2020 Historic Draft: How’s My Team Look: Conference Finals winners announced!!

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Oklahoma City Thunder thru ten rounds.

PG: Jrue Holiday / Isaiah Thomas
SG: Paul George / Bradley Beal
SF: Paul Pierce / Tayshaun Prince
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge / Ben Simmons
C : Ben Wallace / Jermaine O'Neal

Very happy to acquire Tayshaun Prince. He gives us a defensive boost in the wing department as we spell Paul Pierce or Paul George, and his low usage style of play would fit in well with this group.

Ben Simmons is a bit of an enigma for us. We really don't know where to slot him for now, but we believe a talent like him being available in the 10th round is something that is just too good to pass up. A very good playmaker, and a good defender, his skills are very valuable for us.

CRAZY TALK ALERT!

Is it crazy for me to think that this lineup might work?

PG: Jrue Holiday
SG: Paul George
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Ben Simmons
C : Jermaine O'Neal

Yeah, defensively we might struggle against physical, big front court teams, but boy, Ben being a Point Forward in this setup could also be a potential matchup problem. There's enough shooting there to surround Simmons with and maximize his playmaking. Jermaine O'neal has a decent mid-range game, and could argue that he could extend his range to 20 feet in the modern era, at least.

This is also going to make the squad a fast team, with Simmons leading the break.

IDK, I'm just throwing stuff out there. . .

[RodyTur10]

Through 10 rounds.  Brooklyn Nets

PG- Andre Miller
SG- Tracy McGrady
SF- Shawn Marion
PF- Anthony Davis
C- Yao Ming

Bench: Allen Iverson, Blake Griffin, Theo Ratliff, David West, Shane Battier

A lot of power upfront. You'll generate enough scoring inside and I think you'll be okay defensively.
Just think that this team needs more shooting.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

Oklahoma City Thunder thru ten rounds.

PG: Jrue Holiday / Isaiah Thomas
SG: Paul George / Bradley Beal
SF: Paul Pierce / Tayshaun Prince
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge / Ben Simmons
C : Ben Wallace / Jermaine O'Neal

Very happy to acquire Tayshaun Prince. He gives us a defensive boost in the wing department as we spell Paul Pierce or Paul George, and his low usage style of play would fit in well with this group.

Ben Simmons is a bit of an enigma for us. We really don't know where to slot him for now, but we believe a talent like him being available in the 10th round is something that is just too good to pass up. A very good playmaker, and a good defender, his skills are very valuable for us.

CRAZY TALK ALERT!

Is it crazy for me to think that this lineup might work?

PG: Jrue Holiday
SG: Paul George
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Ben Simmons
C : Jermaine O'Neal

Yeah, defensively we might struggle against physical, big front court teams, but boy, Ben being a Point Forward in this setup could also be a potential matchup problem. There's enough shooting there to surround Simmons with and maximize his playmaking. Jermaine O'neal has a decent mid-range game, and could argue that he could extend his range to 20 feet in the modern era, at least.

This is also going to make the squad a fast team, with Simmons leading the break.

IDK, I'm just throwing stuff out there. . .

I really like this team. My only complaint (that you’ve definitely heard enough) is the lack of a true MVP caliber top guy. But I do love the combination of the Pauls, and you got some solid options upfront depending on matchups. I like the Holiday pick at point, I think his defense and ability to play off the ball is a good fit. And you definitely have some great bench scoring with IT and Beal and Tayshaun slots in as a good 3 and D guy. Well done Yoki.

[Donoghus]

Through 10 rounds.  Brooklyn Nets

PG- Andre Miller
SG- Tracy McGrady
SF- Shawn Marion
PF- Anthony Davis
C- Yao Ming

Bench: Allen Iverson, Blake Griffin, Theo Ratliff, David West, Shane Battier

A lot of power upfront. You'll generate enough scoring inside and I think you'll be okay defensively.
Just think that this team needs more shooting.

Yeah, I have a couple of ideas to go in that direction. Thanks for the feedback.

[Who]

I've watched a pair of games with Allen Iverson in them this week and I forgot just how insanely fun he was to watch when playing well. That speed, oh wow, electric. Nobody could stay in front of him.

