2019 Historical Draft Thread(TIME TO REVEAL THE WINNER!!!)

[Yoki_IsTheName]

I think you have a bunch of guys that will blend well and have good chemistry, as long as Baylor is properly fed. He is probably your #1 option on offense at this point.

Hayes rather than Baylor, correct?  Elvin vs. Elgin (who is on Chicago).

Lol..meant Hayes. It's all those vins, wins, and gins after the El that confuse me.

It's Elvin. 

Now if you don't mind, I want to ask. Now that you know it's Elvin Hayes, and not Elgin Baylor, do you still think I need more rebounding? Seeming as both Hayes and Dikembe Mutombo at one point led the league in boards per game twice in their careers. And then there's Hondo, who in the year I picked for him, averaged 9 rebounds per on his own.

I amended the other post. No not rebounding, but scoring from upfront and scoring in general, yes.

Man. Guess I have to amend my draft board as well. 

The guy on the top of my list isn't really known for scoring.

[gouki88]

After 6 rounds, here's the 2019 Celticsstrong Historical Draft Detroit Pistons.

                     

                                       

It doesn't have the flashiest of superstars, but I'm happy I was able to build a starting five to my liking, and the identity that I want. A tenacious defensive group, and a well balanced team on offense. An unselfish team that fits well together and does not take away the strengths from the other.

Now it's time to shore up the bench.

I'm quite satisfied as to where I'm at. Although it's quite slim pickings for me as far as who I want as a bench unit. Here's hoping I land the guys I have on my board. But for now, I think that's a legitimate starting 5.

Hope you guys don't mind, but I would like to bump this and see what you guys think. I'm trying to gauge where we stand as a team, what we might need as far as depth, and where we are in the race. I have a few ideas in mind, of course barring the guys I like getting picked before I do, but I could use some feedback from other minds as well.

Thanks.

All are great players, but how much somebody believes in your team probably depends upon how much they consider Kawhi to be one of the best players of all time.

I don't necessarily put him in that category.  He's really awesome, but is he top-12 ever?  I'm not so sure.  And that's the deficit here, having the guy that we absolutely know will be able to dominate every single night, no matter who he is matched up against.

The talent is so superior in this league that I think you need to be able to find something that separates your team from others.  I don't see a clear cut case for your team being able to outscore the best teams in this league, or a clear cut case that your team is so dominant defensively that it would smother other teams.  It will make life difficult for them, but in the end this league is dominated by guys who could beat even great defenses.

You've got a lot of likable, excellent players who I consider to be among my favorites.  I do wonder in retrospect, however, if you would have been better off taking an all-time great in Round 1 and selecting a guy like Scottie Pippen later on.

Yeah. I may have overthunk it when I drafted Kawhi in the first round.

At the time, I really thought I needed a guy who I can match up against MJ, LeBron, Larry and Magic, and would also make them work defensively. I guess I really have to work hard in convincing Kawhi can do that (that would be my homework). Maybe I should have just taken Hakeem there (2nd on my board) and just went with it. It probably would have been easier, but I thought I could be smart. Guess we'll see, I have to prove to everyone that Kawhi can do it as the alpha.

I do want to ask you, and everyone. Elvin Hayes' rookie year, he averaged 28 points per game. And this is a year in which he was going against guys like Wilt Chamberlain and Nate Thurmond. Hondo in 70-71 averaged 28 and 7 assists. Assuming I took Hayes' rookie year, would that, and Hondo's be enough of a scoring punch for my team even if I somehow can't prove that Kawhi could be the #1 guy? What if Big E and Hondo are my 1-2 punch, with Kawhi helping out?

I definitely don't mind the 1-2 punch of Hayes and Hondo. I don't think Hayes would be getting the 25+ shots a game, but a season like '73-'74, where he averaged 21/18 with 3BPG would be awesome alongside Hondo's early 70's seasons and Kawhi's most recent season.

Big E also averaged 3 blocks a game in that season too. My only concern is his 42% shooting from that year. That is throwing me off a bit. I may have to think really hard which season to use for Hayes.

