ClutchCity

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION BEFORE CASTING YOUR VOTE:

NOTE: Regarding injuries, we are not just ignoring injuries altogether. Players should be considered as healthy but with reasonable expectations for this year. This league is based on what the players could be reasonably expected to produce the next season when they are playing.

Example: "When it comes to Brandon Roy, nobody expects him to produce at a rate better than he did last year, which was NOT impressive. He was quite mediocre last year. I think one would expect him to stay the same. There is no reason to expect him to get back to his old form, since his knees just keep getting worse, not better.

On the other hand, although Bynum has a history of injuries, he always bounces back and produces. As long as he is in the lineup, he contributes quite nicely.There is a difference between players like Roy and Bynum."

carp

The Carpchuck

PG: Tony Parker/Jameer Nelson
SG: Jason Richardson/Marcus Thornton/Ben Gordon
SF: Andre Iguodala/Jeff Green
PF: Paul Millsap/ Rashard Lewis/ Troy Murphy
C: Dwight Howard/ Nazr Mohammed

PG: Parker and Nelson versus Augustin, Douglas and Barbosa? I don't even think this is area is close. Both Parker and Nelson are smallish but there really isn't a need in this matchup for great defenders at the PG spot.

SG: I'm not sure if he's running with Batum out of position here, but he's barely shown that he's arrived as a SF. Jason Richardson is as solid as they come and Marcus Thornton and Ben Gordon can both just go off offensively..... Tony Allen is a decent guy to keep them in check but again, I don't see much need for my guys to defend either.

SF: Let's be clear, I'm not winning this spot, but I think I have one of the most ideal guys for this matchup. Not only is Iggy going to make LBJ work on D, but he's one of the stronger, more athletic guys that at least have a chance to slow him down until he sulks in the 4th. Thad Young and Jeff Green? It's kind of a wash.

PF: Millsap is a bruiser, Troy Murphy is a solid vet capable of stretching the D and hitting double doubles if necessary... and Lewis is a perfect change of pace for both. As for Jason Thompson, Kris Humphries and Derrick Favors? Well, there just isn't enough legitimate starting talent there to compete with what my guys are bringing.

C: Sorry to say, Dwight wins this position battle every time. I love Horford, and Al Jeff can definitely score, but Dwight is a beast and with a very serviceable Nazr behind him it's just not a battle I'm losing.

Maybe Someguy plays his guys differently, but I just don't think his team matches up well at all. Good luck choosing, I'm sure not everyone agrees with me, but at least we've all had fun! Many thanks to the Chuck on assembling this dreamteam, and also to Someguy for being a very worthy adversary.


VS

Someguy again

Starting lineup:
PG - DJ Augustin
SG - Tony Allen
SF - LeBron James
PF - Al Horford
C - Jason Thompson

Bench
Al Jefferson, Kris humphries, Derrick favors, Leandro Barbosa, Toney Douglas, Thaddeus young, Nicolas Batum

Keys to the game:

The problem of Howard
Howard is the no. 1 priority on defence, and in order to do that, i will be running a 3 - 2 zone defence forcing the ball to swing on the outside and trying to deny passes as humanly possible from howard. i do have sufficient length to deny outside passes and enough big men to keep howard from posting up deep in the paint (following the example of the 2009 Lakers championship squad and the celtics defense). i also have a deep bench of post defense players known for thier help defense (humprhies, favors, jefferson) to try and frustrate him as much as possible, as well as throw as much players at him on offense to try and to get him into foul trouble. also my point of the 3-2 zone is if howard does get the ball i should try and force him to the baseline where i can use a triangular trap on him on the base line, for example if howard is trapped on the baseline i can use lebron to deny the ball to the outside wings, horford using his length to force him out of bounds and jason thompson being a backup in the lane denying millsap of any contact with the ball as well as a second man-to-man defense if howard gets past horford.
The second part of denying howard is tony parker, a PNR play would be a problem. i have confidence that augustin, being the scrappy young PG that he is would stick on parker or force parker to take a long range jumper, something i can take a wager on. parker may use speed to attack the basket but he is getting older and augustin has the young legs to keep up with him.

