Question: WHich team will have the better regular season record: The Pacers or the Wizards?
Pacers:
Indiana Pacers
PG - Brandon Jennings, JJ Barea, Gilbert Arenas
SG - Paul George, Daequan Cook
SF - Wilson Chandler, Mickael Pietrus
PF - Derrick Williams, Charlie Villanueva, Jason Maxiell
C - Tyson Chandler, Bismack Biyombo, Kwame Brown
Positive Thoughts: I think that a team centered around Jennings/Paul George/Wilson Chandler/Derrick Williams/Tyson Chandler is a team that should be going places, dependent on Paul George’s advancement. Barea, Pietrus, Cook, Maxiell, and Brown are all quality proven depth. Biyombo could be the game-changer here, becoming either a legit 5 or a legit 4, or both. If Derrick Williams. High-level defenders at 1,2,3, and 5, with Biyombo’s development being the only thing stopping them from being the #1 defensive team in the league.
Negative Thoughts: Arenas is cooked, Jennings is not a consistent distributor, and Charlie Villanueva has the (misspelled) word ‘Villan’ in his last name, and Derrick Williams is still figuring it out. On top of that, Biyombo is so raw the FDA is advising to wait 2-3 years before serving him to the public. There is not one elite passer on this entire team.
Immediate Success: I have no idea. I think I underrate Brandon Jennings and Wilson Chandler, but I think also that this team is going to have a terribly hard time scoring because of atrocious ball-movement. Despite all the hype, I still have no idea what Paul George is other than ‘good’ and ‘kinda hits shots, sometimes’. I bet he doesn’t know either. They’re right there with Chicago battling for the 8th seed.
Long-term Success: See ‘immediate success’. For real long-term success, 3 guys need to reach their alleged ceilings, or close to it: Paul George needs to become an every-night lockdown defender who can create his own shot once and a while. Think Tay Prince, 2004. Derrick Williams needs to be able to create his own shot at will, as a kind of Melo/Millsap hybrid on offense, and Biyombo needs to develop into a viable defensive force at least as good as Birdman in his prime every night. If all those things happen, this team looks like it’ll be a 3-4 seed for a long time, but those things are more unlikely to happen than they are likely.
Pick-Two Success: This is what happens when you take a team you like, and take a binky to build around. SO decided that he wanted the Pacers, and he wanted Paul George. The problem with the Pacers is that they don’t rely on one guy to carry the burden every night, with a huge dropoff in talent after that. They rely on 5 ‘pretty good’ guys (Hibbert, West, Granger, George, Collison) to bring it everynight, with a slight dropoff in talent to 2 more rotation guys (Hill, Hansbrough). Its really freakin hard to replicate that in this format. The current Pacers are a half-game out of third place in the East, so I’m going to say the Pick-Two Pacers got worse, with the addition that StartOrien picked one of the hardest (if not THE hardest) teams to improve, and he should never have paid someone to take Jeremy Lin off his hands.
Wizards:
Washington Wizards
PG - John Wall, Kemba Walker
SG - Kevin Martin, Keyon Dooling, Jordan Crawford
SF - Jared Dudley, Michael Beasley, Sasha Pavlovic
PF - Serge Ibaka, Markieff Morris
C - Joakim Noah, Johan Petro, Andris Biedrins
Positive Thoughts: Elite defensive frontcourt, very good depth as long as Beasley doesn’t just start shooting people, and lots of talent and potential in the starting 5, especially if John Wall develops like he was supposed to (Kyrie Irving has stolen his thunder, but he’s having a good year aside from his jump shooting troubles. Very early-Rondo, but a better scorer, worse defender). Love Markieff Morris behind Ibaka.
Negative Thoughts: Noah and Ibaka are both elite help defenders at this point. Neither one can guard a traditional starting physical center. They’ll both get pushed around, and nobody else on the roster can do it either. I really doubt Beasley will be happy sitting behind Dudley, and I don’t think that an unhappy Beasley is reconciled by his talent. No good defenders at the 2, let alone people who can really check a decent scorer.
Immediate Success: Low playoff seed or fringe lottery. Need something to put them over the edge, a better fit at the 4 would help, or a different 5.
Long-Term Success: Soooooo much young talent. Sky is the limit here because of the high-potential nature of Ibaka and Wall. If Ibaka can develop KG’s jumper (something he was close to doing 2 yrs ago, regressed this year), it’d do wonders here, helping clear whole swathes of paint for Wall and Martin. While nothing short of Noah gaining 80 lbs of muscle will probably change my mind about them not being a title favorite no matter how high Wall rises, the bar is pretty high as to what they can achieve.
Pick-Two Success: Brought a team without 2 sure keepers (McGee, Blatch, Young are all VERY flawed), did some nifty trading, and ended up with a probable playoff squad. Well done.
Having a hard time with this one.
Topic: IP Ranks The Pick-Two Teams By Divison (All Divisions Are Up) (Read 108603 times)