The winner of this matchup will face the winner between Agoo101284/ghoti or FiElDy/Flow, depending on whether one of them has earned the Bye Round. Post the case for your team here, and keep all matchup discussion here. Celtic Fan PG: Magic Johnson / Kevin Johnson SG:Clyde Drexler / Walter Davis / Reggie Lewis SF: Alex English / Shawn Marion PF: Elvin Hayes / Terry Cummings / Derrick Coleman C:Moses Malone / Walt Bellamy Denny and the Jets - Denny Crane PG: Nate Archibald / Gus Williams SG: Jerry West / David Thompson SF: Julius Erving / Bob Dandridge / Jamaal Wilkes PF: Dave Cowens / Jack Sikma / Truck Robinson C: Bill Walton / Brad Daugherty
Terrific match up. Magic is widely regarded as the best PG ever, but there's no way he'd stay with Archibald at the other end. A wash. If Magic's height is a factor, then any of my SFs could guard him with West as the PG. West beats Drexler head to head. Erving beats English head to head. Cowens and Hayes are a wash, though Cowens would hold his own in the post on D but take Hayes out of his element by going to the perimeter. Malone was never a great defensive player, he made his living by never getting called for 3 seconds on offense and hounding those offensive boards relentlessly. He goes up against twin towers who are two of the top defensive rebounders in history. I see Archibald taking the ball wherever he wants and scoring at will or finding the open man. West is the best shooter in the history of the game and would likely score a ton against the Zone D that the conquistadors would almost certainly play (all Magic's teams did to hide his defensive mistmatch). When the zone is busted, you have two of the best passing C's of all time at the perimeter dishing to Dr. J and Thompson for a lot of flashy dunks. Hayes and Malone are not complementary players - both play in the same place in the court on offense. Walter Davis is a SF, not a SG. Archibald, Williams, West, Erving, Dandridge, Wilkes, Cowens, Sikma, and Walton all won championships. Magic, Hayes, and Malone won championships.
OT: I thought this was for a Hip Hop battle or whatever it's call (sorry, no offense) and I was gonna have a laugh reading Denny go at it. Instead I can laugh at his drafted team! -Petey
I'm not a huge fan of any of your PFs offensively, though I do think Celtic Fan has the better Center easily. Magic Johnson was also the greatest point guard ever of course. I don't really want much of a scoring PG threat on All-Star teams like this, and he has the more impressive PER easily. Further, the difference in magnitude between the SGs-SFs being compared in this matchup isn't THAT great to me. Dr J. was excellent, but he also spent some of his prime in the ABA which was unfortunate. Drexler wasn't far off from West in my opinion either, so overall CF gains the advantage.
Cowens had 5 15/15 seasons and averaged over 4 APG 6 times. Sikma had 8 seasons averaging a double-double, including 5 straight averaging over 18 PPG (and he was near 90% FT shooter, too). Drexler was nowhere near as good as West, who was a 14 time all-star (every season in the league), 10x all-nba first team, 4x all-nba first defensive team, finished #2 in the MVP voting 4 times. Erving was a 16 time all-star, 4 time MVP (3 ABA), 9x all-nba/aba 1st team, 1x all-nba 1st team defense, and was close to 2 steals/2 blocks every season. English was an 8 time all-star, and all-nba 2nd team 3 times. You're nuts if you don't see a huge difference.
I think West had the better career, I like peak seasons myself though. Taking that into account, no I don't see much of a difference offensively. The ABA inflates everyone's stats. You're nuts to me if you can't see that.
Like... West had 14 seasons better than Drexler's best. The ABA counts for purposes of this draft, but even so, when a player does it (MVP, 1st team) in the ABA and NBA, it says plenty.
I didn't say West was worse. Yeah he was a fantastic player in a more diluted league. Nothing personal but his empirical production did take a dip in the NBA.
Dr. J's "empirical" production did not take any dip in the NBA. He scored 20+ nine straight NBA seasons, and 23+ in four of those. Was 2nd in MVP voting his third season and won the MVP his fourth. He averaged 2 PPG less in the NBA and that counts the 7 seasons he was 30 years old or older.
He averaged 28.7 points in the ABA, then about 23 and a half the next five years in the NBA; he also wasn't the rebounder he used to be in the NBA. He's an MVP-caliber player of course and I love the guy, he just looked even more impressive in that other league.
