CB Draft Eastern Conference Finals: Sixers (1) Vs Knicks (4)

[mgent]

I think New York  could slide Deron onto Wade, remember Wade-- as much as I know he's the best player in the NBA-- is only 6'4"/ 6'5". But does Deron have it in him to guard the best player on the 76ers AND run his teams offense this late in the playoffs? I'm not sure.

Deron Williams can't guard D-Wade.

Deron is a below average defender when moved to the two spot.

I don't put Deron on Wade and I don't think Wade can/will shut down D-Will. If I am NY I think about playing a zone because both Wade and Iggy were like 32% 3 point shooters last I checked.

Agree, agree, agree. Use the length to make them shoot over you. It will lose you the games they're hot, but it might win you the series.

Until they start blowing by Jodie Meeks and dishing out to Hinrich/Douglas/Barbosa, West/KMart, and Bonner

[Who]

I think you want Nick Young out there as much as possible. Make Wade work defensively.

N.Young will run him all over the court and help tire him out.

[wdleehi]

I think you put Deng on Wade. 

[mgent]

At the moment, I think the two forward positions are evenly matched and that Tim Duncan has a slight matchup advantage at the center position with Wade and Deron having matchup advantages against their opposite numbers.

Phily will have an advantage with their backup guard (Barbosa vs Dooling). I forget who their backup big men are. Need to check on that.

Um what?  What?  What?  What?  What?  What?  What?  What?

You better just be talking about SF because how in the world do Blair and Gibson match up with West and KMart?

As for SF, they have the same scoring, same rebounding, slight edge to Iggy in defense, and Iguodala is like 5 times the passer Deng is.  I think I've got that position too.  Here's your stats Kane.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=iguodan01&p2=denglu01

[action781]

I think New York  could slide Deron onto Wade, remember Wade-- as much as I know he's the best player in the NBA-- is only 6'4"/ 6'5". But does Deron have it in him to guard the best player on the 76ers AND run his teams offense this late in the playoffs? I'm not sure.

Deron Williams can't guard D-Wade.

Deron is a below average defender when moved to the two spot.

I don't put Deron on Wade and I don't think Wade can/will shut down D-Will. If I am NY I think about playing a zone because both Wade and Iggy were like 32% 3 point shooters last I checked.

Agree, agree, agree. Use the length to make them shoot over you. It will lose you the games they're hot, but it might win you the series.

Ooooooooh, this team absolutely has good personnel to play a good 2-3 zone and I could see it being used effective at times against this Philly team

[mgent]

I think you put Deng on Wade. 

You gotta.  If you have a choice of Wade getting to the basket every possession and Iggy getting to the basket every possession, the decision is obvious.  Unfortunately either way its a loss.

[wdleehi]

I think you put Deng on Wade. 

You gotta.  If you have a choice of Wade getting to the basket every possession and Iggy getting to the basket every possession, the decision is obvious.  Unfortunately either way its a loss.

AI 2 can not carry a teams offense to a playoff series win.  As the team around him gets better, his offensive scoring drops. 


With a player like Wade, he should be a 12 point a game player.  (only a 2 point drop from the 76ers who have no big time scorer) 

[Who]

Can someone post a list of NBA players who have suffered ACL injuries over the past 10-15 years?

My impression is that player's often see a decline in their games after that injury. Especially the first year back. If that is wrong, I'd love to know because that would dramatically change my outlook on David West's impact on this Phily team.

[Who]

At the moment, I think the two forward positions are evenly matched and that Tim Duncan has a slight matchup advantage at the center position with Wade and Deron having matchup advantages against their opposite numbers.

Phily will have an advantage with their backup guard (Barbosa vs Dooling). I forget who their backup big men are. Need to check on that.

Um what?  What?  What?  What?  What?  What?  What?  What?

You better just be talking about SF because how in the world do Blair and Gibson match up with West and KMart?

As for SF, they have the same scoring, same rebounding, slight edge to Iggy in defense, and Iguodala is like 5 times the passer Deng is.  I think I've got that position too.  Here's your stats Kane.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=iguodan01&p2=denglu01

The reason I have Taj Gibson and David West even is because of West's ACL injury.

As I said, I had forgotten who your backup big men were and needed to check on that later. Kenyon Martin is very good. Best backup big in the series. You should have another advantage there off the bench (along with Barbosa).

[Gainesville Celtic]

BACKCOURT
PHI: Hinrich - Wade - Barbosa
NYK: Deron Williams - N. Young - Meeks

Philly has a slight overall edge here -- though I expect there to be some cross-matching for a few minutes a quarter.

As with the previous rounds, NYK's big advantage is at the PG position. Deron Williams continues to be the top PG in the league and while Hinrich is a very good defender he's lost a 1/2 step.

Wade will dominate  Young & Meeks straight up, so our game plan will be to have Nick Young (and to some extent Meeks) run Wade around as many picks & screens as possible (taking a page from the Celtics' playbook) to try and wear him down some. If we get can take away 10% of Wade's effectiveness (I love Wade's game) we'll be happy.



SMALL FORWARD
PHI: Iguodala
NYK: Deng

This is an exciting draw, IMO. In their 18 head-to-head matchups they've played to a 9-9 draw with each player performing right at their career averages.

Both are dynamic, versatile players who's contributions to a winning team are usually overlooked.

We'll also throw in a zone for 5-10 mins/half hoping to force Iggy and Wade into shooting from outside -- which is not their strength.



FRONTCOURT:
PHI: David West - Varejao - Kenyon Martin
NYK: Duncan - Taj Gibson - DeJaun Blair

Duncan will probably take David West, but there will be lots of mixing-and-matching in addition to the aforementioned zone ---- which plays a bit to David West's strenght a bit.