For sure. It's hard with Hayes as his best scoring and rebounding seasons were his least efficient. However, he did have a brilliant '77-'78 campaign, leading the Bullets to a ring alongside Dandridge and Unseld. That wasn't a particularly efficient regular season, but his post-season was really good. Good food for thought.

I think alongside someone like Dikembe you can afford to pick one of Hayes' worse rebounding years, as Dikembe had a bunch of great ones

[action781]

I do want to ask you, and everyone. Elvin Hayes' rookie year, he averaged 28 points per game. And this is a year in which he was going against guys like Wilt Chamberlain and Nate Thurmond. Hondo in 70-71 averaged 28 and 7 assists. Assuming I took Hayes' rookie year, would that, and Hondo's be enough of a scoring punch for my team even if I somehow can't prove that Kawhi could be the #1 guy? What if Big E and Hondo are my 1-2 punch, with Kawhi helping out?

It's not just as simple as this guy averaged 28ppg and this guy also averaged 28ppg.  If they do that, then they are absorbing 50 possessions to do so.  Kawhi would essentially get no usage under those numbers and not be utilized much on offense, nevermind be a #1 guy.  Don't forget Stockton and the other guys on the team will want some shots too!

I think every team has players with numbers either like or that exceed those.  Its why you won't have a terrible offense.  But probably just not one that keeps up with the other incredible offenses some teams are putting together.

[Roy H.]

5. Boston - A few all-time great (top 5 all-time) perimeter defenders in Lebron and Pippen with D-Rob on the back line.  Some holes otherwise that I think hurt the overall defense, but they could be patched up which bumps up this ranking.

How are Lebron and Pippen being utilized?  One has to cover PFs, which I think needs to be taken into account.  Lebron can do it in the modern era, but he doesn't like it, as he's made clear many times.  I remember Windhorst mentioning that he didn't like covering the likes of Jared Sullinger.

Would his defense hold up against the big, powerful and skilled PFs in this game? 

[action781]

5. Boston - A few all-time great (top 5 all-time) perimeter defenders in Lebron and Pippen with D-Rob on the back line.  Some holes otherwise that I think hurt the overall defense, but they could be patched up which bumps up this ranking.

How are Lebron and Pippen being utilized?  One has to cover PFs, which I think needs to be taken into account.  Lebron can do it in the modern era, but he doesn't like it, as he's made clear many times.  I remember Windhorst mentioning that he didn't like covering the likes of Jared Sullinger.

Would his defense hold up against the big, powerful and skilled PFs in this game?

I thought it would be Lebron, Pippen, Barry defending 1-3 with McAdoo & Robinson defending 4 & 5

[Roy H.]

5. Boston - A few all-time great (top 5 all-time) perimeter defenders in Lebron and Pippen with D-Rob on the back line.  Some holes otherwise that I think hurt the overall defense, but they could be patched up which bumps up this ranking.

How are Lebron and Pippen being utilized?  One has to cover PFs, which I think needs to be taken into account.  Lebron can do it in the modern era, but he doesn't like it, as he's made clear many times.  I remember Windhorst mentioning that he didn't like covering the likes of Jared Sullinger.

Would his defense hold up against the big, powerful and skilled PFs in this game?

I thought it would be Lebron, Pippen, Barry defending 1-3 with McAdoo & Robinson defending 4 & 5

I assume Barry gets the 3, in that scenario, because he certainly couldn't defend 1s or 2s.

I think that really diminishes the team defense.  Having great defenders play out of position weakens everybody.  With so much positional redundancy, I've got to think that Barry moves to the bench, and a more traditional guard is added to the starting lineup.

[Roy H.]

Some Historical Draft flavor for you in the news:

Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal haven’t suited up as teammates for 15 years—yes, that’s right, and you are old—but they’re still sniping at each other all this time later.

The latest broadside came from Kobe, who declared that if Shaq had possessed Kobe’s work ethic, Shaq would be “the greatest of all time.” Although Bryant praised O’Neal’s passion and talent, if O’Neal had worked harder, Bryant believes he would have “12 rings. Wouldn’t even be close.”