Battle of the Bench
I might have the slight advantage over him, just because i have 3 quality starting players coming off (batum, jefferson and thaddeus). but the biggest factor off the bench is all on thaddeus young vs. jeff green. i feel i have the advantage here because young brings much more to the table (offensive rebounding, scoring in the lane, defense) and he will anchor the second unit, and if he does flop, i have jefferson, batum and barbosa to count on.

Lebron
I need him to go into "road to glory mode" (reference: )
playing the point forward and the team leader, he's got to step up. with fantastic players like igoudala, richardson and green trying to defend him, i do believe he can step up the the challenge, he's done it before in certain playoff series with other star players, i believe he can pull it off here.

carp's team is fantastic and i think this game would go down to quadruple overtime. if i pull off a win against the motherfuckin carpchuck, that would be one hell of an upset. good luck, and may the best man win.


First two second round matchups:

Alex vs. tdotballing
Gurk vs. 007nites

ClutchCity

Update on tournament:

ClutchCity

3-2 zone? I think Someguy meant to say he will run a 2-3 zone.

DanH

Whoever wins this matchup is taking the chip.

I'll need more time before I vote though. Really tough to gauge this matchup.

js12

+1 I'm still going back and forth right now with my choice.

Dark Knight

I went with Carpchuck. Howard is too dominant to shut down, Horford knows that all too well.

Dark Knight

By the way, what made you decide to start Thompson over Jefferson, Someguy? Just wondering...

Bill Haverchuck

These guys are against each other before the final 8? Yikes.

Props to Someguy for thinking it through and coming up with a plan of defense.

Carp, you hardly tried to defend your team!

I'm going to write a response to someguy, since Carp is loafing.

ClutchCity

I think carp takes this. I admit I hate LeBron, but I am looking at it as objectively as possible. I really think overall Someguy's team is better against most opponents, but this is just not a good matchup for his team. Jefferson and Horford would get completely murked by Dwight. Iggy can hold his own against LeBron (especially if he has Dwight waiting at the rim), and Jeff Green actually played pretty solid D at times in the playoffs against Bron Bron.

INSIDER

i wouldve put horford at C, and jefferson at 4

ClutchCity

Thinking it through? Playing 3-2 zone against Dwight is thinking it through?

Haha, I kid, I'm sure he mean 2-3 zone...but even with his defensive plan I do not think it's enough to stop carp's/your team...

carp

My bad.... I'm in self-pity mode after ankle surgery.... I just couldn't get amped to tout our team against such a nice guy to boot.

ClutchCity

I think my team matches up really well with carp's!

carp

no fair, you built it just to take me out!

ClutchCity

Oh crap! Was it that obvious?

js12

I decided to go with Bill/carp 's team due to the overall team effort which I feel is slightly superior.

Not a knock on Someguy's team though. It's a real shame that one of these teams have to lose so early in the tourney.

Bill Haverchuck

He might have meant 2-3 zone. But even if he didn't, he at least tried to come up with a plan, rather than going position by position and saying "I win this matchup, I win this matchup, I win this matchup"...etc

When Orlando was winning 55+ games, I could swear opponents tried both 2-3 and 3-2 against Orlando. They did so because Orlando had not only Dwight but also deadly outside shooting. If the outside shooting was killing them, they went 3-2. So, you're right, if Dwight is Someguy's primary concern, he should go 2-3, not 3-2, but, the way Carp has built the team, you may need to try both. Carp has a flexible lineup. Carp has some guys who can kill you from the outside. The outside shooting would kill a 2-3.

