2009 Celticsblog Draft: Voting Analysis : Team of the Future

[riah32]

So whats everyone think of this roster:
PG:Blake/Flynn/Hudson
SG:Roy/Mo Pete/Sam Young/Weems
SF:Hedo/Young/Mo Pete/Weems
PF:Murphy/Dante Cunnigham/cook/ 
C:Thabeet/Marks/Cunnigham/Murphy

[StartOrien]

So whats everyone think of this roster:
PG:Blake/Flynn/Hudson
SG:Roy/Mo Pete/Sam Young/Weems
SF:Hedo/Young/Mo Pete/Weems
PF:Murphy/Dante Cunnigham/cook/ 
C:Thabeet/Marks/Cunnigham/Murphy

I like it, though I thik your defense is going to have a tough time. Even Thabeet is an unproven commodity, at this point I look at him like I do Sam Dalembert

[bucknersrevenge]

Ok, Celticsblog general malcontent and Houston's GM raising the curtain on the '09-'10 Rockets. Darkhorse contender in an underrated conference? I like to think so.

PF Anthony Randolph/ DeJuan Blair/ Earl Clark
SF Grant Hill/ Andres Nocioni/ DaJuan Summers
C Chris Bosh/ David Andersen/ Jonas Jerebeko
SG Joe Johnson/ Bobby Jackson/ Marcus Thornton
PG Monta Ellis/ D.J. Augustin/ Mike Taylor

IR Leon Powe

Because I know Rockets' intention to start Bosh at center is unpopular with some of the board's purists, also please indulge this pitch: Chris filled fully half of the Raptors center minutes last season, out-scored and out-rebounded opposing centers, drew twice the number of fouls, and posted a +6.5 PER differential. He’s 6th in the NBA in rebounding, despite concerns about his build, and in Beijing led the US Men’s team in boards.

Also worth mentioning that 20 year old Anthony Randolph is 6’11” (...and a ½) and added another 10 pounds of muscle this offseason. So Rockets don't lack for height or length just girth. (And, yes, little conventional back to the basket scoring, but that’s a lost art anyway, right?)

TWW I promised you my opinion of your team so here goes:

First, I'm gonna admit there are a number of players on your roster I just simply don't know anything about. So take my analysis with a huge grain of salt. I'll defer to those who know more about Marcus Thornton, David Anderson and Jonas Jerebeko.

As for the rest you certainly have talent in your starting lineup. Not sure I love starting Bosh at center though I understand he played quite a bit there last season. I might think seeing him play too much against bigger centers could wear him down over the course of an 82 game season though he certainly creates mismatches on offense. There aren't too many offensively gifted centers either so I get the idea.

You have 2 wild cards starting. I know Randolph was spectacular in summer league but is he ready to handle starting for 82 games? He's still very young. Wouldn't be surprised to see quite of inconsistency out of him. Monta is coming off a major injury for basically being stupid. He's gonna be under a lot of pressure to show what he has. Has he lost a step? Love JoJo and Hill. I think they're the perfect guys to pair with an Ellis to share the playmaking.

In the end, beyond Bosh I don't feel overly comfortable with your size. There are a number of unknowns and when Bosh takes a breather your entire offense could suffer. This team needs to run alot.

[bucknersrevenge]

Alright...offering my kids up on the sacrificial altar:

The Milwaukee Bucks

Head Coach: Dave Cowens
Assistant Coach: Alvin Robertson, Paul Pressey

Starters:

C  Brendan Haywood 
PF Paul Millsap 
SF Kevin Durant
SG J.R. Smith           
PG Rodney Stuckey

6th man: F Jamario Moon

Bench: PG Luke Ridnour, F/C Ben Wallace, PF Tyler Hansbrough

10th-12th man: SG J.R. Giddens, SG Rashad McCants, F/C Tony Battie

IR List: G/F Marko Jaric, PG Anthony Johnson, PF Sean May

Firstly, they're young. I know this. VERY young in fact the core of my roster is 24 and younger. Needless to say the things that plague all young teams, defense and consistency will be issues. That said there's a ton of talent here. And there are a number of versatile players capable of playing 2 positions. It makes my lineup more flexible and adaptable. They can run(which they're gonna do early and often), but they have guys that execute in the halfcourt as well. Millsap is excellent with pick n roll and has an improving face-up game from 15 and in. J.R. is great coming off picks and has unlimited range, Stuckey, probably my biggest question mark is an excellent penetrator and finisher in the lane, and Durant is well..Durant.

