Piston All-Time Fantasy League Finals: Lionlifer* (1) vs. Snakebites (2)

[Laimbeer]

[Laimbeer]

Do NOT vote or discuss in this thread until Lionlifer and Snakebites have posted their writeups.

[Laimbeer]

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[Snakebites]

Jackson 36/James 12
Hunter 34/Curry 14
Tyler 16/Aguirre 32
Mills 30/Tyler 18
Lanier 38/Webber 10

I’ll jump straight into my writeup, I feel that people already have a pretty good general sense of my team after 2 rounds here. Thrilled to have made it this far, and congrats to my opponent, Lionlifer, as well.

A few points about Stackhouse:

1) He was a flaming train wreck in the playoffs. Anyone reading this who’s been watching the Pistons since 2002 or earlier is either nodding in agreement or banging their head because I’ve brought back repressed memories. In 2002, the only year where he played more than a few playoff games, he was a disaster. 32% shooting from the field and below 20% in elimination games, including the final game in our first round series vs. 7th seed Toronto, a series we almost lost DESPITE an injured Vince Carter, where he made ONE field goal the entire game and was sat in the clutch despite really being our only decent playmaker. It got THAT bad.

2) He was a BAD shooter. The guy had no consistent range. He was a very poor 3 point shooter, not that that always stopped him from taking them, and his mid range shot was inconsistent to put it kindly. Sub- 30% three point shooter. He also wasn’t all that great at playing off the ball in Detroit, which brings us to:

3) Bad fit with Isiah. He can’t spread the floor and was really most effective with the ball in his hands, getting to the line and passing from time to time. In order for him to get his, Isiah has to cede some of his ball handling to him- Stack can’t play off of Isiah all that well. Doubt Isiah would do that, and doubt that he should.

If Isiah and Stack has even the slightest chance of working, it needs to be with a well spaced offense. Unfortunately, he also has Greg Monroe, who we all know can’t score beyond 10 feet, and Rick Mahorn, a defensive enforcer who’s contributions to the offense are marginal. He can bring in Mehmet Okur to space the floor a bit, but he was inconsistent and notoriously soft on defense, so much so that he was frequently benched in the title run even when the Wallace bros were in foul trouble. The inconsistent Marcus Morris is the only player starting who can score beyond 15 feet.

Defensively he doesn’t match up all that well either. There’s nobody to guard Bob Lanier (Monroe is the weakest defensive center in this game), and while we can’t match the perimeter talent that Lionlifer has, we’ve got defenders on the perimeter to limit them, and as I’ve said before, they’ve got their work cut out for them based on their own teams’ offensive setup. Our offense on the other hand has threats all over the place, from the low post with Lanier, to the mid range with Aguirre, to the slashing lanes with Jackson, to long range with Mills, James, and Hunter. Its simply a very well balanced offense, an offense that Lionlifer’s defense can’t really hold up to.

Isiah is the best player in this competition, but he’s running into a difficult matchup and the team around him adds up to issues I really don’t think he can overcome.

[Pharaoh]

Snake takes it only because my team somehow never faced his!

Big Ben stops Lanier
Cliffy matches Mills
Rip better than RJ
BJ better than Hunter

JYD/Corliss beat Aguirre/Tyler IMO too

Well played Snake. And thanks to Laimbeer for doing the hard work

[Lionlifer]

Good work on getting here Snake, now you’re going down

By now you should know who I have, if not, here you go:

PG Isiah Thomas\ Ron Lee
SG Jerry Stackhouse\Rodney Stuckey
SF Marcus Morris\ Kent Benson
PF Rick Mahorn\ Mehmet Okur
C Greg Monroe\ Phil Hubbard

Here is how I will win:

Backcourt Domination: Zeke and Stack are much, much better than Hunter and Jackson. They will have their way with those two. You know how GS was picking on Kyrie Irving in Game 1 of the finals, I’m going to do that to RJ. I also feel like Hunters defense has gotten overrated here, he wasn’t The Glove, and he won’t be able to stop Zeke or Stack.

Flexible Offense: Morris, Stack (200-2001 version), Okur, and to a lesser extent Stuck and Hubbard all have the ability to play outside of the lane, opening things up for Zeke to drive and disk. We can also slow down and play a more traditional approach with Monroe\Hubbard at the 5, and Mahorn\Mehmet at the 4.
Or we can open it up and run, moving Stack to the 3, inserting Stuck at 2, Mahorn and Okur at the 4/5, and turn on the jets. Hello transition points.

Ball Movement: Zeke with over 10 assists per game, Stack and Stuck with over 5, Ron Lee with 4, the back court is going to be slinging the ball, generating open looks, and giving all sorts of headaches to their perimeter defenders

Limit Lanier: Easier said than done, but between Mahorn and Benson I think we can be physical with him in the paint, body him up at all times, and force him into tough shots. I also will cheat of Hunter with whomever is guarding him to help front Lanier. I want to make the rest of the team beat me, and I don’t think they can. Monroe only comes in when Webber does, so no worries there

Defensive Strategy: Prevent the entry pass, look for Hunter to have a large role in the offense, and have the always pesky Zeke pressure RJ into bad turnovers. I think Snake from a half court set has a great offense, but I don’t think his back court will be able to get them set up consistently. Aguirre worries me, but Morris has had to deal with Dantley and Hill, this will be a cake walk compared to the other SF he faced.

Talent trumps all: My roster has more end to end talent, and it will carry us to a victory.

