Brooklyn Nets
Name, Year, Key Stats (selected year only)
• Cheeks 83 - 14.5 p, 3.1 r, 7.9 a, 2.7 s - 1st Team All Defense
• Petrovic 93 - 22.3 p, 2.7 r, 3.5 a, 1.3 s - 44.9% from 3
• Dantley 84 - 30.6 p, 5.7 r, 3.9 a - FTr .658 (12 attempts per game), 14.6 WS, 13.0 OWS, .235 WS/48, 5.8 OBPM, 7th MVP voting, 2nd Team All NBA
• Gasol 10 – 18.3 p, 11.3 r, 3.4 a, 1.7 b - 3rd Team All NBA (38% of time at PF that year so a good one to select)
• Stoudemire 05 – 26 p, 8.9 r, 1.6 a, 1.6 b, 1.0 s – FTr .595 (9.9 attempts per game), 14.6 WS, 11.3 OWS, .243 WS/48, 4.4 BPM, 4.7 VORP (16% at PF, 84% at C) – 2nd Team All NBA , 9th MVP voting (he even got an all defense team vote)
• Buse 77 - 8 p, 3.3 r, 8.5 a, 3.5 s - led league in apg and spg
• Hamilton 06 - 20.1 p, 3.2 r, 3.4 a 45.8% from 3
• Jackson 04 – 12.9 p, 6.1 r, 2.8 a, 1.1 s – 40% from 3 on 5.1 attempts
• Bowen 03 – 7.1 p, 2.9 r, 1.4 a – 44.1% from 3, 2nd Team All Defense (though was 1st team several years after that)
• McGinnis 79 - 22.6 p, 11.4 r, 3.7 a, 1.7 s - .601 FTr (10.1 attempts per game)
• Roundfield 80 – 16.5 p, 10.3 r, 2.3 a, 1.2 s, 1.7 b – FTr .462, 5th in MVP voting, 2nd Team All NBA, 1st Team All Defense
• Issel 80 – 23.8 p, 8.8 r, 2.4 a, 1.1 s – FTr .471, 11.5 WS
Starters - Cheeks, Petrovic, Dantley, Gasol, Stoudemire
Bench - Buse, Hamilton, Jackson, Bowen, McGinnis, Roundfield, Issel
Defensive Unit - Cheeks, Buse, Bowen, Roundfield, Gasol
Shooting Unit - Buse, Petrovic, Hamilton, Bowen, Gasol
Overall Philosophy
You will note, several of the players for key stats I've put Free Throw Rate. There is a reason for that. This team is designed to punish people offensively. I intend to use Pau in the high post between AD and Amar'e who will be the primary offensive weapons, except when Drazen gets the open shot. They are going to put opposing teams in foul trouble early and keep going to the line. And I think the concern of spacing has been overblown as I will describe below. Most of the starters have great range. I have excellent defenders on the team, so if a stop is needed, I can get it, but the overall philosophy on defense is to punish on offense and just get the better offensive players on the opposing team off the floor.
Starters:
I know there is some concern regarding spacing with such a heavy interior game, but Pau was excellent in the high post and developed elite 3 point range later in his career. I think he and Amar'e will play off each other very well, and Dantley will have all kinds of room starting at the 3 line for him to work. And while Amar'e never extended his range to 3, in 2005 15.5% of his shots were from 10-16 feet, which he hit at 44.9% and another 16.5% of his shots were 16 feet out to 3, which he hit at 45.9%. I believe he extends that range out to 3 coming up now and would shoot a couple a game and hit around league average.
Pau would be even more prolific a 3 ball shooter than Amar'e given how his career ended. Pau's last 3 full seasons he shot 1.8 3's a game and hit them at 42%. He would have developed that shot much earlier in the modern era, would have shot a lot more of them, and in my view he would have been more effective at it then his brother. Pau also had no issue ceding touches to mega scorers and is a plus passer. He did it his whole career to great success, so I think he is the right fit between Dantley and Amar'e.