What I tried to do is surround these guys with some vets especially frontcourt vets because that's really the best position to have them in for such a young team. Big Ben has championship experience and Battie has seen several playoff games. Luke and Haywood are just veteran enough to be sure what to expect from them. Moon though 29 has young legs and is solid defender and a high flyer. And there's some additional youth with promise and some veterans rounding out the group.

[wdleehi]

The Nuggets in it's post draft/pre trade form.


PG  Conley   Foye   M. Collins
SG  Pietrus  Azubuike    Almond
SF  J Green   B. Wright  
PF  Haslem    Love     superSub Scali
C   Oden       Boone   Dwayne Jones



Inj/trade bait Ming.   Key to adding offensive threat in the future.

Overseas:  Gist, Semih Erden

Like said before, plenty of positions to be won.  A lot of linup combos to try out.  

[wdleehi]

So whats everyone think of this roster:
PG:Blake/Flynn/Hudson
SG:Roy/Mo Pete/Sam Young/Weems
SF:Hedo/Young/Mo Pete/Weems
PF:Murphy/Dante Cunnigham/cook/ 
C:Thabeet/Marks/Cunnigham/Murphy

You have some good young pieces.  I think Hedo, Mo Pete and Murphy would help you more in a trade to add another young piece or two more then they can help you now.  Or move Flynn and Thabeet to add one or two more win now players.  You are sort of stuck in the middle.

[wdleehi]

Bulls:

Chris Paul, Pau Gasol, Kevin Martin, Al Horford, Raja Bell, Ryan Anderson, Austin Daye, Hilton Armstrong, James Johnson, Chase Buddinger, Robert Swift, Brian Cardinal, Lester Hudson

Very good starting lineup, although Bell and arguably one of Pau / Horford are playing outside of their best position.

Your bench is terrible.  It's quite possibly the worst bench I've seen, either in this game or in reality.  You're going to be giving up huge leads when your bench comes in, and you're going to burn out your starters as you play them too many minutes.

Team has the same problem the Celtics had this past season, but multiplied. 

Celtics had a better starting 5 and some better bench players. 

[Roy Hobbs]

Alright...offering my kids up on the sacrificial altar:

The Milwaukee Bucks

Head Coach: Dave Cowens
Assistant Coach: Alvin Robertson, Paul Pressey

Starters:

C  Brendan Haywood 
PF Paul Millsap 
SF Kevin Durant
SG J.R. Smith           
PG Rodney Stuckey

6th man: F Jamario Moon

Bench: PG Luke Ridnour, F/C Ben Wallace, PF Tyler Hansbrough

10th-12th man: SG J.R. Giddens, SG Rashad McCants, F/C Tony Battie

IR List: G/F Marko Jaric, PG Anthony Johnson, PF Sean May

Firstly, they're young. I know this. VERY young in fact the core of my roster is 24 and younger. Needless to say the things that plague all young teams, defense and consistency will be issues. That said there's a ton of talent here. And there are a number of versatile players capable of playing 2 positions. It makes my lineup more flexible and adaptable. They can run(which they're gonna do early and often), but they have guys that execute in the halfcourt as well. Millsap is excellent with pick n roll and has an improving face-up game from 15 and in. J.R. is great coming off picks and has unlimited range, Stuckey, probably my biggest question mark is an excellent penetrator and finisher in the lane, and Durant is well..Durant.

What I tried to do is surround these guys with some vets especially frontcourt vets because that's really the best position to have them in for such a young team. Big Ben has championship experience and Battie has seen several playoff games. Luke and Haywood are just veteran enough to be sure what to expect from them. Moon though 29 has young legs and is solid defender and a high flyer. And there's some additional youth with promise and some veterans rounding out the group.

I definitely like your 2-3-4 combo, and Haywood is an underrated center.  I'm not sold on Stuckey, but reasonable minds can disagree.