Shaq caught wind of Kobe’s words, and on an Instagram post offered up his own reply: “U woulda had twelve if u passed the ball more especially in the finals against the pistons #facts,” O’Neal responded. “You don’t get statues by not working hard.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/kobe-if-shaq-had-worked-harder-they-would-have-12-rings-144718642.html

[Somebody]

That said, I'm with Silky in that I do think the Ewing love is a big higher than I'd expect, particularly for defense.  He was a 3x second-team all-defensive player ('88, '89, '92).

In '88, he got four votes for DPOY (tied for 5th place)
In '89, he got two votes for DPOY (6th place)
In '92 he didn't get a single vote for DPOY (while I happen to have three starters who received votes that year, heh)

Those were his only three all-defensive (second-team) seasons.  If I'm calling a spade a spade, then I'll say Ewing was a good defender.  Nothing more.  When we're looking at him in this game compared to all-time great defenders and their best defensive seasons?  He's a good defender, he can hold his own to some extent, but he's not an above average defender in this league.  He's clearly a rung below at least 7/12 centers -- Hakeem (if a C), Kareem, Russell, Walton, Mutumbo, Willis Reed, and David Robinson.  And is he definitely better than the others (Moses, Cowens, Shaq, Wilt) to take the claim of 8th best center in the league?  He's in that mix but I wouldn't say definitively the best of that bunch.

Oh and just for fun... 

Ewing was a really good defender. I don’t see any shame in being voted “only” the 5th or 6th best defender in a league of 400 players.

Context matters, though.  He was competing for the all-defense team with Hakeem, Robinson and Dikembe. Some years he beat them out, others he didn’t. All four of those guys are legit all-time defenders. And, like Hakeem and Robinson, Ewing was a great offensive player.

Ewing isn’t slow, or average. He’s just the third most dominant center of his era, behind Hakeem and the Admiral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfxGMm4NehI

Can't believe the disrespect that Shaquille O'Neal is getting on here...dude even laced em up for BOS for a while.

The above clip is his shot blocking, only...I realize that shot-blocking is only a part of defending but make no mistake he patrolled and intimidated.

Shame that folks seemed to categorize his skill as just being bigger than anyone else and don't appear to give him credit for his timing and athleticism.

This seems to be the case...to ME, at least.

I consider Ewing and Shaq to be from different eras.  In terms of defense, though, I’d slot Shaq behind all four of Hakeem, Admiral, Dikembe and Ewing.

In his best years, though, Shaq would be plenty good enough to defend in this league. I don’t think his defense is a tremendous strength for you, but it’s certainly not a weakness.

I still think Russell should be considered as an all-time great defensive center, even if he did have the body of a current 3/4. There is another smallish center who was also right up there on that list too.

Shaq was a great defensive center. He would defensively and physically dominate 95% of centers to ever play. But he is just a rung below some guys on that all time ladder when it comes defense.

But as the best ever two way center, Shaq is right there right after Hakeem as I consider Kareem and Wilt much too offensive minded and Russell too defensive minded.

Russell was 6'9.75 without shoes, which is as tall as guys like Robert Williams.

[gouki88]

That said, I'm with Silky in that I do think the Ewing love is a big higher than I'd expect, particularly for defense.  He was a 3x second-team all-defensive player ('88, '89, '92).

In '88, he got four votes for DPOY (tied for 5th place)
In '89, he got two votes for DPOY (6th place)
In '92 he didn't get a single vote for DPOY (while I happen to have three starters who received votes that year, heh)

Those were his only three all-defensive (second-team) seasons.  If I'm calling a spade a spade, then I'll say Ewing was a good defender.  Nothing more.  When we're looking at him in this game compared to all-time great defenders and their best defensive seasons?  He's a good defender, he can hold his own to some extent, but he's not an above average defender in this league.  He's clearly a rung below at least 7/12 centers -- Hakeem (if a C), Kareem, Russell, Walton, Mutumbo, Willis Reed, and David Robinson.  And is he definitely better than the others (Moses, Cowens, Shaq, Wilt) to take the claim of 8th best center in the league?  He's in that mix but I wouldn't say definitively the best of that bunch.

Oh and just for fun... 

