CB Draft Eastern Finals: (1) Bulls vs. (2) Pistons

[Who]

Can Granger defend Bosh at PF?

He's done it before and done a pretty solid job of it.

Certainly no worse than Ilyasova. Roughly the same.

[Who]

Can Granger defend Bosh at PF?

He's done it before and done a pretty solid job of it.

Certainly no worse than Ilyasova. Roughly the same.

The main problem would be that nobody else on your roster can defend Pierce (SF). Fields struggles mightily against power threes. Pierce would destroy him. Budinger is a below par defender. Granger (average defender) is the Pistons your best option there against Pierce. Budinger would be my second choice behind Granger (ahead of Fields) but he'd be a fair bit back on Danny.

Best to stay big with Granger at SF and Ilyasova at PF. When Chicago goes small with Thaddeus Young, I'd be inclined to keep Granger on Pierce and use Budinger against Thaddeus.

[Who]

I am not sure Chris Bosh has an advantage over Ersan Ilyasova.

Ilyasova's weakness as man-to-man defender is containing any type of physical / power game offensively. Bosh doesn't have one.

Bosh relies on a quick first step to beat his man in face up situations. But Ilyasova has very good quickness himself + by playing Haywood (very limited offensive player), the Bulls spacing on the interior ... the paint is going to be congested.

I see Bosh taking a lot of long stand still two point jump shots. Like he did in Miami next to Wade/LeBron when playing the PF position. I don't think Chicago has enough spacing or an advantageous enough matchup for Bosh to truly exploit Ilyasova with his own shot-creation abilities.

I am thinking that PF matchup is fairly even.

[Who]

I am not sure Chris Bosh has an advantage over Ersan Ilyasova.

Ilyasova's weakness as man-to-man defender is containing any type of physical / power game offensively. Bosh doesn't have one.

Bosh relies on a quick first step to beat his man in face up situations. But Ilyasova has very good quickness himself + by playing Haywood (very limited offensive player), the Bulls spacing on the interior ... the paint is going to be congested.

I see Bosh taking a lot of long stand still two point jump shots. Like he did in Miami next to Wade/LeBron when playing the PF position. I don't think Chicago has enough spacing or an advantageous enough matchup for Bosh to truly exploit Ilyasova with his own shot-creation abilities.

I am thinking that PF matchup is fairly even.

And with that, I think Chicago lose the series ... by going big when they should be going small.

By (1) limiting their offensive potential (mainly Bosh, also Wade) which would have netted them an advantage over Detroit and (2) by putting increasingly large defensive vulnerabilities on the court by playing Brendan Haywood due to their lack of quickness and mobility. The increased difficulty of stopping CP3's PnR game and Detroit's transition game.

Chicago is losing out both offensively and defensively by playing Haywood ahead of Thaddeus Young ... enough to cost them the series.

[indeedproceed]

Okay fine, I'll go small. Like always. It's seemed to work so far.

[indeedproceed]

Actually yes. I'll change my lineup to look like this:

Holiday/Jack
Wade/Jack
Pierce/Parsons
Young/Bosh/Parsons
Bosh/Haywood

It's what got me here. Dumb idea I had last night and typed up at 2am.

[Edgar]

Actually yes. I'll change my lineup to look like this:

Holiday/Jack
Wade/Jack
Pierce/Parsons
Young/Bosh/Parsons
Bosh/Haywood

It's what got me here. Dumb idea I had last night and typed up at 2am.

I want to see Detroits rotation to match those 7 players
the shorter rotation

[jgod213]

I can't decide who I like in that stretch-4 role better - Young or Ily.

Just based off some synergy, Ily seems to be the more complete player, both offensively and defensively.

[RebusRankin]

Ersan is the better shooter overall, the better 3pt shooter, the better offensive rebounder and the better rebounder. Got to give it to Ersan over Thad.

[Lucky17]

Actually yes. I'll change my lineup to look like this:

Holiday/Jack
Wade/Jack
Pierce/Parsons
Young/Bosh/Parsons
Bosh/Haywood

It's what got me here. Dumb idea I had last night and typed up at 2am.

I want to see Detroits rotation to match those 7 players
the shorter rotation

Paul
Wes/Fields
Granger/[Fields]
Ersan/[Granger]
Nene/Amir

Spot minutes to Ridnour as backup PG.