Anyway, (assuming he did mean 3-2) the first problem with a 3-2 is that when teams did that against Orlando one of the shooters killed them from the short corner 3. And, conveniently, we have Rashard Lewis and Nelson. You could easily sub in Lewis for Milsap, place him in the short corner (which he likes), and suddenly you've got a solid 3 point shooter getting some sweet looks, assuming the other players do a good job getting the ball over. And, of course, Dwight will be flashing into the paint to make this work. He either has one guy on him (favourable to Carp) or the corner is open.

Carp might even move Nelson into the lineup with Lewis for the minutes in which he's forced to address this particular scenario. Play Nelson, Richardson and Iggy up top with Lewis in the corner and Howard flashing for the ball. If the two defenders down low move to guard Howard, then, boom, ball over to the corner to Lewis. This would make more sense if I had a chalkboard.

Also, Iggy, Richardson, and Nelson can all put the ball on the floor. That allows Carp to penetrate into the open lanes. Drive into the lanes, force them to help, then kick out to the open guy or lob it up for Dwight, depending where the help comes from.

Iggy's the only one who can't consistently hit from the outside. But, given that he's guarded by Lebron, he's not a key for Carp in this matchup, anyway. His value will be in minimizing the damage on the other end.

Bill Haverchuck

The other thing I like about Carp's team is the potential to get offense in transition. I think his starting lineup is quite good at the defensive end. These players are also good at running the floor. Parker is capable of running a disciplined half-court offense, but he is also not shy about taking off with the ball. Put Iggy and Richardson on the wings and suddenly you have a track meet.

Overall, his team has a lot of flexibility. If he needs some penetration, he's got a few guys who can do it. Or, if Dwight is getting doubled over and over, and Carp needs to put four shooters on the court beside Dwight, without sacrificing too much size at the defensive end, he could do that, especially since Someguy's backcourt is somewhat small. In spot scenarios, he could get away with Nelson, Richardson, Green, Murphy, and D12 as a lineup or Nelson, Richardson, Lewis, Murphy, D12...etc...

Given the pieces he has, Carp can adapt to zones and man-to-man quite well.

ClutchCity

Yup, I did the same thing. It doesn't make sense to go player by player.

You are right, but keep in mind that Carp's starting lineup (probably the lineup he will end the game with) doesn't consist of good shooters. J-Rich is the only consistent outside threat there and it wouldn't make much sense to play 3-2 against that. When he has his shooters out, by all means, yes run that type of D. You need to change your defensive look through out the game though for you to have success. Running a zone all game would get you killed regardless if its 3-2, 2-3 or 1-3-1.

I have my own defensive strategy on how to stop carp's team in case we face off!

Yup. But Someguy does have some crazy perimeter defenders who can make quick recoveries (Bron, Tony Allen, Batum), so if he mixes up his D, he can have some success running the 3-2 at times. But with good, quick ball movement, this can be countered. Plus, running zone for too long will kill you. Also, Lewis will hurt carp on D if he's to guard either Horford or Al Jeff.

Don't need a chalkboard, I know exactly what you mean. If he does decide to run that lineup, it will definitely help space to floor for Dwight, which will get guys like Lewis/JRich/Nelson open looks. But that's not his strongest lineup and I can't see him ending the game with Nelson over Parker (could lead to chemistry issues too if you really want to think deep).

True, but I can see Iggy and especially JRich struggling to drive the lane when faced against LeBron, Tony Allen, Batum, Thad Young. That's some tough defence right there. Parker will always be able to penetrate but he would NEED at least 2 shooters around him for him to have success in driving + kicking. I can see the defense sagging off on Parker though and forcing long jumpshots.

You forgot Parker. With Parker AND Iggy on the floor at the same time with Howard makes it a little easier to defend the inside.


Not disagreeing with you (I voted for carp), just arguing the other side.

ClutchCity

Yes, this is the main reason I voted for him, because of his team's flexibility. I noticed that early in the draft, I didn't see too many good shooters around Dwight, but as we progressed, that's all I saw.

This is just a really bad matchup for Someguy, probably the worst of all possible opponents. And like I said before, BASKETBALL IS ALL ABOUT MATCHUPS!