Is Your Pick Two Team Better than When it Started?

[wdleehi]

My turn?

Pacers starting lineup:

PG  -  Stephen Curry
SG  -  Courtney Lee
SF  -  Lamar Odom
PF  -  Chuck Hayes
C   -  Nenad Krstic

Bench:

Shannon Brown
Anthony Randolph
Zaza Pachulia.

My take on team as follows - though a couple of changes are inevitable.

Krstic is more of a finesse Centre, so i've decided to start a bulldog like Chuck Hayes next to him.  Hayes, whilst being 6-6, can create mismatches but can also defend above his size.

I love Lamar Odom at the 3.  Whilst he may struggle to defend quicker perimeter 3's, he tends to get abused by bigger 4's in the post.  Offensively, he can handle the ball, is a great passer, has pretty good outside touch, can post his man, pretty good rebounder and can also initiate the offense.  I honestly still do not know why i copped so much flack for trading him for Granger.  Nevertheless.....

My starting backcourt of Lee and Curry i like alot.  Whilst they are young, both have shown real promise.  Lee is a very solid defender, who makes a good 3rd or 4th offensive option.  He is a good slasher and decent outside shooter.

Curry is a future all-star.  The season started slow for him, but he has really come on lately.  He is an excellent shooter and is displaying some good playmaking abilities.  The reins of his GSW team will be handed over soon, if not already.

Benchwise, we have a banger in Zaza.  Some length and rawness at the 4 in Anthony Randolph.  In his second starting game as a rook he swatted 8 shots.  You dont do that without some skill.  We also have some toughness and scoring in Shannon Brown (aka 2010 slam dunk champ)  Good slasher, fearless and has confidence in his game.

Whaddya think?
 

Lotto team.


There is no one on that team to lead the offense.  No one that teams have to double, yet, there is someone that easy to double off (Hayes)

Should look to move the older guys with value (Odom) for younger talent.  Start Randolph and get him the experience your team needs. 

[wdleehi]

I had a better argument before school ruined my two picks on Friday.

Even so, i think the cats are better than they currently are, though i admit the missing of the two picks hurt my bench substantially.

See sig for current team, thoughts on the cats?

Possible playoff team.


Doesn't have the "go to guy" needed to be any more then that.

[wdleehi]

Current Utah Salties
C: HIbbert
PF: Boozer
SF: Battier
SG: Granger
PG: Williams

Bench
4/5 backup: Sheed
2/3 backup: Raja Bell
PG backup: TJ Ford

I think that's a pretty solid team so far.  Could definitely use some solid bench players but so far I think I'm off to a pretty decent start.

Opinions from anyone?

Shift Bell to SG and Granger to SF.  Use Battier off the bench.


Hibbert is fine starting, but should be benched down the stretch in favor of Wallace or Battier.  Need one more SG that can play.

[wdleehi]

TEAM OF THE FUTURE!

PG: Rose
SG: Batum
SF: Gallinari
PF: Jeff Green
C: Noah

Bench: Al Thornton, Jrue Holiday.

Nice little team.   Need some major size at PF and C.  I think Green's future is at SF (though stuck at PF because of Durrant/Gallinari) 

[ChampKind]

My turn?

Pacers starting lineup:

PG  -  Stephen Curry
SG  -  Courtney Lee
SF  -  Lamar Odom
PF  -  Chuck Hayes
C   -  Nenad Krstic

Bench:

Shannon Brown
Anthony Randolph
Zaza Pachulia.

My take on team as follows - though a couple of changes are inevitable.

Krstic is more of a finesse Centre, so i've decided to start a bulldog like Chuck Hayes next to him.  Hayes, whilst being 6-6, can create mismatches but can also defend above his size.

I love Lamar Odom at the 3.  Whilst he may struggle to defend quicker perimeter 3's, he tends to get abused by bigger 4's in the post.  Offensively, he can handle the ball, is a great passer, has pretty good outside touch, can post his man, pretty good rebounder and can also initiate the offense.  I honestly still do not know why i copped so much flack for trading him for Granger.  Nevertheless.....

My starting backcourt of Lee and Curry i like alot.  Whilst they are young, both have shown real promise.  Lee is a very solid defender, who makes a good 3rd or 4th offensive option.  He is a good slasher and decent outside shooter.

Curry is a future all-star.  The season started slow for him, but he has really come on lately.  He is an excellent shooter and is displaying some good playmaking abilities.  The reins of his GSW team will be handed over soon, if not already.

