Non Championship Decade Draft - R1 - flaco* vs Larry_Russell

[durantbird]

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. Once the writeups are posted, I will add a poll, and the team with the most votes after 24 hours will advance. EACH MANAGER SHOULD ALSO VOTE FOR THEIR OWN TEAM IN THE POLL - IF YOU FAIL TO DO THIS, YOU ARE SIMPLY GIVING AWAY A VOTE. If the votes are tied, we will decide the matchup via AI vote.

You are not required to state or explain your vote, but you are free to comment in the thread if you want to.

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).

[Larry_Russell]

PG: Steve Nash (2005-06) 13.4
18.8ppg, 4.2rpg, 10.5apg, 0.8spg, 44% on 4.3-3pta
MVP, NBA-1 AS

SG: Tracy McGrady (2002-03) 24.2
32.1ppg, 6.5rpg, 5.5apg, 1.7spg, 0.8bpg, 38.5% on 6-3pta
MVP-4, NBA-1, AS

SF: Shane Battier (2008-09) 5.9
7.3ppg, 4.8rpg, 2.3apg, 0.8spg, 0.9bpg, 38.5% on 4-3pta
DPOY-4, DEF-2

PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo (2018-19) 17.3
27.7ppg, 12.5rpg, 5.9apg, 1.3spg, 1.5bpg
MVP, DPOY-2, NBA-1, DEF-1, AS

C: Brook Lopez (2018-19) 9.7
12.5ppg, 5rpg, 1.2apg, 2.2bpg, 36.5% on 6.3-3pta

PG/SG: George Hill (2019-20) 6.4
9.5ppg, 3rpg, 3apg, 0.8spg, 46% on 3-3pta
6MOY-4

SF/PF: Josh Hart (2022-23) 6.8
9.8ppg, 7.8rpg, 3.8apg, 1.2spg, 37.5% on 2.2-3pta

C: Sam Perkins (1998-99) 4.2
5ppg, 3rpg, 0.5apg, 39% on 2-3pta



PG: Nash (38) / Hill (10)
SG: McGrady (38) / Hill (10)
SF: Battier (38) / Hart (10)
PF: Giannis (38) / Hart (5) / Perkins (5)
C: Lopez (38) / Perkins (10)

87.9/88


Defensive Matchups
Nash on Jrue - Jrue isnt the scorer of anyone esle so I will hide Nash here, and if Flaco chooses to try and exploit that, I am ok with Jrue scoring over Luka and Kawhi.

Battier on Luka - Battier has elite discipline and angles, and ideal defender against Luka

Giannis on Kawhi - Giannis has the length and strength to absorb Kawhi’s power drives and force him into contested pull-ups.

McGrady on Garnett - Not Ideal, but TMac has the size to do a little bodying against KG and Giannis/Lopez can show help on the catch. This is NOT peak Garnett - He only scored over 20 points in a game 10 times this season and scored UNDER 10 points 10 times as well. Primarily a midrange shooter off the catch. 40% of his total shots came from the long 2.

Lopez on JJJr - Drop protection, keep JJJ off the glass and force him to shoot jumpers.


Offense
Nash and Giannis actions are the bread and butter with the high pick and roll and Horns sets. THis is going to Force KG and JJjr to defend in space which neither can keep with Nash or Giannis, if there is a switch, Ginnis gets to attack Luka/Jrue in the post.

TMac isolations.
McGrady will hunt Luka relentlessly on the floor. If Kawhi is the primary Luka defender, then he will get run through screens from Brook to tire him out.

Lots of Giannis/Nash pick and rolls (picture Nash/Amare pick and rolls with the bigger more athletic Giannis benefiting from those lobs) Lopez spreads out far, Battier spreads out and cuts, McGrady is my broken play guy who can do everything at an elite level.


And push the tempo
Luka, KG cannot keep up with the pace that can be made from a trio of Nash, Giannis and McGrady.

[flaco]

Best of luck, Larry!



Rotations
PG: Luka Doncic (36) / Jrue Holiday (12)
SG: Jrue Holiday (24) / Thabo Sefolosha (24)
SF: Kawhi Leonard (36) / Nicolas Batum (12)
PF: Kevin Garnett (36) / Nicolas Batum (12)
C: Jaren Jackson Jr. (36) / Tyson Chandler (12)

Offense
We run a 5-out PnR/PnP-heavy motion offense forcing Brook to abandon his drop coverage. Option A is Luka spamming the spread PnR/PnP with KG or JJJ. Option B is Kawhi either creating shots himself or utilizing the Luka PnR. Luka's presence opens up space for Kawhi to attack the closeout with a shot fake or a drive, and also creates opportunities for him to spot up for open three-pointers. Jrue is my 5th option. Was the 3rd option on the Bucks and the 5th option on the Celtics winning 2 rings in the process. Should absolutely thrive in a supportive offensive role.

Seems like Larry is happy to allow the open 3 from JJJ. For the record, JJJ was averaging 37.3% in open 3s (4-6 feet) in 0.9 attempts per game and 36.5% in wide open 3s (6+ feet) in 3.4 attempts per game. I'm perfectly happy with JJJ taking these shots all series long.

Defense
We go over/fight through the pick against Nash daring him to either attack the basket against KG/JJJ or shoot the long 2 off the dribble with Jrue trying to block the shot from behind. KG and JJJ have the size to wall the paint and the mobility to defend the perimeter. Luka pre-switches and peels off to Battier. We got 4 DPOY winners, plus Jrue who's arguably the best POA defender in the modern era. I'd go as far as to say this is the best defensive team Luka has ever had in our games.

Larry emphasizes the Nash-Giannis PnR synergy. I would argue Giannis is more of a ball handler rather than a roll man. In fact, he was scoring just 5% of his points as a roll man in his selected season for a grand total of 1.8 points per game. Chances are there would be minimal synergy between Nash and Giannis in the PnR. That's not Giannis' game in real life.

FGA
2021 Luka Doncic 20.5
2017 Jrue Holiday 13.3
2021 Kawhi Leonard 17.5
2010 Kevin Garnett 11.2
2023 Jaren Jackson Jr. 13.0
2012 Thabo Sefolosha 3.7
2023 Nicolas Batum 4.9
2006 Tyson Chandler 3.6

Total: 87.7

[durantbird]

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Voting is open. Team owners please vote for yourselves

[Larry_Russell]

Well, guess the nash/ giannis losing streaks on their own continues with them together.

Just going to have to stop drafting those 2 altogether

[durantbird]

Flaco advances