard for the Pistons all these years. Otherwise, I think it's even steven. Warspite in Seven.

[MrBigShot]

I would give it to Warspite in 6. Too much raw talent at his PG/SG/SF positions. Grant Hill is far and away the best player on the floor, and we've seen the damage a superstar can do single handedly first hand. But if that wasn't enough he's got the microwave of the bench as well. I agree that Timmay's team has better depth, and I think his squad's perimeter defense is what would keep the series close.

[Snakebites]

These teams are similarly set up- remarkable perimeter talent with lower-powered but still decently fitting big men in there as well, and I'm a big fan of both of these teams.

I'm a little torn. On one hand, Warspite's perimeter talent simply looks a bit better than Timmay (though I think people are selling ML Carr short big time here, saying that Timmaytime has a gaping whole at shooting guard is a shocking statement to me). On the other hand, Warspite's whole team is pretty much the mid 90s Pistons with John Long in place of Joe Dumars- a team that never won a playoff series, not even in 1997 when they had a more well spaced offense than the one I see here. Dele proved in real life to be a rather poor fit in a Grant hill led offense, and the team struggled mightily when he figured prominently.

Neither team has great big men, but I find that like the versatility of a Thorpe/Dice duo just a little bit better, and think that Timmay has a very well spaced and balanced offensive assault. This is a remarkably close matchup, but my gut says Timmaytime takes this in 7.

[flow]

In addition to getting the steal of the draft in John Long in the 6th, Warspite also got the best 4th rounder in Vinnie Johnson. His glaring issue, of course, is that he has only one PG on the roster, and that being Will Bynum. Hill will obviously play point forward. While no one besides Billups scares you on Timmay's team (Billups will go off in this series), it's better up front and has nice balance & depth. Tough series, but Warspite may have a bit too much scoring in spite of troubling issues at the point. Should go 7.

[Pharaoh]

Hill the difference in the series IMO.

Would probably go 7

[MotownMadness]

Yeah Grant Hill is too much of a difference maker here.

[Laimbeer]

self delete

[Lionlifer]

Gotta go with Warspite on this one, Hill + Houston should be a deadly combo, and I have serious doubts about Tay defending either of them. I kinda felt that after 04 his defense became overrated.

Warspite in 6

[Laimbeer]

Laimbeer, RexRyan, Pharoah, and Lionlifer make four votes.

Warspite advances.

[Han Solo]

I vote Warspite