One area of weakness I see is size.  Haywood has legit size for a center, but Milsap is a small power forward, and his primary backup (Hansborough) is also undersized.  The other bigs are bordering on ancient (Wallace and Battie). 

I really think going forward, this is something your team has to address.  Obviously, a lot of that is mitigated by Durant causing mismatches at the 3, but I think teams that rely almost exclusively on undersized bigs will be in trouble (see, i.e., this year's Celts.)

[johnnyrondo]

Bulls haven't posted their final lineup in here yet, b/c they are not done. Regarding our bench, there is going to be two or three starters in the game at all times. This isn't hockey. The C's didn't play Marbury, House, TA, Scal and Mikki together. Let's say we take out the best top two in our fake league, CP3 and Pau. Well our lineup would be Jason Williams, Kevin Martin, Raja Bell, Ryan Anderson and Al Horford.  So worst case scenario second unit is still pretty good. Let's say we take out Pau and Martin, two first rounders. Well CP3, Raja, Buddinger, Anderson and Horford will run and gun most teams off the court. Take out Raja and Horford?  Chris Paul, Kevin Martin, Buddinger, Pau Gasol and Armstrong.

[Gomesfan]

Here it as we (Hawks) stand. This team is pure drafting, no player trades yet and no draft pick trades.
Let me know your opinion.

 Atlanta Hawks
PG: Jose Calderon/Kyle Lowery/AI
SG: Allen Iverson/T-Mac/Deshawne Stevenson
SF: Danny Granger/T-Mac/
PF: Jason Thompson/Craig Smith/Walker
 C: Roy Hibbert/Gradzuric/Mouhamed Sene
     
OTHER BENCH PLAYERS: -Ricky Davis-Steve Francis-Steve Hunter-Juwan Howard

This is my team pending trades!!!

[Roy Hobbs]

Well our lineup would be Jason Williams, Kevin Martin, Raja Bell, Ryan Anderson and Al Horford.  So worst case scenario second unit is still pretty good.

Well, no, that lineup isn't "pretty good" at all.  That's a significant downgrade from the "real life" Kings team, which was absolutely horrific.  Jason Williams has been out of the league for over a league.  Ryan Anderson, at the very most, is mediocre.  Raja Bell is old, and in decline.  Kevin Martin is very good, but he can't carry a team.

You can't play your guys 40 minutes per night in the regular season; it's just not really feasible. 

Still, as you said, it's a work in progress, and I'll be interested to see what you end up with.

[johnnyrondo]

Well our lineup would be Jason Williams, Kevin Martin, Raja Bell, Ryan Anderson and Al Horford.  So worst case scenario second unit is still pretty good.

Well, no, that lineup isn't "pretty good" at all.  That's a significant downgrade from the "real life" Kings team, which was absolutely horrific.  Jason Williams has been out of the league for over a league.  Ryan Anderson, at the very most, is mediocre.  Raja Bell is old, and in decline.  Kevin Martin is very good, but he can't carry a team.

You can't play your guys 40 minutes per night in the regular season; it's just not really feasible. 

Still, as you said, it's a work in progress, and I'll be interested to see what you end up with.

Yeah, I didn't post my lineup in this thread yet. Not sure where the discussion began. And that lineup is certainly better than the Kings second unit... and the Kings don't have Chris Paul or Pau Gasol. Check Raja's stats on the Bobcats. He was better there then in previous years. Ryan Anderson was a starter last year. Jason Williams is more than capable of backing up Chris Paul. To have a dominant running team as starters, with one of the best players in the game, the best top two in the league, the best top three in the league, the best top 4 in the league, and the best starting line-up in the league, yeah we're not going to be loaded on the bench. But Armstrong started many games for the Hornets, Anderson the same for the Nets. Williams has always been a starter. Cardinal started games. Swift and our rookies have potential. We can live with our bench. Our starters will not be getting 40mpg b/c they will be on the bench most 4th quarters as we have a 25 pt lead on most teams. Come playoff time we might need call upon our big 4 to log more minutes, but they're all young and healthy (not 30+ players like the recent Celtics or the Nats). We will be fine.

