2013 CB Draft: How's my CB Draft Team look?

[rondoallaturca]

I might note have a doctrine in hoopology, but lebron with a competent cast is going to score plenty of points. Minnesota will be fine.

I think the problem Minnesota's running into is that the Cleveland years already showed that a competent cast around LeBron, with a focus on 3 and D, is no guarantee of anything.

LeBron was younger when he was in Cleveland and didn't have the experience that he has now. He has finally developed that killer instinct because he knows he is the most unstoppable basketball player on the planet.

Oh come on. Give your team's best player some more respect. Lebron didn't have a killer instinct in Cleveland? What about the Pistons game where he scored the last 20-something points of the Cavs all by himself? That's arguably one of the greatest playoff performances either. Or how about his series against Orlando, which was highlighted by his game-winning three-pointer in Game 2? Cleveland screwed up. Lebron was playing like a maniac, but it's a team sport and his supporting cast simply couldn't make anything happen on offense. I can easily see the same thing happening with this Minnesota team depending on how the rotation shakes out.

[BleedGreen1989]

Lebron is decent, but he's no Dirk

In all seriousness since Minnesota seems to be the hot topic (understandably so because if you have Lebron, you're going to have a target on your back), I like what MP has done with this roster. Some could argue he should of traded up and gotten an additional 1st rounder to pair with Lebron but that's easier said than done.

The biggest qualm I have with his roster is when he made the move to trade up and grab Monta Ellis, Kevin Martin was still on the board and I thought he'd be a terrific fit next to Lebron (provided you have solid defenders elsewhere). Lebron is going to be handeling the ball a majority of the time anyways so Martin would be perfect spotting up off Lebron drives and just dropping 3's. if all Kevin Martin has to do is spot up and take poorly contested jumpers, he could drop 30 on you pretty easily.

[McHales Pits]

It isn't all about scoring...you have to stop the other team from scoring as well. The '08 Celtics weren't a great offensive team and they still succeeded

[rondoallaturca]

08 Celtics had three elite offensive options. They're a completely different sotuation compared to your Wolves.

[McHales Pits]

08 Celtics had three elite offensive options. They're a completely different sotuation compared to your Wolves.

They were primarily a defensive team.

LeBron ~ Pierce
Ibaka ~ Garnett
Korver ~ Allen
Battier ~ Posey

Fair comparisons, no? Everyone has their roles on my team. You can have a team full of superstars.

[rondoallaturca]

Except Ibaka and Korver are incredibly inferior comparisons...

[Fafnir]

The 07-08 Celtics were the 10th best offense in the league at 110.2 ORTG.

They weren't very far from being in the top 5 either as a lot of other teams were clustered at just 111 ORTG.

The 07-08 Celtics were a historic defensive team, but they were really good on offense too.

[Fafnir]

08 Celtics had three elite offensive options. They're a completely different sotuation compared to your Wolves.

They were primarily a defensive team.

LeBron ~ Pierce
Ibaka ~ Garnett
Korver ~ Allen
Battier ~ Posey

Fair comparisons, no? Everyone has their roles on my team. You can have a team full of superstars.

I don't think Ibaka fills KG's role in the 07-08 offense at all. We ran a ton of our offense through KG in the post that year, both high and low depending on the matchup.

Outside of Ibaka's game right now.

Ibaka fits what KG did for us offensively this year, as a floor spacer and dunker largely.

[ronaldo943]

08 Celtics had three elite offensive options. They're a completely different sotuation compared to your Wolves.

They were primarily a defensive team.

LeBron ~ Pierce
Ibaka ~ Garnett
Korver ~ Allen
Battier ~ Posey

Fair comparisons, no? Everyone has their roles on my team. You can have a team full of superstars.

Korver is no where near 07-08 Ray Allen.

[fairweatherfan]

08 Celtics had three elite offensive options. They're a completely different sotuation compared to your Wolves.

They were primarily a defensive team.

LeBron ~ Pierce
Ibaka ~ Garnett
Korver ~ Allen
Battier ~ Posey

Fair comparisons, no? Everyone has their roles on my team. You can have a team full of superstars.

None of those are really fair comparisons, though one is unfair in your favor.  And others might expect 2014 Battier to be as good as 2008 Posey (though I don't).

[nickagneta]

Bit of advise for new GM McHales Pits, if other GMs are putting your team in the spotlight and critiquing it heavily now, they are doing it for a reason. GMs come at you early in this game for a few reasons:

1. You are over-hyping a bad team and they need to counteract the PR.

2. You're team is one of the best and they have to keep the doubt in your team high to have a chance

3. They want to see what strategies you would use in a head to head match up and want time to prepare for what you will bring.

4. They genuinely do no believe in your team.

I don't think 1. applies. I think 2. definitely applies. 3. could apply. And I think 4. applies with a caveat. I think you might be over compensating for very fair critiques about your team's offensive abilities and so people genuinely are not buying your team as you are portraying it offensively. Play to your strengths and for now just listen to the critiques and find ways to use them to your advantage later.

So let them have their critiques because honestly, with that defense and Lebron you are cruising into the playoffs. Start looking at what teams you think might make the playoffs and start devising game plans, one on one match up stats, and ways to exploit those teams come the debates in the one on one playoffs and hone your knowledge on your players strengths and weaknesses to counter arguments others my have in those match ups.

[McHales Pits]

Haha thanks Nick.

The smear campaign is on and it is getting messy in Minnesota. I am happy with this team and I know the athleticism and defense of this team is going to cause nightmares for other teams. I don't think I need a team to score 115 a night to win because I'm only going to be allowing 80-85.

My point in bringing up the championship Celtic team was not to compare roles, but actually to say that defensive minded teams can be championship contenders. The real life Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets score a ton of points, but their defense was their undoing.

My team is built around Lebron's ability to score, facilitate, and defend. Everyone on my team is a plus-defender. I have depth in bigs, wing players, and ball-handlers. I have shooters. Everyone on the team will fill a role. I arbitrarily laid out scoring predictions earlier and it was condemned by Roy, but honestly ask yourself if those are unreasonable scoring predictions for those players. I didn't break it up into per-minute production and expected rotation minutes, but even so I was within 7% of those values. IP said that I had laid out scoring for 257 minutes and of course there are 240 mins available in a game. 240/257 is 93.3%. In summation, I exaggerated my estimation by 7%. I'm sorry for that. You can't tell me that those predictions are unreasonable. I wholeheartedly disagree that my team will struggle on offense.

Korver, James, Battier, Chalmers, & Farmar all shot above 40% on 3s last season. Bradley, Miles, & Ellis are capable as well. Ibaka, Davis, & Steamer (to a lesser extent) can hit a mid-range jumper. Jordan is there for high percentage alley-oops and put backs. James, Ellis, & Farmar can all create their own shot or facilitate for others. I just see too much versatility offensively with my squad to be shut down. Even my bench will be able to contribute offensively against opposing team's benches. And to boot, the heavy defense will create high percentage fast break opportunities for us as well.

[McHales Pits]

And to those who say Ellis won't be able to score because the floor will be crowded need to think again. Ellis is at his best driving to the hoop so naturally he will need to be given opportunities with shooters on the floor with him so that the seams are wide open for him. Chalmers, Ellis, Korver, James, and Ibaka would suit him nicely. He is also an underrated passer that could hit any of these guys for a shot if the defense collapses on him.

[nickagneta]

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<Shakes head in exasperation>

[McHales Pits]

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<Shakes head in exasperation>

Why does that irritate/annoy you?