This is not an actual league like the Golden Era ATL. The idea of this thread is to pick one of the teams in the ATL thread, and then redraft as if you were that team, picking only players available when you had your pick. The draft order for each player, as well as the order the players were picked in, is available in the first post of this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=64&t=821811
For example, let's say I chose the Spurs (tsherkin's team). My first pick would be the 3rd overall pick, and I could chose anyone except Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson, since they've already been taken. My next pick would be the 14th pick of round 2, and I could pick anyone except those already taken (Drexler, McHale, Wade, Howard, etc.). This draft will use the same rules as the Golden Era ATL (chose two consecutive years for your player's stats, starting from the 79/80 season, with the player having played a minimum of 100 total games between the 2 years). Since it's not an actual league, there will obviously be no trading.
Post your own team, as well as your thoughts on other people's teams.
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I'll start it off:
I will take the Orlando Magic (TMacUnited's team, starts with the 6th overall pick).
Round 1, pick 6: Moses Malone (C), 81/82 and 82/83
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Year G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
1981-2 81 42.0 31.1 14.7 1.8 0.9 1.9 .519 .000 .762
1982-3 78 37.5 24.5 15.3 1.3 1.1 1.5 .501 .000 .761
I'll stick with TMacUnited's pick here. Moses was one of the most best rebounders of all time (led the league in RPG for 5 straight years from 80/81 to 84/85), a dominant offensive threat, and he was also very, very solid defensively, with an All-Defensive First Team selection in 1983. His achievements over the 2 seasons I chose dwarf the lifetime achievements of many great players:
- 2 Regular season MVPs (82, 83)
- 1 NBA Championship (83)
- 1 Finals MVP (83)
- 2 All-star appearances (82, 83)
- 2 All-NBA First Team selections (82, 83)
- 1 NBA All-Defensive First Team selection (83)
- 2 x league leader in RPG (82, 83)
Round 2, pick 11: Kevin McHale (PF), 85/86 and 86/87
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Year G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
1985-6 68 35.3 21.3 8.1 2.7 0.4 2.0 .574 .000 .776
1986-7 77 39.7 26.1 9.9 2.6 0.5 2.2 .604 .000 .836
An incredible 2-way PF to put beside Moses, McHale was one of the greatest post scorers of all time, and, like Moses, he was also a force defensively. If you were to point out a weakness about McHale it would be that, for an all-time great power forward, his rebounding numbers were somewhat average, but this minor failing is easily covered up by Moses. His achievements over the 2 year span I'm using include:
- 1 NBA Championship (86)
- 2 All-star appearances (86, 87)
- 1 All-NBA First Team selections (87)
- 2 NBA All-Defensive First Team selection (86, 87)
- League leader in FG% (87)
Round 3, pick 11: Steve Nash (PG), 04/05 and 05/06
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Year G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
1985-6 68 35.3 21.3 8.1 2.7 0.4 2.0 .574 .000 .776
1986-7 77 39.7 26.1 9.9 2.6 0.5 2.2 .604 .000 .836
One of the greatest PGs of all time, just a phenomenal shooter an playmaker, very clutch, and his main weakness, defense, is covered up by all the other great defenders on my team. If I was going for gaudy stats, I actual would have gone with 06/07 instead of 04/05, but how can you argue with back-to-back MVPs?
Achievements over the 2 year span:
- 2 Regular season MVPs (05, 06)
- 2 All-star appearances (05, 06)
- 2 All-NBA First Team selections (05, 06)
- 2 x league leader in APG (05, 06)
- League leader in FT% (06)
Round 4, pick 6: Paul Pierce (SG), 06/07 and 07/08
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Year G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
2006-7 47 37.0 25.0 5.8 4.1 1.0 0.3 .439 .389 .796
2007-8 80 35.9 19.6 5.1 4.5 1.3 0.5 .464 .392 .843
I'm stealing He's the complete package. Offensively he's a threat from anywhere on the floor - a great slasher, a great post-up wing player, a very solid outside shooter, and a clutch scorer. On the other side of the ball he can be a lockdown defender, especially when he's not forced to carry the team's scoring load all by himself (as we saw this past season). I considered going with some of his statistically better seasons, but ended up deciding on 06/07 and 07/08, due to a better fit with my team (lockdown defense, great 3 shooting, very successful playing with other great players). He may not recieved the awards in 07 (due to an injury), or the phenomenal stats in 08 (due partly to sharing his touches with KG and Ray, and partly to playing a slow paced, defense first style), but these were none-the-less great years for The Truth, especially 07/08. I'll be playing him at SG by the way (he seems to work equally well at SG or SF).
Achievements over the 2 year span:
- 1 NBA Championship (08)
- 1 Finals MVP (08)
- 1 All-star appearance (08
- 1 All-NBA Third Team selection (08)
Round 5, pick 11: Tayshaun Prince (SF), 06/07 and 07/08
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Year G MPG PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
2006-7 82 36.6 14.3 5.2 2.8 0.6 0.7 .460 .386 .768
2007-8 82 32.9 13.2 4.9 3.3 0.5 0.4 .484 .363 .768
You can never have too much defense, especially when you have Moses, McHale, Nash and Pierce taking care of the offense! Not that Tayshaun is an offensive liability - he can drain 3s (especially over the years I selected), is a very solid passer, and can finish well around the basket. Defensively he is obviously a beast, with a seemingly endless wingspan and great lateral quickness that he uses to seriously bother even the Kobes and LeBrons of this world. He's currently on a streak of 4 NBA All-Defensive Second Team selections, and in my opinion could easily have been first team every time.
OK, I'm getting lazy now, so for my bench there will be no more stats, and just short descriptions . . .
Round 6, pick 6: Jermaine O'Neal (C), 02/03 and 03/04 - best 2-way C available, very solid defensively
Rounds 7, 8, pick 6:
[b]Antonio McDyess (PF), 99/00 and 00/01 - pre-injury, when he was still an explosive athlete. Like all of my bigs he was a 2 way player, known for his great defense and solid offense
Terrell Brandon (PG), 95/96 and 96/97 - great shooter and scorer in general, solid defender despite his height, doesn't need the ball to be effective (good attribute for a PG who will be playing with Brandon Roy)
Rounds 9, 10, pick 6:
Brandon Roy (SG), 06/07 and 07/08 - solid all around offensive player with great passing, pretty good defender, very good leader
Josh Howard (SF), 05/06 and 06/07 - will be used as a lockdown defender and 3 point shooter (was 0.429 and 0.385 from 3 over the 2 years I used)
OVERALL ROSTER:
C - Moses Malone, Jermaine O'Neal
PF - Kevin McHale, Antonio McDyess
SF - Tayshaun Prince, Josh Howard
SG - Paul Pierce, Brandon Roy
PG - Steve Nash, Terrell Brandon