2011 CB Draft Eastern Playoffs: 1st Round

[The Walker Wiggle]

sixers win easily

Well, Orlando got one vote. The NBA's best point guard versus the worst point guard rotation in the CB League. And I just can't see the 76ers the way most do, the aforementioned point guard rotation, not enough three point shooting, a thin bench, and the undersold fact that Philadelphia leads the league in games missed in 2010-11 - and just runs away with it.

[mgent]

sixers win easily

Well, Orlando got one vote. The NBA's best point guard versus the worst point guard rotation in the CB League. And I just can't see the 76ers the way most do, the aforementioned point guard rotation, not enough three point shooting, a thin bench, and the undersold fact that Philadelphia leads the league in games missed in 2010-11 - and just runs away with it.

Huh?  I don't see how you could back up ONE of those accusations.

Sixers have an overwhelming advantage at every other position.  Can you elaborate on how Chris Paul makes up for that?

[KCattheStripe]

Still there is a reason iggy is ALWAYS in trade rumors.

That has more to do with contract than talent.

You mean the reason no one has ever picked him up?

He makes less then pierce and pierce wouldn't last long at all on the trade market.

Well Paul Pierce is a better player with Championship experience, there's a difference. And I'm not sure how much Paul would fetch, remember the Sixers would have to get something worth it to trade Iggy.

[The Walker Wiggle]

sixers win easily

Well, Orlando got one vote. The NBA's best point guard versus the worst point guard rotation in the CB League. And I just can't see the 76ers the way most do, the aforementioned point guard rotation, not enough three point shooting, a thin bench, and the undersold fact that Philadelphia leads the league in games missed in 2010-11 - and just runs away with it.

Huh?  I don't see how you could back up ONE of those accusations.

Well here's ONE.

Anderson Varejao - 31 games
David West - 70 games
Andre Iguodala - 67 games
Dwyane Wade - 76 games
Kirk Hinrich - 72 games
Kenyon Martin - 48 games
Leandro Barbosa - 58 games
Toney Douglas - 81 games
Tiago Splitter - 60 games
Matt Bonner - 66 games
Josh Childress - 54 games

Which team's players missed more games?

[mgent]

sixers win easily

Well, Orlando got one vote. The NBA's best point guard versus the worst point guard rotation in the CB League. And I just can't see the 76ers the way most do, the aforementioned point guard rotation, not enough three point shooting, a thin bench, and the undersold fact that Philadelphia leads the league in games missed in 2010-11 - and just runs away with it.

Huh?  I don't see how you could back up ONE of those accusations.

Well here's ONE.

Anderson Varejao - 31 games
David West - 70 games
Andre Iguodala - 67 games
Dwyane Wade - 76 games
Kirk Hinrich - 72 games
Kenyon Martin - 48 games
Leandro Barbosa - 58 games
Toney Douglas - 81 games
Tiago Splitter - 60 games
Matt Bonner - 66 games
Josh Childress - 54 games

Which team's players missed more games?

Who cares?  How many of those guys are injury-prone?  1?  This is the playoffs anyway, when does K-Mart miss the playoffs?

How can you point out Iguodala missed 15 games last year and ignore that he missed 6 games in the previous 6 years, and started 82 games in 5 of those years?

I mean really, two guys missing significant time last year is a big deal?  Especially when both of those guys are good to go at the beginning of next season?

[The Walker Wiggle]

You asked me to back up my claim that the 76ers missed more games than any other team in the league - and by a landslide - and so I just did. Unless you have a rebuttal that amounts to more than, "I don't care?"

[indeedproceed]

Also to be fair Splitter missed 42 games mostly from cd-dnp's

[The Walker Wiggle]

Also to be fair Splitter missed 42 games mostly from cd-dnp's

Ok. I didn't check. Although that's partly owing to the fact that he missed the entire preseason with a strained calf. And didn't he struggle with nagging injuries throughout his European career? As I recall, back in the 2007 draft there was some concern that he would have difficulty with the 82 game season. But I could easily be wrong again. I know embarrassingly little about the international game.

