CB Draft Western Finals: (1) Mavericks vs. (2) Blazers

[Edgar]

Who are the coaches for these two teams again? I keep forgetting.

Spoelstra and Bird / Vogel.

[Edgar]

Question to Portland

Wich one is your 7 to 8 man rotation
in this series ??

[Roy H.]

This is for both teams and the answer will ultimately decide for me who wins this series. So please be thorough because I am sure it could help other GMs with their votes as well.

In 2008-09 Dwight and LeBron matched up in the Conference Finals. Dwight's team won 4-2. At this point LeBron was still adored and had relatively no critics in the media. After game 2 of this series LeBron was definitely seen as clutch thanks to his game winning 3. Instead there was no criticism for James at all. Rather it was all for Big Z, Varejao, Delonte, Mo "All-Star fill in" Williams, Mike Brown, and others. James was the MVP and really the only difference for him that season was that he was younger and not coming off a championship. If he had Wade and Bosh maybe he would havae.

Howard was the Defensive Player of the Year and definitely healthy. He was playing with an All-Star at the time in Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis. Hedo Turkoglu was playing outstanding and looked at as very underrated.

RaSo here is the question.

How do these two Superstars current teams differ from the teams back then? I see similarities for both supporting casts. Please both of you tell me about how you view both.

Brand/Varejao, Green, Thabo and Irving as players to Big Z, Varejao, West, and Williams.
Milsap, Johnson, Chandler, and Rubio as players to Lewis, Turk, Pietrus/Reddick, and Nelson

Thanks.

I will get to this after work. In a nutshell, that team didn't have bLebron at PF, and didn't have Irving.

[jgod213]

C: Varejao, Brand
PF: LeBron, Brand, Green
SF: Green, LeBron, Sefalosha
SG: Sefalosha, Gordon
PG: Irving, Gordon

Oh is Varejao starting? I thought it was Brand...?

Question to Portland

Wich one is your 7 to 8 man rotation
in this series ??

PG: Rubio, Udrih
SG: Johnson, Udrih
SF: Chandler, Johnson
PF: Millsap, Chandler
C : Howard, Hayes

And some spot minutes for Bonner, Belinelli, and Barnes.

[Edgar]

C: Varejao, Brand
PF: LeBron, Brand, Green
SF: Green, LeBron, Sefalosha
SG: Sefalosha, Gordon
PG: Irving, Gordon

Oh is Varejao starting? I thought it was Brand...?

Question to Portland

Wich one is your 7 to 8 man rotation
in this series ??

PG: Rubio, Udrih
SG: Johnson, Udrih
SF: Chandler, Johnson
PF: Millsap, Chandler
C : Howard, Hayes

And some spot minutes for Bonner, Belinelli, and Barnes.

Varejao start to win the two ball and start the massacre

 

Poor Udrih and Chandler they will end the game in tears.

How effective is Johnson as backup SF??

[jgod213]

Varejao start to win the two ball and start the massacre

Dwight Howard is elated. 

[Who]

C: Varejao, Brand
PF: LeBron, Brand, Green
SF: Green, LeBron, Sefalosha
SG: Sefalosha, Gordon
PG: Irving, Gordon

Oh is Varejao starting? I thought it was Brand...?

Question to Portland

Wich one is your 7 to 8 man rotation
in this series ??

PG: Rubio, Udrih
SG: Johnson, Udrih
SF: Chandler, Johnson
PF: Millsap, Chandler
C : Howard, Hayes

And some spot minutes for Bonner, Belinelli, and Barnes.

Matt Barnes will be useful for spot minutes. He'll be good for matching up against Jeff Green, Thabo Sefolosha or Dunleavy / Kleiza.

I would be more inclined to go with M.Barnes than small backcourts with Udrih / Rubio.

[Edgar]

Varejao start to win the two ball and start the massacre

Dwight Howard is elated.

Varejao is nasty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57SpmEOhZ30&feature=player_detailpage

double block and high quality nasty D

[Edgar]

Varejao start to win the two ball and start the massacre

Dwight Howard is elated.

Varejao is nasty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57SpmEOhZ30&feature=player_detailpage

double block and high quality nasty D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoaZ7EaV3yw&feature=player_detailpage

[jgod213]

Career Playoff H2H:

Dwight Howard    26pts/13rbs/ 65% fg

Anderson Varejao  9pts/5rbs/ 56% fg

[Donoghus]

This is the tougher of the two semis for me to call, IMO.

Very intriguing personnel matchups.  Lots of chess being played here.

[StartOrien]

Career Playoff H2H:

Dwight Howard    26pts/13rbs/ 65% fg

Anderson Varejao  9pts/5rbs/ 56% fg

This kinda gets to my point of the last series - even if you want to pencil in Dwight for 26 a game, you'll have to find points elsewhere.

Again, I'm a Mislap guy but I've got questions about him being able to put up even fifteen points a game with Lebron on him.

[Who]

Career Playoff H2H:

Dwight Howard    26pts/13rbs/ 65% fg

Anderson Varejao  9pts/5rbs/ 56% fg

This kinda gets to my point of the last series - even if you want to pencil in Dwight for 26 a game, you'll have to find points elsewhere.

Again, I'm a Mislap guy but I've got questions about him being able to put up even fifteen points a game with Lebron on him.

Really? ... I don't think LeBron is that strong a man-to-man defender at PF. He is a good man-to-man defender but not a dominant one. I do think LeBron is a dominant team defender. I love his help defense there. But I'm not nearly as high on his man-to-man defense.

I don't think Millsap is going to have any problems getting 15-16 points a night on good scoring efficiency.

[StartOrien]

They're the same height, Lebron's better-faster-stronger.

I guess you could argue that Lebron might not have the discipline and could get caught cheating - Milsap's ability to finish and hit shoot w/ range could punish.

[CelticsFan9]

They're the same height, Lebron's better-faster-stronger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAjR4_CbPpQ