Iverson would be a complete terror in today's league with no hand-checking and spaced out offenses. Nobody would stand a chance of stopping him.

[Roy H.]

I've watched a pair of games with Allen Iverson in them this week and I forgot just how insanely fun he was to watch when playing well. That speed, oh wow, electric. Nobody could stay in front of him.

Iverson would be a complete terror in today's league with no hand-checking and spaced out offenses. Nobody would stand a chance of stopping him.

I mostly agree. I think the hand checking thing is a little bit overrated here, because Iverson played after that rule was changed in 2004 without seeing a huge change in production.  However, with sufficient spacing he would have been able to get to the hoop much more easily. His speed and ballhandling would at times make him look like Russell Westbrook on fast forward.

[Roy H.]

PG: Jrue Holiday
SG: Paul George
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Ben Simmons
C : Jermaine O'Nea

Defensively it works, against the very best centers.  Ball movement wise, it is a very good team as well.

The first quibble I have is a minor one. Pierce should be playing small forward and George should be playing shooting guard.  More fundamentally, I slightly worry about spacing, as O’Neill was fairly in efficient and Simmons cannot shoot from outside at all. Jrue is very spotty from there.

[action781]

Oklahoma City Thunder thru ten rounds.

PG: Jrue Holiday / Isaiah Thomas
SG: Paul George / Bradley Beal
SF: Paul Pierce / Tayshaun Prince
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge / Ben Simmons
C : Ben Wallace / Jermaine O'Neal

Very happy to acquire Tayshaun Prince. He gives us a defensive boost in the wing department as we spell Paul Pierce or Paul George, and his low usage style of play would fit in well with this group.

Ben Simmons is a bit of an enigma for us. We really don't know where to slot him for now, but we believe a talent like him being available in the 10th round is something that is just too good to pass up. A very good playmaker, and a good defender, his skills are very valuable for us.

CRAZY TALK ALERT!

Is it crazy for me to think that this lineup might work?

PG: Jrue Holiday
SG: Paul George
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Ben Simmons
C : Jermaine O'Neal

Yeah, defensively we might struggle against physical, big front court teams, but boy, Ben being a Point Forward in this setup could also be a potential matchup problem. There's enough shooting there to surround Simmons with and maximize his playmaking. Jermaine O'neal has a decent mid-range game, and could argue that he could extend his range to 20 feet in the modern era, at least.

This is also going to make the squad a fast team, with Simmons leading the break.

IDK, I'm just throwing stuff out there. . .

I think Simmons is ideally suited to be a point forward.  I think he could even be a starting point forward in this league.  I originally thought a point PF (thinking about today's NBA).  But now that I hear your thoughts about him struggling against bigger physical front courts, I agree with that assessment.  And unfortunately almost every team has that.   He can't guard PFs like Malone, KG, Pau, Dirk, Brand, Bosh/Amare because of his lack of size and probably struggle against AD, Kevin Love, Horford, Webber too.  So that's a huge % of the teams that Simmons would be overmatched against... which is a really awful situation since he's actually a plus defender in general.  Now I'm thinking that he's best suited to play point SF.  He'd be really strong at defending the SFs of this league.  Which unfortunately isn't really a fit for you with so many other SFs.

If I could craft a team for Simmons to start on that I think could be draft-able in this league, it would be some combination of:
PG: Chauncey / Payton / Devin Booker
SG: Ray Allen / Klay / T-Mac / Vince Carter / Brandon Roy
SF: Simmons
PF: KG / Ant Davis
C: Marc Gasol

Basically surround him with shooters and/or defenders.

As much as I like Simmons, I don't think he would work for my team either.  I can't see him and Shaq ever sharing the floor together.  Simmons just requires the right fit.

[tazzmaniac]

PG: Jrue Holiday
SG: Paul George
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Ben Simmons
C : Jermaine O'Nea

Defensively it works, against the very best centers.  Bob movement wise, it is a very good team as well.

The first quibble I have is a minor one. Pierce should be playing small forward and George should be playing shooting guard.  More fundamentally, I slightly worry about spacing, as O’Neill was fairly in efficient and Simmons cannot shoot from outside at all. Jrue is very spotty from there.

Bob movement?  In this lineup, he does have Pierce playing SF and George playing SG. 

