How is my Pick 2 team?

[slamtheking]

Well, that completes Folsom Prison.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the team fits together:

C:  Haywood / Hayes
PF: P. Gasol / A. Randolph / Tolliver
SF: Batum / J. Jones
SG: Bryant / B. Rush
PG: Billups / Redick / Watson

All of the starters received votes for the All Defense team last year (along with Chuck Hayes).  There's a nice mix of young and old, athleticism and fundamentals, swagger and steadiness.  I'm also happy with the shooting; five guys shoot over 40% from three, with two others who have hit 40% in the past.

Obviously, it's pretty easy to build a team around Kobe and Gasol, but I do think this is probably the best "fake team" I've put together in terms of actually looking and functioning like a team, rather than as a collection of highly talented individuals.

This is a really solid team.  I'd peg this and the Spurs as the teams to beat (pending final rosters)

[Who]

OK, last pick has been made.  Hit me with those honest opinions. 

Draft 2-2011: SA Spur(ned):
PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Manu Ginobili
SF: Al Harrington
PF: Hakim Warrick
C: Tim Duncan

Bench: Richard Hamilton, Chris Kaman,
 Brad Miller, Carlos Arroyo, Andres Nocioni, Marquis Daniels, DeSagana Diop

Start Rip Hamilton (SF) and Chris Kaman (PF)

They both provide far more offensively and defensively than their replacements + create a far more dangerous lineup as a whole.

Having Chris Kaman face power forwards will make him a more effective offensive weapon. It will give him a size advantage which will help create higher percentage shots in the post and/or draw help defense which will lead to a high percentage shot for someone else. He is also a superior defensive player and rebounder to Hakim Warrick.

I am not convinced Rip Hamilton can play a bench role. I think he is one of those guys who needs 32-36 minutes a night to find his groove. To get his scoring within the flow of the offense instead of forcing action. To be in rhythm. And you want him scoring within the offense because he is a far more efficient player when he takes those types of shots instead trying to score on broken plays and/or off the dribble.

Rip will also have a much better time getting offensive looks playing alongside top notch passing guards like Kidd and Ginobili while having two big bodies to run off (screens) in Duncan and Kaman.

[slamtheking]

OK, last pick has been made.  Hit me with those honest opinions. 

Draft 2-2011: SA Spur(ned):
PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Manu Ginobili
SF: Al Harrington
PF: Hakim Warrick
C: Tim Duncan

Bench: Richard Hamilton, Chris Kaman,
 Brad Miller, Carlos Arroyo, Andres Nocioni, Marquis Daniels, DeSagana Diop

Start Rip Hamilton (SF) and Chris Kaman (PF)

They both provide far more offensively and defensively than their replacements + create a far more dangerous lineup as a whole.

Having Chris Kaman face power forwards will make him a more effective offensive weapon. It will give him a size advantage which will help create higher percentage shots in the post and/or draw help defense which will lead to a high percentage shot for someone else. He is also a superior defensive player and rebounder to Hakim Warrick.

I am not convinced Rip Hamilton can play a bench role. I think he is one of those guys who needs 32-36 minutes a night to find his groove. To get his scoring within the flow of the offense instead of forcing action. To be in rhythm. And you want him scoring within the offense because he is a far more efficient player when he takes those types of shots instead trying to score on broken plays and/or off the dribble.

Rip will also have a much better time getting offensive looks playing alongside top notch passing guards like Kidd and Ginobili while having two big bodies to run off (screens) in Duncan and Kaman.

those are definitely concerns I've had with trying to find the right combo between Manu, Rip, Harrington, Warrick and Kaman.

I think the overall talent on the team is really solid and allows for a number of good, functional combos.  I'd have liked to have gotten a really good SF to start but based on limited trade options and the players available at the end of each round, I think Rip and Harrington were pretty good players to fit that slot

[indeedproceed]

The Old Bucks:

PG: Brandon Jennings/Kenyon Dooling/Earl Boykins
SG: John Salmons/Carlos Delfino/CDR
SF: Corey Maggette/Luc Richard Mbah A Moute
PF: Ersan Ilyasova/Drew Gooden/Larry Sanders
C: Andrew Bogut/Jon Brockman

New Bucks:

PG: Kyle Lowry/Jerryd Bayless
SG: Landry Fields/Reggie Williams/Deshawn Stevenson
SF: Paul Pierce/Shawne Williams
PF: Serge Ibaka/Drew Gooden/Tyler HansBrough
C: Andrew Bogut/Omer Asik

I definitely think I improved the current Bucks significantly.