Ewing was a really good defender. I don’t see any shame in being voted “only” the 5th or 6th best defender in a league of 400 players.

Context matters, though.  He was competing for the all-defense team with Hakeem, Robinson and Dikembe. Some years he beat them out, others he didn’t. All four of those guys are legit all-time defenders. And, like Hakeem and Robinson, Ewing was a great offensive player.

Ewing isn’t slow, or average. He’s just the third most dominant center of his era, behind Hakeem and the Admiral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfxGMm4NehI

Can't believe the disrespect that Shaquille O'Neal is getting on here...dude even laced em up for BOS for a while.

The above clip is his shot blocking, only...I realize that shot-blocking is only a part of defending but make no mistake he patrolled and intimidated.

Shame that folks seemed to categorize his skill as just being bigger than anyone else and don't appear to give him credit for his timing and athleticism.

This seems to be the case...to ME, at least.

I consider Ewing and Shaq to be from different eras.  In terms of defense, though, I’d slot Shaq behind all four of Hakeem, Admiral, Dikembe and Ewing.

In his best years, though, Shaq would be plenty good enough to defend in this league. I don’t think his defense is a tremendous strength for you, but it’s certainly not a weakness.

I still think Russell should be considered as an all-time great defensive center, even if he did have the body of a current 3/4. There is another smallish center who was also right up there on that list too.

Shaq was a great defensive center. He would defensively and physically dominate 95% of centers to ever play. But he is just a rung below some guys on that all time ladder when it comes defense.

But as the best ever two way center, Shaq is right there right after Hakeem as I consider Kareem and Wilt much too offensive minded and Russell too defensive minded.

Russell was 6'9.75 without shoes, which is as tall as guys like Robert Williams.

But only listed at 215lbs. Naturally he was likely closer to 230 by the end of his career, and he'd definitely have no issues being strong enough in today's game, but he was quite slim for a big man when compared to today's standards.

He was such a ridiculous athlete, competitor and smart defender that it doesn't really matter

[Somebody]

That said, I'm with Silky in that I do think the Ewing love is a big higher than I'd expect, particularly for defense.  He was a 3x second-team all-defensive player ('88, '89, '92).

In '88, he got four votes for DPOY (tied for 5th place)
In '89, he got two votes for DPOY (6th place)
In '92 he didn't get a single vote for DPOY (while I happen to have three starters who received votes that year, heh)

Those were his only three all-defensive (second-team) seasons.  If I'm calling a spade a spade, then I'll say Ewing was a good defender.  Nothing more.  When we're looking at him in this game compared to all-time great defenders and their best defensive seasons?  He's a good defender, he can hold his own to some extent, but he's not an above average defender in this league.  He's clearly a rung below at least 7/12 centers -- Hakeem (if a C), Kareem, Russell, Walton, Mutumbo, Willis Reed, and David Robinson.  And is he definitely better than the others (Moses, Cowens, Shaq, Wilt) to take the claim of 8th best center in the league?  He's in that mix but I wouldn't say definitively the best of that bunch.

Oh and just for fun... 

Ewing was a really good defender. I don’t see any shame in being voted “only” the 5th or 6th best defender in a league of 400 players.

Context matters, though.  He was competing for the all-defense team with Hakeem, Robinson and Dikembe. Some years he beat them out, others he didn’t. All four of those guys are legit all-time defenders. And, like Hakeem and Robinson, Ewing was a great offensive player.

Ewing isn’t slow, or average. He’s just the third most dominant center of his era, behind Hakeem and the Admiral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfxGMm4NehI

Can't believe the disrespect that Shaquille O'Neal is getting on here...dude even laced em up for BOS for a while.

The above clip is his shot blocking, only...I realize that shot-blocking is only a part of defending but make no mistake he patrolled and intimidated.

Shame that folks seemed to categorize his skill as just being bigger than anyone else and don't appear to give him credit for his timing and athleticism.

This seems to be the case...to ME, at least.

I consider Ewing and Shaq to be from different eras.  In terms of defense, though, I’d slot Shaq behind all four of Hakeem, Admiral, Dikembe and Ewing.