Benchwise, we have a banger in Zaza.  Some length and rawness at the 4 in Anthony Randolph.  In his second starting game as a rook he swatted 8 shots.  You dont do that without some skill.  We also have some toughness and scoring in Shannon Brown (aka 2010 slam dunk champ)  Good slasher, fearless and has confidence in his game.

Whaddya think?
 

The backcourt is young and unproven. The frontcourt is small or soft and honestly, just untalented. I watch a ton of Pacers games and somehow you managed to make a low lottery team even worse in the short term. Lee/Curry/Randolph make up a nice core for the future, but none are surefire prospects, and it's especially tough to gauge how rookies in Don Nelson's system will play on other teams.

[Fafnir]

My turn?

Pacers starting lineup:

PG  -  Stephen Curry
SG  -  Courtney Lee
SF  -  Lamar Odom
PF  -  Chuck Hayes
C   -  Nenad Krstic

Bench:

Shannon Brown
Anthony Randolph
Zaza Pachulia.

My take on team as follows - though a couple of changes are inevitable.

Krstic is more of a finesse Centre, so i've decided to start a bulldog like Chuck Hayes next to him.  Hayes, whilst being 6-6, can create mismatches but can also defend above his size.

I love Lamar Odom at the 3.  Whilst he may struggle to defend quicker perimeter 3's, he tends to get abused by bigger 4's in the post.  Offensively, he can handle the ball, is a great passer, has pretty good outside touch, can post his man, pretty good rebounder and can also initiate the offense.  I honestly still do not know why i copped so much flack for trading him for Granger.  Nevertheless.....

My starting backcourt of Lee and Curry i like alot.  Whilst they are young, both have shown real promise.  Lee is a very solid defender, who makes a good 3rd or 4th offensive option.  He is a good slasher and decent outside shooter.

Curry is a future all-star.  The season started slow for him, but he has really come on lately.  He is an excellent shooter and is displaying some good playmaking abilities.  The reins of his GSW team will be handed over soon, if not already.

Benchwise, we have a banger in Zaza.  Some length and rawness at the 4 in Anthony Randolph.  In his second starting game as a rook he swatted 8 shots.  You dont do that without some skill.  We also have some toughness and scoring in Shannon Brown (aka 2010 slam dunk champ)  Good slasher, fearless and has confidence in his game.

Whaddya think?
 

Lotto team.


There is no one on that team to lead the offense.  No one that teams have to double, yet, there is someone that easy to double off (Hayes)

Should look to move the older guys with value (Odom) for younger talent.  Start Randolph and get him the experience your team needs. 

Odom shouldn't be playing SF. He's at his best at the 4.

[ChampKind]

Fake Grizzlies:

PG - Jose Calderon - $8.219m
SG - O.J. Mayo - $4.165m
SF - Paul Pierce - $19.795m
PF - Carl Landry - $3m
C  - Marc Gasol - $3.24m

Bench:
PG - Ramon Sessions - $3.67m
PG/SG - Sweet Lou Williams - $4.972m
C/PF - Ronny Turiaf $4.14m

Total Salary 2010: $51.201m

[Edgar]

The 75 Millions Orlando Magic

Andre Miller > Jammer Nelson : At least this year
Rip Hamilton = vince Carter : Dont let a game or 2 fools you
Artest >>>>> that other dude
Shard = Shard
Howard > Howard just because the defensive help


Bench

Mike Dunleavy > JJ Redick
Gomes = Pietrus (who is not playing that good)
Blake = Jason

At the end the money is worthly spend

Orlando going for ALL this year baby.

[Rondo2287]

New Rockets Post Trade

Brooks
Salmons
Thadd Young
Millsap
Okafor

Bench
Yi
Ben Wallace

3 picks in this round. 

[Who]

My turn?

Pacers starting lineup:

PG  -  Stephen Curry
SG  -  Courtney Lee
SF  -  Lamar Odom
PF  -  Chuck Hayes
C   -  Nenad Krstic

Bench:

Shannon Brown
Anthony Randolph
Zaza Pachulia.

My take on team as follows - though a couple of changes are inevitable.

Krstic is more of a finesse Centre, so i've decided to start a bulldog like Chuck Hayes next to him.  Hayes, whilst being 6-6, can create mismatches but can also defend above his size.

