2019 Historical Draft: Boston Celtics
C: David Robinson
PF: LeBron James, Bob McAdoo
SF: Scottie Pippen, Rick Barry
SG: Mitch Richmond, Allen Iverson
PG: Chauncey Billups
Updated Celtics after Round 8. Understand the problem people had with LBJ at the 1, and I was really excited to get a great 3 and D guy and champion in Billups.
I got LeBron with a fantastic defense anchor at Center, one of the best defensive wings and proven sidekick in Pippen, and two great shooters starting.
I like that a lot better. The pieces fit together better.
My first reaction was LeBron is going to cause loads of matchup problems. My own team, Dirk Nowitzki at PF, I think your squad is going to be able to run him off the floor.
Might be able to put him on Pippen (who despite having enormous advantage in quickness was not good at consistently exploiting mismatches) but that is a
big maybe. Most likely, I cannot and I have to go small with Grant Hill at PF.
I thought that would be the same situation for other teams but teams have gotten more defensive quickness and versatility at PF than I had realized. DeBusschere, Rodman, Giannis can all matchup comfortably. McHale, Barkley, Hayes, KG, Anthony Davis could all defend Pippen adequately to very well -- and cause more matchup issues for your team on the other end (with their superior size). Karl Malone could probably hide on Pippen. Young Karl certainly could. 97 or 98 Karl, tougher for him.
Miami is the other team, like myself, that would have troubles matching up. Nate Thurmond would be too slow. Webber would have some troubles but you might be able to keep him on Pippen.
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I just want to take a moment to commend everyone on how good the PF defense is (unlike myself with Dirk). Much better than I had expected in terms of quickness and versatility and being able to matchup against quicker players.
League wide everyone just did a great job! (unlike myself!)
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This is one of the downsides of Pippen. His scoring.
He wasn't very good at exploiting mismatches. He didn't punish that 6-3/6-4 SG from Utah in the Finals who Pip clearly could have killed in the post (he did it a little but not enough to force Utah's hand). He didn't punish that slow footed 6-10 SF from Seattle who Pip clearly have blown past off the dribble whenever he wanted.
Pippen didn't have the right mentality as a scorer which is why he didn't increase his scoring much after MJ left (21, 18.6 two years before MJ, 22 without MJ, 21.4 mostly without MJ, 19.4 20 with MJ).
He was the sort of player who liked to run the offense and make the correct play. Rather than a killer who sought out weaknesses and attacked them mercilessly.
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It is one of the reasons I like Pippen at PG because you can now force your opponent's PF to defend a scorer at SF. Tougher matchup for them. And you have decision about where do they hide their PG defensively. Tougher defensive questions all round.
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This is where Rick Barry would be the ideal option because he has that scoring ability. He would kill people like Barkley and Karl Malone.
However, then you have the fit issue (one ball between Barry, LeBron at Chauncey) and whether Barry would cause disharmony within your locker room. I am not sure where others stand on this. It would be interesting to hear from other people ...
Because in terms of skill, Barry is clearly the right choice at SF for the rest of your team. They need that threat (of Barry's scoring) to truly break other team's defensive structures. Force them to matchup against you. Force them away from their super-talented big lineups.
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Eye balling it, I like this small ball lineup a lot better than the previous bigger lineup.
However, looking at how well teams in this Historical League can matchup against the small ball lineup with Pippen at SF (which I believe they can do much more effectively than I had expected), I am not sure this team gives you a significantly better chance of winning than staying big with McAdoo and allowing LeBron to play his natural position.
Chauncey, Mitch, Bron, McAdoo, D-Robinson
Chauncey, Mitch, Pip, Bron, D-Robinson
Chauncey, Pip, Bron, McAdoo, D-Robinson
Pip, Mitch, Bron, McAdoo, D-Robinson
Chauncey, Mitch, Barry, Bron, D-Robinson
A lot of different ways you can go.
My two favourites are the non-Pippen lineups - but I might be alone in that. Very interested to hear from others. I like the spacing Chauncey and Mitch provide in the backcourt in a bigger lineup over the big lineup with Pippen. Gives LeBron more room to work his magic.
This is one of the most interesting teams in terms of lineup decisions because of how many different ways they can lineup.