It's down to this. Keep all voting and discussion in this thread. The winner of this poll will claim the title of the GM Draft Champion. I encourage all those who vote to please write a small explanation as to WHY you voted the way you did. Thank you and good luck! Boston Celtics - Celtic Fan: PG: Mike Bibby / Jordan Farmar SG: Jason Richardson / Tony Allen SF: Richard Jefferson / Corey Brewer / Rasual Butler PF: Troy Murphy / Reggie Evans / Sean May C: Dwight Howard / Andray Blatche Memphis Grizzlies - Charles: PG: Rodney Stuckey / Chris Duhon / Anthony Johnson SG: Michael Redd / Rodney Carney SF: LeBron James/ Jarvis Hayes PF: Paul Millsap / Sean Williams/ Jason Thompson C: Samuel Dalembert / Mikki Moore
really? 6-2 for Lebron and Micheal Redd? Paul Milsap is a starter for crying out loud and their PG is a 2nd year player. Yeah, yeah he's the flavour of the month and all, but Mike Bibby is way to good to be beat by him. With RJ and J-Rich on the wing I have the athletesim to make LeBron work and I have a monster in the middle to clog the lane. Howard only averages 10 more ppg and 6 more rpg than Dalembert when they face each other too. and who's coming off the Grizzly bench that offers me any problems? at least with Farmar, Allen and even an Healthy Sean May I have guys who can go off for a big night. meh, Lebron will be a beast, but I think I have enough top shelf talent 1-5 to compensate for his strenghts. So long as I slide over to Redd, I won't get bombed on either.
Celtic Fan has obviously tried very hard to sway the vote to show everyone how great his team is. But i feel my team is far superior, imo. Looking at the two best players on the floor, it's obviously Lebron and Howard. Looking at their matchups alone, Dwight will at least face a little defense, but Lebron will face almost none. Dalembert is one of the better defensive big men in the game. That's his job on my team. Then you have Milsap. Not many people are going to overpower him. Then finally there is Sean Williams, who has a ton of talent and is a very capable defender. Will they STOP Dwight? Absolutely not. Would they slow him down significantly? I think so. Dwight's free throw percentage (60%) will also hurt your team. Who is going to match up with Lebron? Celtic Fan would lead you to believe it would be RJ b/c he is a good defender, but any intelligent Nets fan on this site would be able to tell you that RJ WAS a good to great defender who stopped putting in effort on the defensive end the past year and a half. He is below average defensively now, imo. His other options are what, Corey Brewer? Don't think so. Maybe if he added thirty pounds or so. And please don't tell me Troy Murphy is good defensively because he averages close to ten boards a game. I'm tired of hearing that. This is the second time I read that Milsap is a joke of a starter. Look again. He's a backup to Boozer and Okur, who are both more than worthy starters. He specifically backups Carlos Boozer, an all-star. On my team, he's a complimentary player who gives me beef up front and a guy I can OCCASIONALLY throw the ball to down low. He's not my first option. He's not my second option either. That's Michael Redd, who would score at will against a guy like J-Rich. Then there's the bench comparison. Chris Duhon is my backup, and he will likely start for the Knicks this year. (Let's not pretend Stephon is a starter until we actually see it). Sean Williams is my backup, and he has been the most surprising player in the Nets camp, and may start for them this year. Mikki Moore is my backup, and he started 79 games last year. Point guard is "weak", but the guy that's third on the depth chart there will probably average 20 minutes a game for the Magic this year. And let's not forget LeBron might have the ball in his hands a bit. Then there is Celtic Fan's bench. May, Allen, and Farmar are all capable of going off, but none of them averaged ten points a game last season. May never stays on the court. Farmar may well lose minutes to Sun Yue, and Tony Allen is behind Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. I don't see how his bench is explosive at all, really.