I love Lamar Odom at the 3.  Whilst he may struggle to defend quicker perimeter 3's, he tends to get abused by bigger 4's in the post.  Offensively, he can handle the ball, is a great passer, has pretty good outside touch, can post his man, pretty good rebounder and can also initiate the offense.  I honestly still do not know why i copped so much flack for trading him for Granger.  Nevertheless.....

My starting backcourt of Lee and Curry i like alot.  Whilst they are young, both have shown real promise.  Lee is a very solid defender, who makes a good 3rd or 4th offensive option.  He is a good slasher and decent outside shooter.

Curry is a future all-star.  The season started slow for him, but he has really come on lately.  He is an excellent shooter and is displaying some good playmaking abilities.  The reins of his GSW team will be handed over soon, if not already.

Benchwise, we have a banger in Zaza.  Some length and rawness at the 4 in Anthony Randolph.  In his second starting game as a rook he swatted 8 shots.  You dont do that without some skill.  We also have some toughness and scoring in Shannon Brown (aka 2010 slam dunk champ)  Good slasher, fearless and has confidence in his game.

Whaddya think?
 

I'm not a fan of Krstic. I'd rather have a strong defensive minded center there. That type of center in combination with Odom at power forward would give you a terrific foundation defensively. Especially with Lee on the perimeter. A top 10 defense.

I agree with others on Lamar Odom. I think he's at his best at power forward. He's a very good defender at the position and it allows him to stay closer to the backboards, and, thus a bigger impact on the glass. He is also a matchup problem for most opposing bigs due to his quickness + ballhandling/passing/driving ability.

I don't like having both Lamar Odom and Anthony Randolph. Both players are natural power forwards and the two best talents on the roster. I would rather see you trade Randolph and build a team for the present tense (Odom + Player X + Curry) or trade Odom and build a team for the future (Curry + Randolph + Prospect X). I think you're stuck between those two ideas ... and that that has left your team short of the talent necessary to make a major challenge both now and in the future.

Stephen Curry is a very nice starting point guard. Excellent offensive player. I like Courtney Lee, he is a valuable role player. Chuck Hayes and Zaza Pachulia are a pair of good reserve big men.

Not a fan of Shannon Brown. He's not a natural point guard and will struggle a lot more once he doesn't have the Triangle + Kobe Bryant to play off of. I'm not impressed by him as a two guard either.

[Who]

TEAM OF THE FUTURE!

PG: Rose
SG: Batum
SF: Gallinari
PF: Jeff Green
C: Noah

Bench: Al Thornton, Jrue Holiday.

Nice little team.   Need some major size at PF and C.  I think Green's future is at SF (though stuck at PF because of Durrant/Gallinari) 

Yeah, I'm not wild about Jeff Green at the four either. I think he needs to be playing alongside a center with a bit more heft, more physicality, to make that work.

I prefer Green as a small forward. As a Tayshaun Prince type player.

[Who]

Current Utah Salties
C: HIbbert
PF: Boozer
SF: Battier
SG: Granger
PG: Williams

Bench
4/5 backup: Sheed
2/3 backup: Raja Bell
PG backup: TJ Ford

I think that's a pretty solid team so far.  Could definitely use some solid bench players but so far I think I'm off to a pretty decent start.

Opinions from anyone?

If I were you, I'd start Raja Bell at SG and move Battier to the bench.  Granger, in my opinion, is not capable of playing SG.  Raja Bell can't score anymore, but with the rest of that starting lineup he won't need to - and Battier off the bench will keep his minutes down.

Love the talent you have on the team though.

Shift Bell to SG and Granger to SF.  Use Battier off the bench.

I disagree, I think Battier is a far more effective two guard than Raja Bell ... and more importantly I think the team is vastly superior with Battier in that starting lineup than Bell because of Battier's stronger defensive play at this juncture in their respective careers. The weak interior defense and Granger's mediocre D makes Battier's strong D a necessity.

I would keep Battier in the starting lineup and Bell in the reserve role.

Other Thoughts

I would like to see you target a second wing off the bench with some size. There is a very good prospect still available with that description and a couple of decent role players.

I don't think TJ Ford can play for Jerry Sloan. He doesn't have the discipline offensively, to run the offense, that Sloan demands. TJ needs more freedom to express himself.

Still very concerned about the defensive qualities of Boozer, Hibbert and Wallace as a big man rotation. The rest of the roster is elite, a contender, but that combination could hold it back.

