I put a heavy weighting on starting lineups which is probably why my rankings look a bit different than many others. I also gave way more emphasis to the teams that I felt provided the most challenges for other teams with a heavier weight to offense (since I think that is more important). That is why I really like Atlanta and Utah.
I just felt the Wilt/Dirk combo would be so hard for other teams to contend with, even a lesser dominant Wilt season. I also am probably alone in believing Wilt is the greatest player of all time. I would never bet against Wilt on a team that perfectly suits his strengths, but also that is loaded with talent. The C's almost always had more talent, but that Sixers team when Wilt had just 2 other HOFers in their prime, they shellacked Boston. You give him this team, and I think he would be darn near unstoppable.
As for Utah, they have Jordan. Like Wilt, I just have a hard time betting against a team led by Jordan, especially when he is surrounded by the perfect compliment of players. It helps that you can assume you actually get 70ish games from Walton and a healthy playoff run. Walton just struck me as a great player to put next to Jordan. I love the Rodman pick as he gets you that defensive versatility and is the greatest rebounder ever. Add in Joe D. and Mullin and just a great starting 5. The bench wasn't as strong, but did fit well, but that starting 5 was awesome.
I had LA a lot lower then most people because I hate that starting 5 and didn't think the bench made up for the deficiencies I saw in the starting lineup. I think Curry would be neutralized in this exercise (or at least seriously diminished), McGrady is a volume shooter that is a poor defender, and Dr. J isn't exactly shutting anyone down. I just don't like the fit of those 3, especially Dr. J with the other 2. I also don't really like the Cowens and KG combo. They are fine players, but neither one is a dominant scorer (or really super elite at any one skill). Virtually every other team has at least 1 big man that you can rely on scoring or getting that key rebound and I just don't see that with LA. And the bench was fairly weak in my view. Way too many more modern players that don't belong on any of these teams.
That's a valid point of view, but I think you put way too much emphasis on the conventional floor raiser. Curry imo really wouldn't be diminished in this exercise, getting physical with him 1 on 1 would only mean a bunch of fouls for the other team under modern rules. I'm also surprised that you label McGrady as a poor defender, to me he was on par with Magic defensively relative to their positions (which is neutral with the potential to be slightly disruptive, with the difference being that McGrady was only this "bad" in one of his worst defensive seasons). I agree with your concerns about the 1-3 fit-I wanted a starting wing who could shoot, defend and pass to pair with Curry and either one of McGrady/Doctor. I also really liked the KG/Cowens combo, they were a tough defensive duo with very complementary skillsets that could scale on any team with players who need the ball (in my case it was the Doctor and McGrady), rather than demand the ball and take away from my perimeter players. It wasn't like they couldn't score-they had some pretty good scoring seasons on moderate efficiency, but their additive skills were very attractive to me. And I absolutely disagree with you thinking that KG wasn't elite at any one skill, his passing, court vision, team and man defense as well as scalability are all super elite for any big man, with him having a strong argument for being the best at these additive skills. Again not conventional stuff that people look at, but imo are very important skills when you build teams with all time greats. As for the bench I disagree aside from Eddie Jones being my backup SG (yes he's too limited to be anything more than a 3rd string guy, but I didn't care about my SG spot until it was too late so I had to make do with him, at least he's not exploitable on defense and can shoot), those modern players were definitely good enough to be considered as bench players in this exercise, old players aren't necessarily always better. You could argue that Green shouldn't belong in this league due to his lack of self creation ability, but I'm sold on his additive skills which could allow him to operate as a very poor man's KG. Not bad at all for a 3rd stringer imo.
Topic: 2019 Historical Draft Thread(TIME TO REVEAL THE WINNER!!!) (Read 193282 times)