In his best years, though, Shaq would be plenty good enough to defend in this league. I don’t think his defense is a tremendous strength for you, but it’s certainly not a weakness.

I still think Russell should be considered as an all-time great defensive center, even if he did have the body of a current 3/4. There is another smallish center who was also right up there on that list too.

Shaq was a great defensive center. He would defensively and physically dominate 95% of centers to ever play. But he is just a rung below some guys on that all time ladder when it comes defense.

But as the best ever two way center, Shaq is right there right after Hakeem as I consider Kareem and Wilt much too offensive minded and Russell too defensive minded.

Russell was 6'9.75 without shoes, which is as tall as guys like Robert Williams.

But only listed at 215lbs. Naturally he was likely closer to 230 by the end of his career, and he'd definitely have no issues being strong enough in today's game, but he was quite slim for a big man when compared to today's standards.

He was such a ridiculous athlete, competitor and smart defender that it doesn't really matter

His ~220 pound days had him anchoring the best defenses of all time against 260-280 pound behemoths like Wilt though lol.

[gouki88]

That said, I'm with Silky in that I do think the Ewing love is a big higher than I'd expect, particularly for defense.  He was a 3x second-team all-defensive player ('88, '89, '92).

In '88, he got four votes for DPOY (tied for 5th place)
In '89, he got two votes for DPOY (6th place)
In '92 he didn't get a single vote for DPOY (while I happen to have three starters who received votes that year, heh)

Those were his only three all-defensive (second-team) seasons.  If I'm calling a spade a spade, then I'll say Ewing was a good defender.  Nothing more.  When we're looking at him in this game compared to all-time great defenders and their best defensive seasons?  He's a good defender, he can hold his own to some extent, but he's not an above average defender in this league.  He's clearly a rung below at least 7/12 centers -- Hakeem (if a C), Kareem, Russell, Walton, Mutumbo, Willis Reed, and David Robinson.  And is he definitely better than the others (Moses, Cowens, Shaq, Wilt) to take the claim of 8th best center in the league?  He's in that mix but I wouldn't say definitively the best of that bunch.

Oh and just for fun... 

Ewing was a really good defender. I don’t see any shame in being voted “only” the 5th or 6th best defender in a league of 400 players.

Context matters, though.  He was competing for the all-defense team with Hakeem, Robinson and Dikembe. Some years he beat them out, others he didn’t. All four of those guys are legit all-time defenders. And, like Hakeem and Robinson, Ewing was a great offensive player.

Ewing isn’t slow, or average. He’s just the third most dominant center of his era, behind Hakeem and the Admiral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfxGMm4NehI

Can't believe the disrespect that Shaquille O'Neal is getting on here...dude even laced em up for BOS for a while.

The above clip is his shot blocking, only...I realize that shot-blocking is only a part of defending but make no mistake he patrolled and intimidated.

Shame that folks seemed to categorize his skill as just being bigger than anyone else and don't appear to give him credit for his timing and athleticism.

This seems to be the case...to ME, at least.

I consider Ewing and Shaq to be from different eras.  In terms of defense, though, I’d slot Shaq behind all four of Hakeem, Admiral, Dikembe and Ewing.

In his best years, though, Shaq would be plenty good enough to defend in this league. I don’t think his defense is a tremendous strength for you, but it’s certainly not a weakness.

I still think Russell should be considered as an all-time great defensive center, even if he did have the body of a current 3/4. There is another smallish center who was also right up there on that list too.

Shaq was a great defensive center. He would defensively and physically dominate 95% of centers to ever play. But he is just a rung below some guys on that all time ladder when it comes defense.

But as the best ever two way center, Shaq is right there right after Hakeem as I consider Kareem and Wilt much too offensive minded and Russell too defensive minded.

Russell was 6'9.75 without shoes, which is as tall as guys like Robert Williams.

But only listed at 215lbs. Naturally he was likely closer to 230 by the end of his career, and he'd definitely have no issues being strong enough in today's game, but he was quite slim for a big man when compared to today's standards.

He was such a ridiculous athlete, competitor and smart defender that it doesn't really matter

His ~220 pound days had him anchoring the best defenses of all time against 260-280 pound behemoths like Wilt though lol.