I've already said Howard abuses Dalembert when they match up scoring 10 more ppg and 6 more rpg for their career and if you look at last years numbers it's even more obvious. RJ scores about 6 less ppg than LeBron and yeah, yeah he gave up trying hard on the Nets because they were going nowhere. Now he's on a new team that is a contender, his defence will pick up because he's proven in the past when motivated he can play very good D. Rasual Butler will most likely see more time in this finals match up than Brewer too. He can play D and hit 3's off the bench. Richard Jefferson can slide over and make LeBron work and Allen is athletic enough and a good enough of a defender to handle Redd and his jumper for stretches. Jason Richardson can look after Redd as well, not sure what makes you think he couldn't. The bottom line with Millsap, not a NBA starter, regardless of who is in front of him. I never said murphy was a good defender, he works hard and gives effort but that doesn't make him good just not a bad defender. he is a good defensive rebounder, he get's boards, there's not denying that. He can also hit the jumper and that's a great asset to have for Howard if he get's doubled by the bigs (same as it works for the Magic now). Sean Williams was a surprising rookie, but still only 5.6 ppg and 4.4. rpb, let's not go crazy because he made a few nice players there. Andray Blatche blocked 1.4 shots per game, Williams 1.4, but Blatche also avg 7.5 ppg and 5.6 rpg. Jordan Farmar more than doubled his scoring and played some great games last year scoring over 20 points 3 times and hitting double digits 19 times after the all star break on 20 mpg. Kid is confident too. Tony Allen was coming back from a wrecked knee, he'll only be better come the finals. you have 2 good scorers on your entire team, and Stuckey is alright but also is another guy coming of his rookie year that you will be relying on alot. so you have 2 2nd year players in Stuckey and Sean Williams that will log a log of minutes and a starter in Millsap who has never averaged more than 20 mpg. I have a vet in Bibby starting at the point, I have 2 swing men who are in their primes and are solid scorers and do well at rebounding for their position. I have a young hard working PF who does rebound well and can hit open jumpers. I have a Stud at Center who can't be guarded one on one and can defend the rim with the best in the league. I think those are the ingredients for a winning team. The Grizz have Lebron, a 2nd guy that can score and bunch of guys that are 'alright' so this is like LeBron and his Cavs in the finals.. and we know what happened there
So what you're saying is, Michael Reddd= Sasha Pavlovic. Michael Redd may have some flaws, but not let's not get crazy here. He just finished playing for Team USA over the summer. He has never played with anyone who is half as good as he is on a team (aside from the olympics, of course). Same goes for LeBron. Don't you think that will make them BOTH better players? I've got quality depth with guys who are all improving. All of your players have plateaued with the exception of Farmar. I also have guys who know their roles. Dalembert will accept being a defensive stopper. Stuckey came up huge in the playoffs for Detroit. Duhon will play some defense. What do guys like Murphy and RJ do? Chuck it up a lot. You basically have one above average defender in your starting lineup, and he's also the guy you're offense is going to revolve around. You really think by the NBA finals he won't have slowed down AT ALL? Your team might win a game played on the And 1 tour, but in the NBA, where some people play defense, I don't see how they are so unstoppable. What makes you think Jason Richardson would slow down Michael Redd and his quick release even a little? Let's not get crazy with the backup bigs, either. I've got a guy who started all of last season, a guy who started half the year last year and may start this year, and a lottery pick. You've got Andray Blatche, who has been up and down for most of his young career. I'm well aware that I only have two superstars. But that's the kind of team I'd WANT to have. Most teams need quality role players in addition to their franchise players. I don't see problems with depth anywhere on my team. But since LeBron will have such a close matchup with RJ, and "Troy Murphy puts in effort" I guess you've got a point.
I have quality role players, but the quality is just better My offense revolves around 2 wing scorers, an experienced PG who can score when needed or run the offence and let others be the scorer AND a monster in the middle who will benefit from 3 good 3pt shooters, a PF who can hit long jumpers and 2 wing players who can get in the paint and score or dish. I have two above average rebounders and size at SF and SG who rebound as well. You just don't have the personal to stop all of the options I have on offense. If a player has an off night, I have 3 other very good options to pick up the slack. If Lebron is doing LeBrick, you have Redd and that's it. and stop touting Dalembert's defense, yes it is good, but the stats show he does nothing to slow down Howard at all. experience wins championships, you have a guy who's never started before starting, a 2nd year PG and are relying on a 2nd year PF to provide clutch play in the finals, because you know Milsap will get a lot of fouls called on him trying to help Dalembert. We both have good teams, but I have too much experience and too many ways to score and win games.
