How good would each team be if their MVP candidate was replaced by an All-Star caliber player at their position?
How much do Joker / SGA add to their teams over an All-Star caliber replacement?
Denver Nuggets
I was thinking of Bam as a substitute for Jokic.
G: J Murray, Westbrook
G: C Braun, P Watson
F: M Porter Jr, J Strawther
F: A Gordon, Z Nnaji
C: Bam Adebayo, D Jordan
Or maybe D Sabonis.
I think that is a 45 win team.
Nuggets are currently on a 53 win pace with Joker.
Hmm ... A Gordon has missed 20-25 games. So maybe more like a 40-41 win team. A .500 team.
OKC Thunder
G: Cade Cunningham, Cason Wallace
G: Lu Dort, A Caruso
F: Jalen Williams, A Wiggins, I Joe
F: Chet Holmgren, Kenrich Williams
C: I Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams
If they were healthy, I am going to go 53-55 wins.
They haven't had good health this year with Chet and Hartenstein both missing time. They have essentially had one or the other all season. They have played a combined 64 games out 130 possible games. So 50% of the season.
With only one or the the other, so I am thinking of a rotation more like
G: Cason Wallace, A Caruso
G: Lu Dort, I Joe
F: Cade Cunningham, A Wiggins
F: Jalen Williams, Kenrich Williams
C: I Hartenstein or Chet, Jaylin Williams
So Cade goes to forward and they play a defensive combo guard instead. Easier to find PT for I Joe and A Wiggins after that. Or you could start one of those guys instead and bring the two defensive combo guards off the bench.
Hmm ... I am thinking more like 45 wins with this lineup that has only 1 of the 2 star big men.
Similar as Nuggets with Bam instead of Joker. Although after thinking about A Gordon missing time and docking some wins for that. Maybe more like a 5 win difference between the two teams.
OKC are currently on pace for a 67 win season. So a jump from 45 wins to 67 wins.