Either way it does support ONE of my other claims, that the 76ers have a thin bench.

[action781]

sixers win easily

Well, Orlando got one vote. The NBA's best point guard versus the worst point guard rotation in the CB League. And I just can't see the 76ers the way most do, the aforementioned point guard rotation, not enough three point shooting, a thin bench, and the undersold fact that Philadelphia leads the league in games missed in 2010-11 - and just runs away with it.

Interesting point about Chris Paul.  He truly is a transcendent point guard in the NBA.  He would have an absolutely ridiculous series.  25-30ppg and 10 assists wouldn't surprise me the least bit to be honest.

I don't think it's quite enough though.  Even if one of Philly's bigs did get hurt, their bigs still would be better than Orlando's.  If one of them were to get hurt, it would be a close series though that I think could go either way.

While Philly has far superior wings, J-Rich and Maggette are 2 guys who can score the ball, no matter who is defending them, so I do expect them to get theirs.  Chris Paul would be able to get them a lot of good looks too.

In the end, Chris Paul would still be carrying this team by himself and I don't think he can do so in a manner than will result in 4 wins in 7 games vs. Philly.  I'd hope that Philly would make some adjustments to have Wade guard CP3 at some points which might trouble Orlando some.

I voted for Philly.  This would be 4-0, or at worst, 4-1, in my opinion.

We also voted for Philly, but I don't think there's any way that this series is a sweep.  Chris Paul is simply too good.  Chris Paul has never been swept in playoff series.  He has only won a single playoff series, but even in the 3 series that he's lost, he was never swept and has single handedly carried his team to at least one of those wins in each series.

Against LAL '11:  33 and 14 in game 1; 27 and 15 in game 4 wins.
Against Denver '09:  32 and 12 in a game 3 win.
Against SAS '08:  17 and 13 in game 1; 30 and 12 in game 2; 22 and 14 in game 6 wins.

Most important thing about those stats are they are all in wins.  He had other fantastic statistical games in losses (and in games during the Dallas series they won), but my point is his ability to single-handedly carry his teams to wins during series they lost.

Those numbers along with his typically stellar defense against weak numbers from Philly's pg position, plus a little help from a teammate would easily result in at least 1 win.  I think it's 4-2 Philly, but 4-1 wouldn't surprise me.  4-3 would be possible, but 4-1 would be more likely.  I don't see a sweep happening nor Orlando able to win the series.

[The Walker Wiggle]

But, hey, my esteemed rival in Philadelphia is doing something right. He's got a widely acclaimed team, a very valuable first seed, and he knows the game.

While I'm the Draft crackpot and fielded a losing team again, in fact I generally miss the playoffs in this thing.

And as I feel confident that I won't jinx him, let me be the first to congratulate MGent on getting through to the second round.

P.S. Action that's a really well put together assessment. I enjoyed it. And while I like Orlando's front court more than you do, and Philadelphia's less, if the 76ers were to win, I'd expect it would go down in much the way you describe.

[action781]

But, hey, my esteemed rival in Philadelphia is doing something right. He's got a widely acclaimed team, a very valuable first seed, and he knows the game.

While I'm the Draft crackpot and fielded a losing team again, in fact I generally miss the playoffs in this thing.

And as I feel confident that I won't jinx him, let me be the first to congratulate MGent on getting through to the second round.

P.S. Action that's a really well put together assessment. I enjoyed it. And while I like Orlando's front court more than you do, and Philadelphia's less, if the 76ers were to win, I'd expect it would go down in much the way you describe.

Thanks for the compliment, WW. 

As you may like Orlando's frontcourt more than I do, I also probably like Chris Paul a lot more than most people haha.  If I got to pick a player in the NBA to carry a team to a championship, he'd be in my top 5 with Lebron, Kobe, Wade, and Dwight.  I think they are the top 5 in terms of ability to carry a team by themselves.  Duncan has just fallen out of that group in my mind and Dirk is just on the outside (CP3 has never had that much talent nor as good fits around him).