Yeah, which really just highlights his borderline ridiculous defensive understanding, lol. He was a captain-coach on championship teams!

[Roy H.]

That said, I'm with Silky in that I do think the Ewing love is a big higher than I'd expect, particularly for defense.  He was a 3x second-team all-defensive player ('88, '89, '92).

In '88, he got four votes for DPOY (tied for 5th place)
In '89, he got two votes for DPOY (6th place)
In '92 he didn't get a single vote for DPOY (while I happen to have three starters who received votes that year, heh)

Those were his only three all-defensive (second-team) seasons.  If I'm calling a spade a spade, then I'll say Ewing was a good defender.  Nothing more.  When we're looking at him in this game compared to all-time great defenders and their best defensive seasons?  He's a good defender, he can hold his own to some extent, but he's not an above average defender in this league.  He's clearly a rung below at least 7/12 centers -- Hakeem (if a C), Kareem, Russell, Walton, Mutumbo, Willis Reed, and David Robinson.  And is he definitely better than the others (Moses, Cowens, Shaq, Wilt) to take the claim of 8th best center in the league?  He's in that mix but I wouldn't say definitively the best of that bunch.

Oh and just for fun... 

Ewing was a really good defender. I don’t see any shame in being voted “only” the 5th or 6th best defender in a league of 400 players.

Context matters, though.  He was competing for the all-defense team with Hakeem, Robinson and Dikembe. Some years he beat them out, others he didn’t. All four of those guys are legit all-time defenders. And, like Hakeem and Robinson, Ewing was a great offensive player.

Ewing isn’t slow, or average. He’s just the third most dominant center of his era, behind Hakeem and the Admiral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfxGMm4NehI

Can't believe the disrespect that Shaquille O'Neal is getting on here...dude even laced em up for BOS for a while.

The above clip is his shot blocking, only...I realize that shot-blocking is only a part of defending but make no mistake he patrolled and intimidated.

Shame that folks seemed to categorize his skill as just being bigger than anyone else and don't appear to give him credit for his timing and athleticism.

This seems to be the case...to ME, at least.

I consider Ewing and Shaq to be from different eras.  In terms of defense, though, I’d slot Shaq behind all four of Hakeem, Admiral, Dikembe and Ewing.

In his best years, though, Shaq would be plenty good enough to defend in this league. I don’t think his defense is a tremendous strength for you, but it’s certainly not a weakness.

I still think Russell should be considered as an all-time great defensive center, even if he did have the body of a current 3/4. There is another smallish center who was also right up there on that list too.

Shaq was a great defensive center. He would defensively and physically dominate 95% of centers to ever play. But he is just a rung below some guys on that all time ladder when it comes defense.

But as the best ever two way center, Shaq is right there right after Hakeem as I consider Kareem and Wilt much too offensive minded and Russell too defensive minded.

Russell was 6'9.75 without shoes, which is as tall as guys like Robert Williams.

But only listed at 215lbs. Naturally he was likely closer to 230 by the end of his career, and he'd definitely have no issues being strong enough in today's game, but he was quite slim for a big man when compared to today's standards.

He was such a ridiculous athlete, competitor and smart defender that it doesn't really matter

His ~220 pound days had him anchoring the best defenses of all time against 260-280 pound behemoths like Wilt though lol.

Bill is maybe the best defender of all-time.

That said, his ability to defend Wilt is really overblown.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.fcgi?id=PAGXr

Those are partial game logs of their head to head matchups. 

Wilt averaged 29.9 ppg against Russ, and 28.2 rebounds in the regular season.  Wilt scored 40+ on Russell 20 times, including games of 62, 53, 52 and 50 points.  Wilt's record 55 rebound game was against Russell and the Celtics.

In the playoffs it was similar:  25.7 points, 28.0 rebounds, and 50.8% FG% for Wilt.  Wilt had highs of 50 points and 41 rebounds in the playoffs against Russell.

Russell made Wilt work hard, but in truth, Chamberlain did his part overall.  The Celtics strategy was moreso to shut everybody else down and to let Wilt struggle to get his points, and that proved effective.

