Portland Trailblazers
Coached by Jerry Sloan. During the 21 year period, Jerry coached all 21 seasons compiling a 1056-634 record (62.49 win % for ave. record of 51.24 wins and 30.76 losses) and a 96-97 playoff record. Jerry's teams made the playoffs 18 of the 21 years and advanced to NBA Finals twice (losing to Chicago both times).
John Stockton 1994-1995
Terrell Brandon 1999-2000
Raja Bell 2006-2007
Joe Johnson 2004-2005
Jim Jackson 1995-1996
Lebron James 2009-2010
Tayshaun Prince 2006-2007
Shane Battier 2007-2008
Dennis Rodman 1991-1992
Al Jefferson 2007-2008
Zach Randolph 2009-2010
Juwan Howard 1995-1996
Chris Bosh 2009-2010
Kevin Willis 1991-1992
Andrew Bogut 2009-2010
Of those 15 years, I have the following breakdown of awards/honors
MVP - 1
1st Team All NBA - 2
3rd Team All NBA - 4
1st Team All Defense - 3
2nd Team All Defense - 3
All Star - 7
Having the second pick I thought long and hard about if I wanted Lebron or Hakeem, but ultimately chose the most versatile and diverse SF perhaps ever. Once I had Lebron, I wanted to put together a team that would compliment his strengths and play well off him. I envisioned this to be tough gritty defenders, great rebounders, and excellent shooters. In order to appease chemistry concerns, I also wanted to put together a team that had very few top dogs. That is why for my next couple of picks John Stockton and Dennis Rodman were selected. It also is why I chose perhaps lesser statistical years for more complimentary years, Terrell Brandon and Joe Johnson being prime examples of that logic. In fact, Chris Bosh and late round draft pick Zach Randolph are really the only other players on this team that were the primary offensive weapon for their teams, aside from Lebron.
With my strategy in mind I went about selecting superb defenders and rebounders and shot blockers on the interior. Thus, Dennis Rodman was a no brainer selection. Rodman had the 6 highest rpg numbers during this period (the year I selected was his highest). Although, the year I chose Rodman did not win the defensive player of the year, it was the season that followed his back-to-back winning of the award. My strategy also made Kevin Willis an easy selection given he had the highest season after Rodman at 15.5 rpg. So I have the two best rebounders available from this period. In addition, Randolph was 3rd, Jefferson 5th, and Bosh 6th in rpg for the years I selected (bogut was also above 10 rpg though didn't crack the top ten). In total, the team averaged 123.5 rpg for the years I selected, which I would imagine will be the highest total given just how good Rodman and company were. Bogut was 2nd in the league in blocks per game adding a nice solid help defender in the paint, though on the whole the team averaged just 11.9 bpg.
I suspect my teams overall scoring of 268.4 ppg will be one of the lesser figures for this league, but that played into my strategy of pairing players to fit Lebron's skill set. On the paint I wanted defender/rebounder type players and on the perimeter I wanted excellent long range shooters who were unselfish with the ball. This often led to players that just didn't score the ball at the same sort of rate that other teams will surely have.
So with that in mind, this is what I envision my team looking like.
As a starting point, I think it should be mentioned that anticipate my three suit dwellars to be Jim Jackson, Zach Randolph, and Juwan Howard.
Now on to the 12 man team.
I envision Stockton, Lebron, and Bosh starting against every team in the league, but plan on rotating the other two starters between Raja Bell and Joe Johnson and Dennis Rodman and Kevin Willis depending on matchups. Against teams with stellar SG's like Kobe, I will start Raja Bell who was a 1st Team All Defensive player in the year I chose. Against teams that have lesser SG's, I will start dead eye three point shooter Joe Johnson (47.8% from three) to provide an additional kick out option for Lebron on his drives. Against teams with twin towers, I will start Willis and Bosh together to provide some much needed beef up front, but against those teams with smaller, more athletic, or perimeter PF's I will start Dennis Rodman, who was by far the best defender and rebounder available in the entire draft. I also will utilize Rodman's defensive versatility and have him guard superb wings, which he did as well as anyone in history.
Backups to Lebron are two superb defenders in Tayshaun Prince and Shane Battier (each 2nd team all defense) and both with enough versatility that each could play with Lebron against certain teams. Both of which are also efficient scorers.
I only elected to go with 1 back-up PG as I figured the PG would be as much about defense as initiating the offense with Lebron on the team. I chose Brandon's Minnesota year for a couple of reasons. First, he was second fiddle to KG so there should be less concern about that. Second, he was improved defensively later in his career. Third, while his TS% numbers were down due to lesser overall three point attempts, he was actually a better shooter. I felt this was important given his much reduced role (sometimes actual numbers are more important then effective percentages, especially when you are looking at vastly different roles).
At the big man spots, aside from the three pseudo starters, Al Jefferson and Andrew Bogut would be the bench players. I like their efficient scoring, big bodies, and solid shot blocking and rebounding.
I envision the playing time to be something like this
PG - Stockton 35, Brandon 13
SG - Johnson 25, Bell 23
SF - Lebron 38, Prince 10
PF - Rodman 25, Bosh 15, Jefferson 8
C - Willis 20, Bosh 20, Bogut 8
with Battier as mop-up.
Let me know if you have any questions, or need any stats, I have them all compiled for the years I selected.
Topic: CB Historical Draft - Team Rosters/Panelists Comments (Read 86639 times)