Expanding Era Draft CHAMPIONSHIP - Square vs. flaco**

[Fadeaway_J]

Here is a quick list of what you need in your writeup.

1. Specific years for each player on your team
2. Rotations and minutes for each player
3. Reasoning as to why your team will win and/or why people should vote for you.

Do not vote in this thread until both managers have submitted their writeups. Please ensure you give a rationale for your vote; votes with no explanation will not be counted.

If writeups aren't posted within 24 hours, we will vote solely based on the players they have drafted (and any rotations they have posted on their roster page).

**First to 3 votes wins the championship.**

[Fadeaway_J]

Square's writeup:

Team Square

Roster
G Jamal Murray '23: 20/4/6, 45/40/83 shooting (Playoffs: 26/6/7 on 59 TS% and +5 BPM), NBA Champ
G Brent Barry '06: 12/5/4/1/1 per 36, 45 FG%, 40 3P%, +3 BPM
G/F Thabo Sefolosha '12: 5/3/1, 44 3P%, 2nd in league in DRAPM
G/F Andre Iguodala '17: 10/6/5/1/1 per 36 on 53/36/71 shooting, +3 BPM, NBA Champ
G/F Khris Middleton '20: 21/6/4, 50/42/92 shooting, 2.4 3PM/G, +4 BPM, All-Star
F Michael Porter Jr '21: 19/7 on 54/45/79 shooting, 2.8 3PM/G, 66 TS%, +3 BPM
F Paul Millsap '19: 13/7/2/1/1 on 48/37/73 shooting, +2 BPM
C Shaquille O'Neal '01: 29/13/4/3 (Playoffs: 30/15/3/2), 57 FG%, All-NBA 1st, All-D 2nd, Finals MVP, NBA Champ

Picks, FGA:

Spoiler:

1. Shaq 19.2
2. Middleton 15.3
3. Murray 16.0
4. Iguodala 5.5
5. Porter Jr. 13.4
6. Sefolosha 3.7
7. Millsap 9.5
8. Barry 4.7
Total FGA: 87.3

Rotation:
G Murray 38 / Barry 10
G Iguodala 30 / Barry 10 / Sefolosha 8
F Middleton 38 / MPJ 6 / Sefolosha 4
F MPJ 28 / Millsap 20
C Shaq 38 / Millsap 10

About Team Square:
Given the constraints of this draft, the concept here was how to build a Shaq-focused team without the traditional star wing to pair with him. I think it ended up pretty nice. The main ideas of this team are:

• Built around Shaq: The Big Aristotle is the main offensive engine here, and the supporting cast is designed around making his game as easy and efficient as possible, even more than his real life teams (which sometimes featured teammates who wanted the limelight or less-than-ideal spacing).
• Multiple championship-level playmakers: Murray and Middleton were each the lead perimeter playmaker for a championship offense. Both can handle in pick and roll, shoot off the dribble or off the catch, and make plays for others. Both are comfortable playing secondary roles to unconventional big men, and both fit perfectly with Shaq. We also have an additional explosive scorer in MPJ who never needs to handle the ball and two more creative championship ballhandlers in Iguodala and Barry.
• Shooting: Shaq is unguardable when surrounded by shooters, and we didn’t skimp there: every single non-Shaq player on the roster is dangerous from 3 (MPJ 45%, Sefolosha 44%, Middleton 42%, Murray 40%, Barry 40%, Millsap 36%, Iguodala 36%). Murray and Middleton are awesome shooters on and off the ball, and Porter’s 3 threes a game on 45 3P% is insane. Every Shaq double is an impossible gamble against this squad.
• Size, athleticism, defense: No player under 6’4” on the roster, and no weak defensive links to pick on. A stable of elite defensive wings in Iggy, Middleton, and Sefolosha. A strong defensive big in Millsap. And Shaq at his defensive peak cleaning up near the rim.
• Depth: No crappy throw-ins. All 8 guys played important minutes on champs or contenders. Millsap is a strong starter-caliber player off the bench, and Barry and Sef are excellent bench pieces.

vs. flaco:
Just a few points

• Shaq (along with Hakeem and Russell) is the ultimate playoff riser among great centers; Robinson even at his peak was the classic playoff underachiever, and he is not at his peak here.
• Kobe guarded by Iguodala and Sefolosha is going to have a tough time maintaining the requisite level of efficiency to beat us.
• Nash and Gallo cannot hide on defense against our deep squad. We’re going to get into the paint and create dunks for Shaq and threes for all those shooters.

[flaco]

Best of luck, Square!

Rotations
PG: Steve Nash (36) / Malcolm Brogdon (12)
SG: Kobe Bryant (36) / Malcolm Brogdon (12)
SF: Bruce Bowen (36) / Jared Dudley (12)
PF: Danilo Gallinari (36) / Jared Dudley (12)
C: David Robinson (36) / JaVale McGee (12)

Offense
The big 3 of Nash - Kobe - Robinson should provide more than enough firepower. Gallo and Brogdon provide additional shot creation. All players on the roster but D-Rob and McGee are volume 3pt shooters. Even Kobe averaged 36.1% from 3 on 5.1 attempts per game. D-Rob had a lethal face-up game from mid range. He should have great synergy with both Kobe and Nash in the PnP/PnR. We know for a fact Kobe excelled alongside dominant big men. Nash is an elite floor general. He keeps everyone involved, hence he keeps everyone happy. Nash/Kobe should be able to expose Muray off the dribble forcing the defense to collapse and generating all sorts of mismatches. Alternatively, Kobe can just shoot over Murray. Fwiw, Brogdon made the 50-40-90 club in his selected season. Only 9 players throughout NBA history have made the club, one of them being Steve Nash. Bowen led the league in 3P% in his selected season at 44.1%.

Defense
Robinson drops. He has the size and strength to slow Shaq down. Bowen and Kobe share POA duties. We fight through / go over the pick against Murray / Middleton to deny the 3. MPJ is a limited creator off the dribble. Gallo at 6'10'' has the size to contest his shots. Nash pre-switches and peels off to the corners. All teams have a shooter lurking in the corners. Nash's job is to contest the corner 3. If his opponent attacks him off the dribble, Robinson got his back in the paint.

FGA
2008 Kobe Bryant 20.6
1998 David Robinson 14.6
2003 Steve Nash 13.6
2003 Bruce Bowen 5.8
2017 Danilo Gallinari 11.9
2019 Malcolm Brogdon 11.7
2015 Jared Dudley 5.9
2018 JaVale McGee 3.4

Total: 87.5

[durantbird]

Yet again flaco has three of the four best players. I find it hard to see a way for square to overcome that. This game was practically over with that unexplainable Nash drop or even with the D-Rob drop.

Vote Flaco

[Fadeaway_J]

Have to agree with durantbird on the Nash pick. I actually don't think the Dallas version is appreciably better in a vacuum than quite a few PGs taken in that range, but the FGA value (coming on the heels of the Robinson pick) is pretty outrageous in such a balanced pool. It allowed flaco to build a loaded starting five and a strong bench, in particular Brogdon as a sixth man. The Kobe-Nash backcourt with Robinson as a roller can attack Shaq in space to claw back some of the advantage he has on the other end.

Vote: flaco

[Dr Positivity]

Not totally lopsided but with a good defender to play Shaq I think it was hard to beat flaco here. I don't trust 21 MPJ in such a big role. Vote flaco.

[Fadeaway_J]

Flaco wins

[flaco]

GG, Square!

[Square]

Was out all day, but congrats flaco!