[action781]

I've watched a pair of games with Allen Iverson in them this week and I forgot just how insanely fun he was to watch when playing well. That speed, oh wow, electric. Nobody could stay in front of him.

Iverson would be a complete terror in today's league with no hand-checking and spaced out offenses. Nobody would stand a chance of stopping him.

I mostly agree. I think the hand checking thing is a little bit overrated here, because Iverson played after that rule was changed in 2004 without seeing a huge change in production.  However, with sufficient spacing he would have been able to get to the hoop much more easily. His speed and ballhandling would at times make him look like Russell Westbrook on fast forward.

Iversion averaged 31.1ppg in his 2000-2001 MVP season.  His 76ers played at a pace of 90.9 possessions per game.*

James Harden averaged a ridiculous 36.1ppg last season.  The highest scoring season of any player in this game.  His Rockets played at a (surprisingly slow) pace of 97.9 possessions per game. 

If you simply play the '01 76ers at the (relatively slow) pace of last season's Rockets, that would put Iverson at 34.5ppg.  If you also account for things like
-the level of physicality difference between 2001 and 2019
-the emphasis on players today shooting more 3s
-the emphasis on surrounding Harden with outside shooters that opens up the lane for him

I think Iverson in the league today would be the player with the highest scoring season in this game and I think it's not crazy to think he could approach 40ppg in the "right" situation in the league today.  I think he was that good.  He was the guy who in the 2nd or 3rd round I made a post saying something like "I would be open to the idea of trading away my entire team so far for a bunch of 4th/5th round picks and building a guy around one MVP player still on the board".

I'll post my ideal Iverson roster in a post to follow. (PM me if interested)

-----
*Note:  You could actually get Iverson more points per game by choosing his higher scoring 2002 season of 31.4ppg which played at a slower pace of 88.9 possessions per game.

[Roy H.]

PG: Jrue Holiday
SG: Paul George
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Ben Simmons
C : Jermaine O'Nea

Defensively it works, against the very best centers.  Bob movement wise, it is a very good team as well.

The first quibble I have is a minor one. Pierce should be playing small forward and George should be playing shooting guard.  More fundamentally, I slightly worry about spacing, as O’Neill was fairly in efficient and Simmons cannot shoot from outside at all. Jrue is very spotty from there.

Bob movement?  In this lineup, he does have Pierce playing SF and George playing SG.

Temporary dyslexia or something.  I could have sworn that I saw Pierce at SG.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

PG: Jrue Holiday
SG: Paul George
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Ben Simmons
C : Jermaine O'Nea

Defensively it works, against the very best centers.  Bob movement wise, it is a very good team as well.

The first quibble I have is a minor one. Pierce should be playing small forward and George should be playing shooting guard.  More fundamentally, I slightly worry about spacing, as O’Neill was fairly in efficient and Simmons cannot shoot from outside at all. Jrue is very spotty from there.

Bob movement?  In this lineup, he does have Pierce playing SF and George playing SG.

Yeah, I'm not sure what Roy is trying pointing here either. I thought I had the two Pauls playing the position he mentioned they should.

[Donoghus]

I've watched a pair of games with Allen Iverson in them this week and I forgot just how insanely fun he was to watch when playing well. That speed, oh wow, electric. Nobody could stay in front of him.

Iverson would be a complete terror in today's league with no hand-checking and spaced out offenses. Nobody would stand a chance of stopping him.

I mostly agree. I think the hand checking thing is a little bit overrated here, because Iverson played after that rule was changed in 2004 without seeing a huge change in production.  However, with sufficient spacing he would have been able to get to the hoop much more easily. His speed and ballhandling would at times make him look like Russell Westbrook on fast forward.

Iversion averaged 31.1ppg in his 2000-2001 MVP season.  His 76ers played at a pace of 90.9 possessions per game.*

James Harden averaged a ridiculous 36.1ppg last season.  The highest scoring season of any player in this game.  His Rockets played at a (surprisingly slow) pace of 97.9 possessions per game. 