I don't know that Varejao can contain Duncan -- even at his advanced age. Martin & West (both who had ACL injuries in the past year) will have their hands full with the active Gibson/Blair combo.

At their best the Philly frontcourt is a bit more talented at this point in their respective careers... BUT... Varejao & Martin missed MORE than half of last year with injury and David West tore his ACL with 12 games left in the season so his availablity and physical ability has to be considered an unknown.



OVERALL/INTANGIBLES

Well with Wade decapitated....

NY Knicks have to have a slight edge.

If Wade can suture his head back on ---- shades of Curt Schilling in '04? ---- the Knicks still have an edge in the frontcourt --- a not insignificant thing in the playoffs when play slows down, each possession means a bit more and points in the paint often mean the difference.

Our goal has to be to try and slow the game down, limit Wade's damage, let Deng/Iggy play to a draw, force Philly into more perimeter shots than they're accustomed to and bank on (pun intended) Duncan digging deep for one last Finals appearance.

Ubuntu Y'all Yous Guys !!!

[mgent]

I think you put Deng on Wade. 

You gotta.  If you have a choice of Wade getting to the basket every possession and Iggy getting to the basket every possession, the decision is obvious.  Unfortunately either way its a loss.

AI 2 can not carry a teams offense to a playoff series win.  As the team around him gets better, his offensive scoring drops. 


With a player like Wade, he should be a 12 point a game player.  (only a 2 point drop from the 76ers who have no big time scorer) 

No way is Iguodala ever a 12 ppg scorer.  He averaged 14 last year, but 18 the four years before that.  If allowed to get inside at will, he's unbelievably dangerous.  Remember that Philly game right after we got Krstic?

[action781]

I think New York  could slide Deron onto Wade, remember Wade-- as much as I know he's the best player in the NBA-- is only 6'4"/ 6'5". But does Deron have it in him to guard the best player on the 76ers AND run his teams offense this late in the playoffs? I'm not sure.

Deron Williams can't guard D-Wade.

Deron is a below average defender when moved to the two spot.

I don't put Deron on Wade and I don't think Wade can/will shut down D-Will. If I am NY I think about playing a zone because both Wade and Iggy were like 32% 3 point shooters last I checked.

Agree, agree, agree. Use the length to make them shoot over you. It will lose you the games they're hot, but it might win you the series.

Until they start blowing by Jodie Meeks and dishing out to Hinrich/Douglas/Barbosa, West/KMart, and Bonner

Can West/KMart hit 3's?   I know we've discussed this before, but mid range jumpers and "turnaround jumpers" are NOT ways to beat a 2-3 zone.  You can claim they do all you want, but there's no way you're convincing me nor any intelligent basketball fans out there that they do.

I don't see how Douglas or Barbosa are going to help you.  Are they coming in for Hinrich?  If so, then you don't gain anything in shooting and lose some of your defense on D-Will.  If they come in for Wade.... well that just hurts everywhere.

It sounds like Bonner would be coming in for Varejao, which would be a huge sacrifice on your defense on Duncan.

When bringing in poor defensive shooters against a zone, you need to weigh the balance of:  are these players going to score enough to offset what I'm giving up on defense with them?  In your case, you're bringing in poor defenders at positions where you NEED good defenders, so it's a tough call.

I'd consider bringing in Bonner to the 4 to spread the floor while having Varejao underneath trying to work the offensive glass and still in there to guard Duncan.

[mgent]

Not scared of Duncan on West, he's too fast and his range/faceup game extends way too far for Duncan.  He's gonna be tired as heck chasing Varejao and West down the court.

[action781]

I think you put Deng on Wade.  

You gotta.  If you have a choice of Wade getting to the basket every possession and Iggy getting to the basket every possession, the decision is obvious.  Unfortunately either way its a loss.

AI 2 can not carry a teams offense to a playoff series win.  As the team around him gets better, his offensive scoring drops.  


With a player like Wade, he should be a 12 point a game player.  (only a 2 point drop from the 76ers who have no big time scorer)  

No way is Iguodala ever a 12 ppg scorer.  He averaged 14 last year, but 18 the four years before that.  If allowed to get inside at will, he's unbelievably dangerous.  Remember that Philly game right after we got Krstic?

I'd say it depends on the role that David West plays on Philly's team.  If West is a 12-16 ppg scorer, then yeah, I'd say Iggy is probably a 12-14ppg scorer b/c he'd be the 3rd option.

[wdleehi]

I think you put Deng on Wade. 

You gotta.  If you have a choice of Wade getting to the basket every possession and Iggy getting to the basket every possession, the decision is obvious.  Unfortunately either way its a loss.

AI 2 can not carry a teams offense to a playoff series win.  As the team around him gets better, his offensive scoring drops. 


With a player like Wade, he should be a 12 point a game player.  (only a 2 point drop from the 76ers who have no big time scorer) 

No way is Iguodala ever a 12 ppg scorer.  He averaged 14 last year, but 18 the four years before that.  If allowed to get inside at will, he's unbelievably dangerous.  Remember that Philly game right after we got Krstic?

As  his team gets better, his offense decreases.  He is not a primary scorer on a good team.  He is a glue guy.  


On this team, he has two other guys that are going to be in the 20 point range.  He will not see as many shots.  His scoring will go down.  


You keep comparing him to Lebron, but Lebron and Wade didn't fit well together.  Why will AI2 and Wade fit together?  Both are more effective with the ball in their hands.  Neither are a real big outside threat.  Is Kurt Hinrich enough of an outside threat to open up the middle for your offensive threats?


Even though I think Knicks have some defensive weakness at the SG, I see it to easy to pack it in on 76ers.  To close to the real Heat except the SF and PF are not close to being as strong.