[Somebody]

I'll rank the team defenses in this game so far leaving out Utah:

1. Detroit - Pretty clear to me.  One of best defensive centers ever Mutombo along with solid to elite defenders at 3 other positions (Stockton, Hondo, Kawhi) and I don't really know about Hayes.
2. Golden State - I'm putting them here with the assumption that Harden doesn't start at SG which I actually think might bump them up to #1 when I see it in writing.  They have 4 plus defensive starters already (IT, Durant, Giannis, Russell), no need to ruin that with a weak link.  Although they can probably cover his mistakes.
3. San Antonio - GP, Kobe, Hakeem is the foundation of an elite defense.  Hedo can even be hidden/function within that foundation.  With Yao, they are ranked here at 3.  He's an OK defensive center (bottom few in this league but at least can body the big fellas) and Hakeem is an elite defensive PF, but I think their ranking goes up if they move Yao to the bench.
4. Miami - I like their perimeter defense West, Wade, George (solid, no real weak link) and frontcourt Thurmond, Shaq is good too.  4th is a good ranking.
5. Boston - A few all-time great (top 5 all-time) perimeter defenders in Lebron and Pippen with D-Rob on the back line.  Some holes otherwise that I think hurt the overall defense, but they could be patched up which bumps up this ranking.
6. Philly - Solid defenders 1-5, but I don't think any that I'd consider a top 3 defender at their position in this game and most aren't top 5.  Just solid/middle-of-the-pack across the board.  One problem is I think Pierce's best defensive days were later in career (a little slower and much stronger) at SF which makes it tough to see him guarding SGs.  But that is an unknown still what year Pierce we're getting.  Was he really a good SG defender in his early years?  I don't remember him as such.
7. Atlanta - Dirk might be their weakest link, but I don't see any teams here really running their offense through their PF position?  Is Ice Man a good defender?  I don't really know that.  My assumption here is that he's not that great, but not atrocious.  Serviceable.
8. Dallas - Their 1 4 and 5 are all solid or plus.  But their wing defenders Ray/Vince/Nique are very meh.
9. LAL - OK overall.  KG is obviously great and nicely paired with Cowen, T-Mac & Dr J are nothing special (serviceable), and Steph is either serviceable or a liability depending on opponent.  Draymond gives a defensive boost off the bench, but Nash equally negates that.
10. Chicago - Defense is OK thanks to their bigs McHale/Duncan/Reed, but I think offense is more their thing.
11. Portland - Offense is what they'll hang their hat on.

1. Hayes was great defensively, but did his best work on that end as a C than PF.
2. IT imo is on Curry's level defensively in this exercise due to his size, he was generously called a 6 foot guard and struggled to guard bigger guards who backed him down during his career. Curry fares a bit better in this regard and has better team defense at the cost of being worse at man perimeter defense, which imo evens it out.
3. GP and Kobe are overrated defensively imo-GP's defense was great rather than transcendent (he was strong, had good hands and positioning, but gambled a lot and was sometimes rather immobile to guard waterbug guards) and Kobe's defense was merely solid outside of the Frobe years. I find their defense to be pretty porous outside of Hakeem-I'd spam that McGrady/Curry-Cowens PnR/PnP against them.
4-6. Agree with your points.
7. The Ice Man was atrocious defensively lol, he was a one dimensional high usage scoring machine. And I'm not sure why do you think that no teams will be running their offense through their PF, I for one will be using KG's high post creation a lot.
8. Not much to say about that.
9. Agree with your points, but I personally think that KG would buoy my defense to be better than 9th in this list.
10-11. Yeah they're offensively inclined teams.

[Somebody]

That said, I'm with Silky in that I do think the Ewing love is a big higher than I'd expect, particularly for defense.  He was a 3x second-team all-defensive player ('88, '89, '92).