Zeke: If it’s a close game, is there another piston who you’d rather have the ball in their hands with the clock winding down? Didn’t think so (with apologies to Mr. Big Shot)

[Laimbeer]

This is a really great series for the Finals. Two evenly matched teams led by probably the two greatest players in Piston history. Congrats to both coaches.

One thing I was interested in seeing was matchups, particularly for Lanier and Isiah. This series is coming down to them, IMO. Mahorn was switched over on Lanier and that's a very good move. But I didn't really see an expressed plan to match Hunter and/or James on Isiah. Reggie has struggled defensively at times and a prime Isiah would have a big day. Reggie also would have had a little better size to combat Stackhouse and his drives to the hoop.

I'd have liked to see Zeke's team plan to push the ball most of the game as opposed to change of pace since their wings seem more suited for running the floor rather than a halfcourt offense. Not to mention making Lanier play more of a full court game.

End of the day, Lanier and Isiah, I believe, are coming away with big games. The balance of the rosters seem to slightly favor Lanier's squad. Better fit and I like the bench better. Still, they had better have something of a lead going down the stretch because I wouldn't want to see Zeke on the other side of a close game in the last two minutes.

So could Lanier's club put themselves at enough of an advantage to keep this from coming down to Zeke on the final possessions?

Spoiler:

I tend to think they could, and in what would be a great one, I go with Snakebites.

[RexRyan]

Time to go to the tape.......

Thomas>Lanier (barely) - The two greatest of all-time. Advantage, Lifer
Stackhouse>Jackson - Stack was a two time All-star, not yet for Jackson. Advantage, Lifer
Mahorn>Mills - have to look under the hood on this one. Defensive champion over stats. Advantage, Lifer
Monroe>Hunter - maybe I just hate the teal uniforms, but 39% FG for Hunter? Advantage, Lifer
Morris<Aguirre - perhaps not for long, but at least for now..... Advantage, Snake
Okur=Tyler - Okur won a ship, Tyler had better stats on mostly garbage teams. Call it a draw.
Stuckey>James - I loved James, but he really wasn't much of a Piston. Advantage, Lifer
Benson=Webber - Benson did more for garbage teams, Webber did less for better teams. Call it a draw.
Hubbard>Curry - I have a man crush on my boy Hubs. Advantage, Lifer
Lee<Singler - I guess? Advantage, Snake

So six for Lifer, two for Snake, and two draws

Let's go to positions.....

Thomas/Lee > Jackson/James - I'm assuming Thomas plays 47 minutes. Advantage, Lifer
Stackhouse/Stuckey > Hunter/Curry - in a landslide. Advantage, Lifer
Morris/Benson < Tyler/Aguirre - by a nose. Advantage, Snake
Mahorn/Okur > Mills/Tyler - again, by a nose. Advantage, Lifer
Monroe/Hubbard < Lanier/Webber - Easily, advantage, Snake

So that's three for Lifer and two for Snake.

While Lifer didn't post minutes, there's really little doubt how the minutes would go in his lineup. With Snake ... 48 minutes for Hunter and Curry combined for an All-Time Piston team? 34 minutes for Terry Tyler? He averaged 31 when they sucked.

At the end of the day, I think there would be too much pressure for Lanier to carry the whole thing on his back, while Thomas has much better options. Lifer in five.

Lambs, thanks for doing this - it was a great trip down memory lane. And I find it ironic that we all said having the 7th/8th picks were the best, and the guys picking one and two made the Finals......

[Laimbeer]

Snake takes it only because my team somehow never faced his!

Big Ben stops Lanier
Cliffy matches Mills
Rip better than RJ
BJ better than Hunter

JYD/Corliss beat Aguirre/Tyler IMO too

Well played Snake. And thanks to Laimbeer for doing the hard work

Can you clarify your vote? I won't count it yet since it's unclear if you were actually voting or just having a little fun. Also, Lionlifer hadn't yet posted his writeup.

[Laimbeer]

Lambs, thanks for doing this - it was a great trip down memory lane. And I find it ironic that we all said having the 7th/8th picks were the best, and the guys picking one and two made the Finals......

I had a ball, and I find that ironic, too. I guess having Isiah and Lanier worked out pretty well.

[Laimbeer]

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[Pharaoh]

After reading Lion's write up I'll vote for his team

[Han Solo]

Lionlifer

[Laimbeer]

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Need a vote, coaches.

[Timmaytime]

Vote: Snakebites.

I think Lanier can still get his, and i don't know if Stack and Isiah can work well.

[Liqourish]

Lionlifer due to the backcourt. I'm kind of disappointed in the frontcourts overall for both teams. Lanier and Mahorn and not much else. it was close though.

[Warspite]

Finally a series in which Stack can go off. Lanier is going to dominate with Mahorn being too small and Monroe being to well Monroe...

For me the weakness of Snakes team is a small backcourt that cant shoot. While Lionlifer has talent to score but defense is iffy.

I'm going with Lionlifer because believe they can score 100pts every night and have better 2nd, 3rd options as well as better outside shooters.

On another note:

By no means are these teams head and shoulders above the others. This playoff came down to matchups and it is my belief that 6 teams could have reached the Finals. It is also my opinion that in 82 games the best team would have won less than 50 games. Most of these teams are very even. Congrats to all and I hope that you had fun and learned about our teams history..

[Laimbeer]

Pharaoh, RexRyan, Han Solo, and Warspite make four votes.

Congrats Lionlifer!

[Laimbeer]

[RexRyan]

This is the first time Monroe's won anything of significance.