I have to admit, other than Bogut and PP, I think every player is pegged a position to high in the rotation.  the other 3 starters should be coming off the bench but I don't see anyone better on the roster to put in their place.

Eh, all those guys are starters or high rotation players on playoff teams, except Lowry, who starts and plays 30+ a game for the Rockets.

On top of that all the guys produce at an above average rate (as in Landry, Serge, Lowry) than the normal starter for their position.

The only guy I'm asking to play more minutes than he already does is Serge Ibaka, but I'm not the only guy who thinks that's a great idea.

But the question is just unavoidable now. Oklahoma City is 3-0 with Ibaka starting and after his career-high 22 points to go with 11 rebounds and four blocks against the Jazz Monday night, Ibaka has forced his way into the discussion. I mean, with that jumpshot, those athletic abilities and that size, Ibaka is nearly a perfect, prototypical starting power forward. Which is what we all want, right? Plus, he’s not even begun to scratch what he can be.

So who should start the remaining 72 games? Jeff Green or Serge Ibaka?

But let’s think rationally about this. Shaking up the starting five 10 games in because Green tweaked an ankle seems a bit, I don’t know, over-reactionary. Green has been mediocre this season and actually, has been pretty good if you just look at traditional stats (18.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg). But we all saw him overmatched by LaMarcus Aldridge and we’ve seen him struggle from 3 and we’ve seen him have issues in the post.

Look at Ibaka’s though. Serge is averaging 12.2 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 2.5 bpg in eight fewer minutes a night than Green. Uncle Jeff has a PER of 15.4 right now while Ibaka’s is soaring at 21.3. Ibaka is currently sixth in the league in field goal percentage (58. and 85 percent from the line. When you compare the two, Ibaka has been better than Green this season, no doubt.

If you haven't had the chance to see Serge Ibaka play, you are missing one of the next up-and-coming rising superstars in the NBA.  Ibaka has a nice eight- to 10-foot jumper and has shown a lot of pure athleticism around the basket.  He is a strong physical specimen and will not back down to anyone.  

Ibaka is averaging about 28 to 30 minutes per game and shows flashes of brilliance, making Thunder fans ponder whether or not if he can continue to perform at a the same level throughout the season.  If he does continue to maintain his averages in points and rebounds coming off the bench, I am hereby casting my vote for Serge Ibaka as the early top candidate for NBA Sixth Man of The Year.

Ibaka is the consummate coach's player.  He's humble, he's coachable, he catches on very fast, and he is physically gifted enough to compete with the best in the NBA. If Serge Ibaka can "hold his own" against the other prominent players that he goes up against in the Western Conference, the Thunder stand a better chance of going deeper into the second or third round of the playoffs.

I think part of the problem with my rotation is that guys arent familiar with Lowry or Ibaka's games.

[KCattheStripe]

Any thoughts? I know they're not good enough too leave you jibber jabbers speechless. I think there might even be arguments to be made that the current Grizz are better.

Marc Gasol,  Javale McGee, Louis Amundson
Brandon Bass, Darrell Arthur, Louis Amundson
Rudy Gay, Luol Deng , Courtney Lee, Terrence Williams
Jose Calderon,Eric Bledsoe, AJ Price

[indeedproceed]

Any thoughts? I know they're not good enough too leave you jibber jabbers speechless. I think there might even be arguments to be made that the current Grizz are better.

Marc Gasol,  Javale McGee, Louis Amundson
Brandon Bass, Darrell Arthur, Louis Amundson
Rudy Gay, Luol Deng , Courtney Lee, Terrence Williams
Jose Calderon,Eric Bledsoe, AJ Price

The questions I have are: Will Gasol rise to the higher demand on his offense without Zach Randolph, will Brandon Bass rebound better if he's not next the Dwight Howard? Will Calderon hold them back?

None of them are very convincing though. McGee behind Gasol is solid, there will be good defense, I think Brandon Bass can do better than he is in Orlando, and I think Calderon will play better on a better team, and having Eric Bledsoe behind him is a solid move.

[nickagneta]

Final roster of the Pick 2 Blazers:

Starters
PG: Mo Williams
SG: Wesley Matthews
SF: Tayshaun Prince
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: Kendrick Perkins

Bench
PG: Jose Juan Barea, Eddie House
SG: Jodie Meeks
SF: Chris Douglas-Roberts
PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Jason Smith
C: Jeff Foster

Would I have rather kept a perfectly healthy and performing Greg Oden and Brandon Roy and started from there, absolutely. But this original team was devastated with injuries and I figured I would just try to make the best out of a bad situation. I just feel that Greg Oden is D-O-N-E, stick a fork in him, done and Brandon Roy is a bad long term investment having no cartilage in his knees.