[bucknersrevenge]

Alright...offering my kids up on the sacrificial altar:

The Milwaukee Bucks

Head Coach: Dave Cowens
Assistant Coach: Alvin Robertson, Paul Pressey

Starters:

C  Brendan Haywood 
PF Paul Millsap 
SF Kevin Durant
SG J.R. Smith           
PG Rodney Stuckey

6th man: F Jamario Moon

Bench: PG Luke Ridnour, F/C Ben Wallace, PF Tyler Hansbrough

10th-12th man: SG J.R. Giddens, SG Rashad McCants, F/C Tony Battie

IR List: G/F Marko Jaric, PG Anthony Johnson, PF Sean May

Firstly, they're young. I know this. VERY young in fact the core of my roster is 24 and younger. Needless to say the things that plague all young teams, defense and consistency will be issues. That said there's a ton of talent here. And there are a number of versatile players capable of playing 2 positions. It makes my lineup more flexible and adaptable. They can run(which they're gonna do early and often), but they have guys that execute in the halfcourt as well. Millsap is excellent with pick n roll and has an improving face-up game from 15 and in. J.R. is great coming off picks and has unlimited range, Stuckey, probably my biggest question mark is an excellent penetrator and finisher in the lane, and Durant is well..Durant.

What I tried to do is surround these guys with some vets especially frontcourt vets because that's really the best position to have them in for such a young team. Big Ben has championship experience and Battie has seen several playoff games. Luke and Haywood are just veteran enough to be sure what to expect from them. Moon though 29 has young legs and is solid defender and a high flyer. And there's some additional youth with promise and some veterans rounding out the group.

I definitely like your 2-3-4 combo, and Haywood is an underrated center.  I'm not sold on Stuckey, but reasonable minds can disagree.

One area of weakness I see is size.  Haywood has legit size for a center, but Milsap is a small power forward, and his primary backup (Hansborough) is also undersized.  The other bigs are bordering on ancient (Wallace and Battie). 

I really think going forward, this is something your team has to address.  Obviously, a lot of that is mitigated by Durant causing mismatches at the 3, but I think teams that rely almost exclusively on undersized bigs will be in trouble (see, i.e., this year's Celts.)

Understand about Stuckey. He's the x-factor of course. I thought he showed real leadership at the end of last year. Hid mid-range game is superb. Whether he's enough of a facilitator remains to be seen but that's why I wanted a true pg like Ridnour to back him up.

As for Hansbrough, he's listed at 6'9" 234 by DraftExpress so he does need to put on some more muscle, I do agree with that. But the kid is fearless and he doesn't mind mixing it up at all. I guarantee he'll get at least 1 offensive rebound a game he has no business getting simply because he wanted it more.

And the other bigs are definitely old and in decline but I'm taking the tradeoff of the experience(championship at that in Big Ben's case) he can provide to such a young team for decline in overall performance. I doubled up here because between them, they'd only need to be on the court about 20 minutes a game. But I appreciate your honest feedback. 

[Roy Hobbs]

Come playoff time we might need call upon our big 4 to log more minutes, but they're all young and healthy (not 30+ players like the recent Celtics or the Nats). We will be fine.

Young and healthy?  Martin missed 31 games last season, and 21 games the season before that.  Since 2005, Pau Gasol (age 29 next season) has had seasons where he has missed 26, 23, and 16 games.  Al Horford missed 15 games last season.  Raja Bell is 33 years old, and missed 15 games last year.

Only Chris Paul among the starters on your team is both young and healthy.

[nickagneta]

Come playoff time we might need call upon our big 4 to log more minutes, but they're all young and healthy (not 30+ players like the recent Celtics or the Nats). We will be fine.

Young and healthy?  Martin missed 31 games last season, and 21 games the season before that.  Since 2005, Pau Gasol (age 29 next season) has had seasons where he has missed 26, 23, and 16 games.  Al Horford missed 15 games last season.  Raja Bell is 33 years old, and missed 15 games last year.

Only Chris Paul among the starters on your team is both young and healthy.

Should the owners of the Portland CrotoNats being tearing down other teams health situations with players like Shaq, Jermaine, Manu, and Redd figuring so prominently into their rotation? Maybe this particular criticism of another team is best left alone by the CrotoNats owners lest it come back to bite them in the butt come voting time.