If you simply play the '01 76ers at the (relatively slow) pace of last season's Rockets, that would put Iverson at 34.5ppg.  If you also account for things like
-the level of physicality difference between 2001 and 2019
-the emphasis on players today shooting more 3s
-the emphasis on surrounding Harden with outside shooters that opens up the lane for him

I think Iverson in the league today would be the player with the highest scoring season in this game and I think it's not crazy to think he could approach 40ppg in the "right" situation in the league today.  I think he was that good.  He was the guy who in the 2nd or 3rd round I made a post saying something like "I would be open to the idea of trading away my entire team so far for a bunch of 4th/5th round picks and building a guy around one MVP player still on the board".

I'll post my ideal Iverson roster in a post to follow.

-----
*Note:  You could actually get Iverson more points per game by choosing his higher scoring 2002 season of 31.4ppg which played at a slower pace of 88.9 possessions per game.

One of the very few guys I've watched as a spectator that absolutely scared the living bejesus out of me.   Same tier as guys like Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Lebron. 

Guys that just could be turn it on & be completely deflating to you as an opposing sports fan.

I had the playoff strip in '02 and every time he touched the ball, I held my breath.

[nickagneta]

Iverson could score 35-40 in today's game but do you really want someone as inefficient as Iverson putting up the 28-35 shots a game it would take to get that 35-40 points.

The guy was a chucker. He never saw a shot he didn't think he could make. And in this exercise where instead of preying on lots of mediocre to poor players and teams, he would be playing against the elite, so I don't buy he would be more efficient.

Actually the opposite. I believe inefficient chuckers would be even more inefficient in these exercises because they have to play great players and teams all the time. It's why, when talking to Roy the other day, I mentioned, in these exercises I want guards that are efficient scorers that make their teammates better.

Inefficient scorers, IMHO, would be even more inefficient in these games.

It's why, in this game, I would take IT's great Boston year over anything Iverson ever did.

[Roy H.]

I've watched a pair of games with Allen Iverson in them this week and I forgot just how insanely fun he was to watch when playing well. That speed, oh wow, electric. Nobody could stay in front of him.

Iverson would be a complete terror in today's league with no hand-checking and spaced out offenses. Nobody would stand a chance of stopping him.

I mostly agree. I think the hand checking thing is a little bit overrated here, because Iverson played after that rule was changed in 2004 without seeing a huge change in production.  However, with sufficient spacing he would have been able to get to the hoop much more easily. His speed and ballhandling would at times make him look like Russell Westbrook on fast forward.

Iversion averaged 31.1ppg in his 2000-2001 MVP season.  His 76ers played at a pace of 90.9 possessions per game.*

James Harden averaged a ridiculous 36.1ppg last season.  The highest scoring season of any player in this game.  His Rockets played at a (surprisingly slow) pace of 97.9 possessions per game. 

If you simply play the '01 76ers at the (relatively slow) pace of last season's Rockets, that would put Iverson at 34.5ppg.  If you also account for things like
-the level of physicality difference between 2001 and 2019
-the emphasis on players today shooting more 3s
-the emphasis on surrounding Harden with outside shooters that opens up the lane for him

I think Iverson in the league today would be the player with the highest scoring season in this game and I think it's not crazy to think he could approach 40ppg in the "right" situation in the league today.  I think he was that good.  He was the guy who in the 2nd or 3rd round I made a post saying something like "I would be open to the idea of trading away my entire team so far for a bunch of 4th/5th round picks and building a guy around one MVP player still on the board".

I'll post my ideal Iverson roster in a post to follow.

-----
*Note:  You could actually get Iverson more points per game by choosing his higher scoring 2002 season of 31.4ppg which played at a slower pace of 88.9 possessions per game.

You can actually look up points per possession on basketball-reference.  Iverson was “only” 18th since 2000. 

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&per_minute_base=36&type=per_poss&per_poss_base=100&season_start=1&season_end=-1&lg_id=NBA&age_min=0&age_max=99&is_playoffs=N&height_min=0&height_max=99&year_min=2000&birth_country_is=Y&as_comp=gt&as_val=0&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&qual=pts_per_g_req&c1stat=pts_per_poss&c1comp=gt&order_by=pts_per_poss

Does that measure what you were looking at?

Interestingly, among the top 25 such seasons, Giannas ranks second and third in efficiency as measured by eFG%.  Curry ranks first among the top-25, and has another season that would rank 2nd in the top-40.  Shaq and Lebron also rank highly.