So starting with what is arguably two best healthy players on that team, players that are really 3nd and 4th options if Oden and Roy are healthy, I attempted to build a healthy team, with great chemistry, made up of awesome role players each playing their role and hope and pray for some 2004 Piston-like performances to take this team far.


I think I have a great defensive team that can shoot the ball well from the outside and has some good to very good rebounding and players that can get off their own shot. What this lacks is a true floor leader and distributor.

Not sure how this team would eventually end up but I like the job I did and think they could make the playoffs in this league. Heck, I would be hopeful of winning my division though I am sure GMs in Minnesota, Utah, Denver, and Memphis would disagree.
 

[Rondo2287]

Final roster of the Pick 2 Blazers:

Starters
PG: Mo Williams
SG: Wesley Matthews
SF: Tayshaun Prince
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: Kendrick Perkins

Bench
PG: Jose Juan Barea, Eddie House
SG: Jodie Meeks
SF: Chris Douglas-Roberts
PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Jason Smith
C: Jeff Foster

Would I have rather kept a perfectly healthy and performing Greg Oden and Brandon Roy and started from there, absolutely. But this original team was devastated with injuries and I figured I would just try to make the best out of a bad situation. I just feel that Greg Oden is D-O-N-E, stick a fork in him, done and Brandon Roy is a bad long term investment having no cartilage in his knees.

So starting with what is arguably two best healthy players on that team, players that are really 3nd and 4th options if Oden and Roy are healthy, I attempted to build a healthy team, with great chemistry, made up of awesome role players each playing their role and hope and pray for some 2004 Piston-like performances to take this team far.


I think I have a great defensive team that can shoot the ball well from the outside and has some good to very good rebounding and players that can get off their own shot. What this lacks is a true floor leader and distributor.

Not sure how this team would eventually end up but I like the job I did and think they could make the playoffs in this league. Heck, I would be hopeful of winning my division though I am sure GMs in Minnesota, Utah, Denver, and Memphis would disagree.
 

Haha, chris douglas roberts makes it look like you have alot of depth at SF, but really its just a long name

[Chris]

Here is Dallas' final roster:

PG: Jarrett Jack/Chris Duhon/Greivis Vasquez
SG: Brandon Roy/Josh Childress/Vasquez
SF: Richard Jefferson/Wes Johnson/Vlad Radmanovic
PF: Dirk Nowitski/Tiago Splitter/Vlad
C: Tyson Chandler/Chris Andersen/Splitter

[Roy H.]

Here is Dallas' final roster:

PG: Jarrett Jack/Chris Duhon/Greivis Vasquez
SG: Brandon Roy/Josh Childress/Vasquez
SF: Richard Jefferson/Wes Johnson/Vlad Radmanovic
PF: Dirk Nowitski/Tiago Splitter/Vlad
C: Tyson Chandler/Chris Andersen/Splitter

Very good team.  The two concerns I have:

1.  Brandon Roy's health is, at best, a question mark.  Assuming that he misses games, is Josh Childress capable of playing SG as a starter, and can Vasquez handle rotation minutes?

2.  Is your defense outside of Chandler good enough to hang with some of the elite two-way teams in the league?

I think if Roy comes back relatively healthy (i.e., 80% - 85% of what he was), and your young guys and Childress can play up to their full potential, you could be a contender.

[Roy H.]

Final roster of the Pick 2 Blazers:

Starters
PG: Mo Williams
SG: Wesley Matthews
SF: Tayshaun Prince
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: Kendrick Perkins

Bench
PG: Jose Juan Barea, Eddie House
SG: Jodie Meeks
SF: Chris Douglas-Roberts
PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Jason Smith
C: Jeff Foster

Would I have rather kept a perfectly healthy and performing Greg Oden and Brandon Roy and started from there, absolutely. But this original team was devastated with injuries and I figured I would just try to make the best out of a bad situation. I just feel that Greg Oden is D-O-N-E, stick a fork in him, done and Brandon Roy is a bad long term investment having no cartilage in his knees.

So starting with what is arguably two best healthy players on that team, players that are really 3nd and 4th options if Oden and Roy are healthy, I attempted to build a healthy team, with great chemistry, made up of awesome role players each playing their role and hope and pray for some 2004 Piston-like performances to take this team far.


I think I have a great defensive team that can shoot the ball well from the outside and has some good to very good rebounding and players that can get off their own shot. What this lacks is a true floor leader and distributor.