[Who]

Fake Grizzlies:

PG - Jose Calderon - $8.219m
SG - O.J. Mayo - $4.165m
SF - Paul Pierce - $19.795m
PF - Carl Landry - $3m
C  - Marc Gasol - $3.24m

Bench:
PG - Ramon Sessions - $3.67m
PG/SG - Sweet Lou Williams - $4.972m
C/PF - Ronny Turiaf $4.14m

Total Salary 2010: $51.201m

That starting five would be beautiful to watch offensively. All talented players, four of whom are extremely efficient. Good passing and unselfishness amongst the unit. One of the best offensive lineup's in the league.

Not the best team defensively but they'd be serviceable.

Not a fan of the bench corps ... I love the shooting ability + efficiency + ball movement that the starting lineup provides. I dislike seeing two guards, Ramon Sessions and Louis Williams, who don't fit into that type of game plan. The offense will change a great deal when they check in.

The team already had a lot of go-to scorers who can create offense (Pierce + OJ + Landry)and high quality complementary offensive players (Gasol + Calderon) in the starting lineup ... I think your team's balance would have been better to stick with complementary bench players who can play off of those players rather than two ball dominant guards who need the ball. It would be less of an issue if you decided to keep only one of them and traded the other for a quality backup wing.

Turiaf is a solid backup big man, can fill both big man positions. I like him. He brings a bit more defensive chops to the table. Great energy and effort too.

I'm thinking a 47-51 team that could be a 55/56 win team with a stronger bench.

[Who]

New Rockets Post Trade

Brooks
Salmons
Thadd Young
Millsap
Okafor

Bench
Yi
Ben Wallace

3 picks in this round. 

The Paul Millsap + Emeka Okafor combination is very good. I also like Ben Wallace off the bench, he's having an excellent season. That's the strength of this team. The backbone. Those three players. They add nearly all the value to this team.

I think the rest of the squad is fairly mediocre. I'm not an Aaron Brooks fan. I don't think he does enough outside of scoring the ball. Poor defensively, poor rebounder, poor floor general/passer. I think Salmons + Young is a downgrade from Battier + Ariza. Yi is a large variable who is hard to pin down but he's off to an unimpressive start to his career. In comparison to the current Rockets, the loss of Kyle Lowry is a large downgrade.

I think Thaddeus Young is a lot more effective as a power forward than a small forward. That's why I'm not enthusiastic about him here. I think he's a better offensive (quickness creates matchup problems) + defensive player (team defense adds a lot of value) at the four. I think his natural position is as an undersized power forward.

The question is:

• Is Millsap + Okafor + Big Ben superior to Scola + Landry + Hayes? Yes, it is.
• Is that upgrade more important than the perceived downgrades on the perimeter? Ehh, that, I'm not sure about.

Overall, I'm thinking that the squad is comparable to the current Rockets. They're in the same ball park.

[ChampKind]

Fake Grizzlies:

PG - Jose Calderon - $8.219m
SG - O.J. Mayo - $4.165m
SF - Paul Pierce - $19.795m
PF - Carl Landry - $3m
C  - Marc Gasol - $3.24m

Bench:
PG - Ramon Sessions - $3.67m
PG/SG - Sweet Lou Williams - $4.972m
C/PF - Ronny Turiaf $4.14m

Total Salary 2010: $51.201m

That starting five would be beautiful to watch offensively. All talented players, four of whom are extremely efficient. Good passing and unselfishness amongst the unit. One of the best offensive lineup's in the league.

Not the best team defensively but they'd be serviceable.

Not a fan of the bench corps ... I love the shooting ability + efficiency + ball movement that the starting lineup provides. I dislike seeing two guards, Ramon Sessions and Louis Williams, who don't fit into that type of game plan. The offense will change a great deal when they check in.

The team already had a lot of go-to scorers who can create offense (Pierce + OJ + Landry)and high quality complementary offensive players (Gasol + Calderon) in the starting lineup ... I think your team's balance would have been better to stick with complementary bench players who can play off of those players rather than two ball dominant guards who need the ball. It would be less of an issue if you decided to keep only one of them and traded the other for a quality backup wing.

Turiaf is a solid backup big man, can fill both big man positions. I like him. He brings a bit more defensive chops to the table. Great energy and effort too.

I'm thinking a 47-51 team that could be a 55/56 win team with a stronger bench.

Thanks. Agree with you on the Williams/Sessions bench play too. Too small to play together as well, but they can generate offense off the bench (defense is another story). Bringing them in was a BPA story in the draft, and hopefully one can be flipped for a 2/3/4 to shore up the bench.