In '88, he got four votes for DPOY (tied for 5th place)
In '89, he got two votes for DPOY (6th place)
In '92 he didn't get a single vote for DPOY (while I happen to have three starters who received votes that year, heh)

Those were his only three all-defensive (second-team) seasons.  If I'm calling a spade a spade, then I'll say Ewing was a good defender.  Nothing more.  When we're looking at him in this game compared to all-time great defenders and their best defensive seasons?  He's a good defender, he can hold his own to some extent, but he's not an above average defender in this league.  He's clearly a rung below at least 7/12 centers -- Hakeem (if a C), Kareem, Russell, Walton, Mutumbo, Willis Reed, and David Robinson.  And is he definitely better than the others (Moses, Cowens, Shaq, Wilt) to take the claim of 8th best center in the league?  He's in that mix but I wouldn't say definitively the best of that bunch.

Oh and just for fun... 

Ewing was a really good defender. I don’t see any shame in being voted “only” the 5th or 6th best defender in a league of 400 players.

Context matters, though.  He was competing for the all-defense team with Hakeem, Robinson and Dikembe. Some years he beat them out, others he didn’t. All four of those guys are legit all-time defenders. And, like Hakeem and Robinson, Ewing was a great offensive player.

Ewing isn’t slow, or average. He’s just the third most dominant center of his era, behind Hakeem and the Admiral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfxGMm4NehI

Can't believe the disrespect that Shaquille O'Neal is getting on here...dude even laced em up for BOS for a while.

The above clip is his shot blocking, only...I realize that shot-blocking is only a part of defending but make no mistake he patrolled and intimidated.

Shame that folks seemed to categorize his skill as just being bigger than anyone else and don't appear to give him credit for his timing and athleticism.

This seems to be the case...to ME, at least.

I consider Ewing and Shaq to be from different eras.  In terms of defense, though, I’d slot Shaq behind all four of Hakeem, Admiral, Dikembe and Ewing.

In his best years, though, Shaq would be plenty good enough to defend in this league. I don’t think his defense is a tremendous strength for you, but it’s certainly not a weakness.

I still think Russell should be considered as an all-time great defensive center, even if he did have the body of a current 3/4. There is another smallish center who was also right up there on that list too.

Shaq was a great defensive center. He would defensively and physically dominate 95% of centers to ever play. But he is just a rung below some guys on that all time ladder when it comes defense.

But as the best ever two way center, Shaq is right there right after Hakeem as I consider Kareem and Wilt much too offensive minded and Russell too defensive minded.

Russell was 6'9.75 without shoes, which is as tall as guys like Robert Williams.

But only listed at 215lbs. Naturally he was likely closer to 230 by the end of his career, and he'd definitely have no issues being strong enough in today's game, but he was quite slim for a big man when compared to today's standards.

He was such a ridiculous athlete, competitor and smart defender that it doesn't really matter

His ~220 pound days had him anchoring the best defenses of all time against 260-280 pound behemoths like Wilt though lol.

Bill is maybe the best defender of all-time.

That said, his ability to defend Wilt is really overblown.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.fcgi?id=PAGXr

Those are partial game logs of their head to head matchups. 

Wilt averaged 29.9 ppg against Russ, and 28.2 rebounds in the regular season.  Wilt scored 40+ on Russell 20 times, including games of 62, 53, 52 and 50 points.  Wilt's record 55 rebound game was against Russell and the Celtics.

In the playoffs it was similar:  25.7 points, 28.0 rebounds, and 50.8% FG% for Wilt.  Wilt had highs of 50 points and 41 rebounds in the playoffs against Russell.

Russell made Wilt work hard, but in truth, Chamberlain did his part overall.  The Celtics strategy was moreso to shut everybody else down and to let Wilt struggle to get his points, and that proved effective.

But Russell was the only center who was capable of making Wilt work like that, and come out victorious. Wilt's raw numbers look incredible against Russell, but his best season's h2h stats have a scoring profile like a 2010 David Lee after adjusting for pace!
http://www.backpicks.com/2018/04/02/backpicks-goat-3-bill-russell/
This article explains how transcendent his defense really was using statistics.

[Somebody]

Btw was my Draymond pick really that much of a reach? I felt like I really needed an elite defensive guy who could defend the 3 and 4 in this exercise (and also provide crazy help defense to cover for nash and curry), and Draymond's additive skills (passing, shooting) make him really valuable imo. He's basically a smaller KG that I can play at the 3 against huge teams.