Not sure how this team would eventually end up but I like the job I did and think they could make the playoffs in this league. Heck, I would be hopeful of winning my division though I am sure GMs in Minnesota, Utah, Denver, and Memphis would disagree.
 

Very solid squad, assuming Mo doesn't give the rest of the roster Bubonic Plague.  I like the defense and the depth.  The NBA is a star driven league, and I worry you don't have that star, but this is a good, solid playoff team.

[slamtheking]

Any thoughts? I know they're not good enough too leave you jibber jabbers speechless. I think there might even be arguments to be made that the current Grizz are better.

Marc Gasol,  Javale McGee, Louis Amundson
Brandon Bass, Darrell Arthur, Louis Amundson
Rudy Gay, Luol Deng , Courtney Lee, Terrence Williams
Jose Calderon,Eric Bledsoe, AJ Price

The questions I have are: Will Gasol rise to the higher demand on his offense without Zach Randolph, will Brandon Bass rebound better if he's not next the Dwight Howard? Will Calderon hold them back?

None of them are very convincing though. McGee behind Gasol is solid, there will be good defense, I think Brandon Bass can do better than he is in Orlando, and I think Calderon will play better on a better team, and having Eric Bledsoe behind him is a solid move.

I actually like this team.  Young solid players.  the wings are definitely the strength of the team.  May be a contender with experience.

[slamtheking]

Final roster of the Pick 2 Blazers:

Starters
PG: Mo Williams
SG: Wesley Matthews
SF: Tayshaun Prince
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: Kendrick Perkins

Bench
PG: Jose Juan Barea, Eddie House
SG: Jodie Meeks
SF: Chris Douglas-Roberts
PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Jason Smith
C: Jeff Foster

Would I have rather kept a perfectly healthy and performing Greg Oden and Brandon Roy and started from there, absolutely. But this original team was devastated with injuries and I figured I would just try to make the best out of a bad situation. I just feel that Greg Oden is D-O-N-E, stick a fork in him, done and Brandon Roy is a bad long term investment having no cartilage in his knees.

So starting with what is arguably two best healthy players on that team, players that are really 3nd and 4th options if Oden and Roy are healthy, I attempted to build a healthy team, with great chemistry, made up of awesome role players each playing their role and hope and pray for some 2004 Piston-like performances to take this team far.


I think I have a great defensive team that can shoot the ball well from the outside and has some good to very good rebounding and players that can get off their own shot. What this lacks is a true floor leader and distributor.

Not sure how this team would eventually end up but I like the job I did and think they could make the playoffs in this league. Heck, I would be hopeful of winning my division though I am sure GMs in Minnesota, Utah, Denver, and Memphis would disagree.
 

Very solid squad, assuming Mo doesn't give the rest of the roster Bubonic Plague.  I like the defense and the depth.  The NBA is a star driven league, and I worry you don't have that star, but this is a good, solid playoff team.

I like this team quite a bit.  nice balance through the roster from top to bottom for offense and defense.  Center spot won't provide much offense or rebounding number but I think they'll defend well.

[slamtheking]

Here is Dallas' final roster:

PG: Jarrett Jack/Chris Duhon/Greivis Vasquez
SG: Brandon Roy/Josh Childress/Vasquez
SF: Richard Jefferson/Wes Johnson/Vlad Radmanovic
PF: Dirk Nowitski/Tiago Splitter/Vlad
C: Tyson Chandler/Chris Andersen/Splitter

Very good team.  The two concerns I have:

1.  Brandon Roy's health is, at best, a question mark.  Assuming that he misses games, is Josh Childress capable of playing SG as a starter, and can Vasquez handle rotation minutes?

2.  Is your defense outside of Chandler good enough to hang with some of the elite two-way teams in the league?

I think if Roy comes back relatively healthy (i.e., 80% - 85% of what he was), and your young guys and Childress can play up to their full potential, you could be a contender.

I agree.  nice roster of players.  Roy's health is definitely the key to being a very good team.

[Who]

Here is Dallas' final roster:

PG: Jarrett Jack/Chris Duhon/Greivis Vasquez
SG: Brandon Roy/Josh Childress/Vasquez
SF: Richard Jefferson/Wes Johnson/Vlad Radmanovic
PF: Dirk Nowitski/Tiago Splitter/Vlad
C: Tyson Chandler/Chris Andersen/Splitter

If Brandon Roy can get back to All-Star form, this is a Championship caliber team.

If Brandon Roy plays at the level he was at earlier this season, this is a second tier side. A very good team but not a contender.