[Kane3387]

But, hey, my esteemed rival in Philadelphia is doing something right. He's got a widely acclaimed team, a very valuable first seed, and he knows the game.

While I'm the Draft crackpot and fielded a losing team again, in fact I generally miss the playoffs in this thing.

And as I feel confident that I won't jinx him, let me be the first to congratulate MGent on getting through to the second round.

P.S. Action that's a really well put together assessment. I enjoyed it. And while I like Orlando's front court more than you do, and Philadelphia's less, if the 76ers were to win, I'd expect it would go down in much the way you describe.

Thanks for the compliment, WW. 

As you may like Orlando's frontcourt more than I do, I also probably like Chris Paul a lot more than most people haha.  If I got to pick a player in the NBA to carry a team to a championship, he'd be in my top 5 with Lebron, Kobe, Wade, and Dwight.  I think they are the top 5 in terms of ability to carry a team by themselves.  Duncan has just fallen out of that group in my mind and Dirk is just on the outside (CP3 has never had that much talent nor as good fits around him).

I would take Kobe out and put in Rose at this point.

[mgent]

You asked me to back up my claim that the 76ers missed more games than any other team in the league - and by a landslide - and so I just did. Unless you have a rebuttal that amounts to more than, "I don't care?"

To be honest I read quickly and thought you said 2011-2012 season, so yeah I didn't think you could back that up    As for last season, I don't know I don't time to search how many games each team missed.  Not sure it's a landslide though.

But players miss games.  That's how it is.  I had 2 guys miss significant time, only 1 of whom are injury-prone, and they both are ready to play at the beginning of the season.  That was my rebuttal.  If you want to know who's going to miss significant games next season the best you can do is pull names out of a hat.

[mgent]

Also to be fair Splitter missed 42 games mostly from cd-dnp's

Ok. I didn't check. Although that's partly owing to the fact that he missed the entire preseason with a strained calf. And didn't he struggle with nagging injuries throughout his European career? As I recall, back in the 2007 draft there was some concern that he would have difficulty with the 82 game season. But I could easily be wrong again. I know embarrassingly little about the international game.

Either way it does support ONE of my other claims, that the 76ers have a thin bench.

I wouldn't consider my bench thin compared to the rest of the league, in fact I'd say it's above average.

[action781]

But, hey, my esteemed rival in Philadelphia is doing something right. He's got a widely acclaimed team, a very valuable first seed, and he knows the game.

While I'm the Draft crackpot and fielded a losing team again, in fact I generally miss the playoffs in this thing.

And as I feel confident that I won't jinx him, let me be the first to congratulate MGent on getting through to the second round.

P.S. Action that's a really well put together assessment. I enjoyed it. And while I like Orlando's front court more than you do, and Philadelphia's less, if the 76ers were to win, I'd expect it would go down in much the way you describe.

Thanks for the compliment, WW. 

As you may like Orlando's frontcourt more than I do, I also probably like Chris Paul a lot more than most people haha.  If I got to pick a player in the NBA to carry a team to a championship, he'd be in my top 5 with Lebron, Kobe, Wade, and Dwight.  I think they are the top 5 in terms of ability to carry a team by themselves.  Duncan has just fallen out of that group in my mind and Dirk is just on the outside (CP3 has never had that much talent nor as good fits around him).

I would take Kobe out and put in Rose at this point.

There's a lot of turmoil in that group right now I think, whereas a year or 2 ago it was pretty clearly defined.  I'm also torn on whether or not I think Wade is really in that group (I'm not as high on Wade as most others) still.

But to be more clear, that was referring to ability to carry a team in the postseason.  In regular season, I'd say yes, of course Rose, he just showed it.  But in the postseason, I still think I'd take Kobe over Rose.  But Rose is right up there.  But I definitely think there's a lot of room for debate here for almost all the players.