Might opt for KMart over Amir to spell Nene at C, if Haywood gets major minutes. Although, I don't think we'd need to particularly worry about Haywood going off on offense, so perhaps not. Amir would certainly possess a quickness advantage over Haywood that we might be able to exploit on offense.

[Who]

Actually yes. I'll change my lineup to look like this:

Holiday/Jack
Wade/Jack
Pierce/Parsons
Young/Bosh/Parsons
Bosh/Haywood

It's what got me here. Dumb idea I had last night and typed up at 2am.

I want to see Detroits rotation to match those 7 players
the shorter rotation

Paul
Wes/Fields
Granger/[Fields]
Ersan/[Granger]
Nene/Amir

Spot minutes to Ridnour as backup PG.

Might opt for KMart over Amir to spell Nene at C, if Haywood gets major minutes. Although, I don't think we'd need to particularly worry about Haywood going off on offense, so perhaps not. Amir would certainly possess a quickness advantage over Haywood that we might be able to exploit on offense.

I think the Pistons are best off going 9 deep.

PG: Chris Paul (40mpg), Luke Ridnour
SG: Wes Matthews, Landry Fields, (Luke Ridnour)
SF: Granger (38mpg), Chase Budinger
PF: Ilyasova (36mpg), (Chase Budinger)
C:  Nene (34-36mpg), Amir (12-14mpg)

I think Budinger gives Detroit an advantage over Parsons at backup SF. His superior offensive game being the difference there. I don't think Detroit should leave him out of the lineup.

Luke Ridnour could give some minutes at SG against Jarrett Jack (SG) in a small backcourt alongside Chris Paul if Detroit wished. While Wes Matthews rests. Give Detroit a second ball-handler / passer out there. Another shooter.

I think Landry Fields is a guy who has difficult matchups in this series. Not big enough to check Pierce and I'm not sure he is quick enough to check Wade. Detroit could use him against Jack or Parsons but I'm not sure he really adds anything in those matchups. I think Budinger gives you more against Parsons and maybe Ridnour does too against Jack (more diverse offensive repertoire than Fields).

Hmmm ... maybe 8 deep with Fields the odd-man out. Seeing only spot minutes here and there when someone is in foul trouble or playing poorly or something like that.

[Who]

Who is Chicago's head coach? ... Detroit is Mike D'Antoni.

[Fafnir]

Who is Chicago's head coach? ... Detroit is Mike D'Antoni.

Pat Reilly.

[Who]

I can't decide who I like in that stretch-4 role better - Young or Ily.

I'm thinking it's pretty even.

I wouldn't call Thaddeus Young a stretch four. He is more an undersized quick four (like Andrei Kirilenko or Josh Smith). Meaning he is more of a slasher than a shooter. Uses his quickness to beat his defender to the rim both off the dribble and on cuts. Rather than a floor-spreader (stretch four).

Ilyasova has the quickness and athleticism to be both an undersized quick four and a stretch four (unlike say Troy Murphy who is strictly a stretch four). Akin to Rashard Lewis or Al Harrington. More of a floor-spreader than a slasher / shot-creator though.   

• Ilyasova brings more range to the table on his jump-shot but he is still quite streaky + Thaddeus Young has the perfect defensive skill-set to cover an offensive threat like Ilyasova. So Ilyasova isn't really a matchup problem here. While Thaddeus Young lacks Ilyasova's range and spot-up shooting, I think Thaddeus has a more diverse game offensively. He can score in more ways on a more regular basis. Again, Ilyasova is a fine matchup against Young because Young doesn't really have that quickness advantage that he enjoys so much.
• On the other end of the floor, I think Young is a far superior defensive player who is a well above average team defender and creates added value for his team there. Unlike Ilyasova. Advantage T.Young.
• On the boards, Ilyasova has the advantage by a large margin. I do think Thaddeus Young will do a better job keeping a body (boxing out) on Ilyasova than Bosh would have though. Advantage Ilyasova.

I am thinking that matchup is fairly even.

[jgod213]

I've noticed that people have been really down on Landry Fields for a while now...

Is he really that far gone from his rookie year, where he put up 10/6/2 on 50% from the field and 39% from 3?

I just love the kid's attitude.  I know he was just aweful last year, but people really don't think he's worthy of rotation minutes and wouldn't improve with a few minutes next to Chris Paul?

Seems like the kind of dirty-work player that a team needs at some point in the playoffs.  I dunno...the Raptors still see something there.