Speaking of Dantley, a man referred to as The Teacher in Detroit. Perhaps the best pure scorer in this league. Frankly, his 4-season run of averaging 30.5 ppg on just 19.3 FGA puts him in very elite company all time. Very few could score like AD with that level of efficiency in the entire history of the sport. I went with 84 because I thought that was his most impressive season. Took a team of basically nobody to the 2nd round of the playoffs and he was dominate in both playoff series and all season long. I'm not sure how much he would have extended his range because he was just so good at scoring at the hoop, his TS% was 65.2% in a season he literally took four 3's in. His FTr of 65.8% that year is incredible (he actually topped that in Detroit one season as well). Because Dantley could score at will and get to the line at will, he just never had to develop a 3-point shot. He certainly had the touch to do so though and that is where these things always get tricky. I believe Dantley would take 1 a game to keep teams honest, but this team is designed around Dantley and Amar'e playing off of Pau and then kicking it out to Petrovic if they can't get a shot off. And Dantley, like Pau and Amar'e was an excellent passer. The offense ran through AD, but if the shot wasn't there, he would make the right basketball play and had solid court vision and passing skills. He averaged 4 apg during that 4 year span I mentioned, along with 6.1 rpg. He was a very good all-around offensive player and he shined in the biggest moments. Even the Finals in Detroit they lost to the Lakers, AD upped his season numbers nearly across the board in the Finals.
As for Drazen, I do really think he is a top 5 shooter in the history of the sport. His shooting stroke was incredible. He could hit every shot and he would have thrived in the modern NBA. There isn't a shot he couldn't make and playing next to such interior forces, I think he'd excel. And his volume was in the upper part of the league for the era. He might end up with ten 3's a game in this given how many open looks he should get. He can't be left alone, ever, on the court, which makes it much harder to double AD or Amar'e, which will free them up even more, which continues to tie into my team philosophy of outscoring the opponent and making them work so they are less effective when they are on offense.
I liked the all-around game and toughness of Cheeks. I chose 83 for Cheeks because I wanted the title team (Pau and Bowen also won the title the year selected). I liked that aspect of Cheeks. He played on a team with mega personalities and all-time great players (Moses, Dr. J, Toney, Jones), came to work, did his job, and did it well. During that playoff run, Cheeks was better in the playoffs than the regular season. In the Finals, Cheeks was the best defender on the floor, better than Jones, better than Cooper. He set the tone for the Sixers all playoffs and frankly that whole season. He set up Moses to dominate. I love that about Cheeks and that is why I wanted him here. He works in any system, with any type of player.
Bench Bigs
McGinnis is one of the few MVP's in the league. Yes it was the ABA, but he was still the best player in the league one year. I chose 79, in large part, because he played with Issel (and Thompson), yet he still got his and like AD and Amar'e generated FT's at an incredible rate (.601). He will be able to come into Amar'e role with ease, while Issel can come in and take Pau's spot without issue, so the offense can function in much the same way. While I didn't take an Issel year with McGinnis, the fact that they played together and performed well, was a big selling point. I think McGinnis, more than Issel or Roundfield would have developed an outside shot and been a prototypical stretch 4 in the modern game. I added Roundfield in the last round because I wanted a hard-nosed tough defender and you aren't going to find many better than him. He had 5 All Defensive Teams, excellent rebounder, could score if needed, but wasn't the key part of his game. And while not as good a passer as the other bigs, he did average about 2.5 apg during his prime seasons.
Bench Guards/Wings
These guys were selected to fill certain roles. In the case of Buse, I wanted someone that was basically similar to Cheeks, but could shoot. And while Buse played mostly before the 3 pointer, there is no doubt in my mind he'd be an excellent shooter in the modern game. He was also the consummate team player and didn't need to score. That was so pronounced that in the year I took i.e. 77, he had more apg than ppg. He led the league with 8.5 apg and scored just 8 ppg. He also led the league in apg at 3.5. Excellent steal generator and towards the end of his career when the 3 pointer was added to the league in his most prolific season he shot 2.3 and hit them at 38.6%.
Bowen is in the same vein as Buse. A guy that is going to defend and shoot. He did that his whole career and is one of the pioneers of 3 and D. I like having a defender like that on the bench that can hit the open shot.
I chose a later Jackson season because on the bench I didn't need the explosive young Jackson. I wanted the Houston Jackson that was bombing 3's and hitting at 40%. That is the elite skill you need on the bench. I didn't need the high flying 25.7 ppg pre-injury Jackson for this team. Sometimes the lesser talented year is the better fit and I think that is the case for Jackson, whose role will be limited on this team.
The main wing sub is of course Rip Hamilton. I took the year when Rip really took off (first all star game). Didn't take a lot of 3's at just 1.5 per game, but hit those at 45.8%. He'd take a lot more in the modern era. And while that was his career best, he did have another season of 2 attempts and 44% so it wasn't a total outlier either. He was the leading scorer of those Piston teams (including in the Finals when they won the title). Rip isn't an exact replica of AD, but I do think he could take on the role with good success while taking less FT's but more 3's.
Topic: 2023 CS Historic Draft - How's My Team? (Read 26631 times)