Team Saint Cy of JFC:
PG - George Hill / Lonzo Ball
SG - James Harden / JR Smith
SF - Nicolas Batum / Andre Iguodala
PF - James Johnson / Al-Farouq Aminu
C - DeAndre Jordan / Jusuf Nurkic
Team JustTheTip:
PG - Jeff Teague / Milos Teodosic
SG - Otto Porter / Dante Exum
SF - Kevin Durant / Malcom Brogdon
PF - Tobias Harris / Jayson Tatum
C - Nikola Jokic / Bismack Biyombo
Saint Cy of JFC's Case:
His guards suck, mine are boss.
James Johnson was the best isolation defender in the NBA last year.
I have 3 plus defenders to throw at Kevin Durant.
JustTheTip's Case:
Reasoning:
I’m starting Porter at the 2 because I think he’s my best option to realistically guard Harden. His length, quick feet, and athleticism will make Harden work for everything he gets. Plus, lets talk about James Harden in the playoffs. For his career, he’s been incredibly inefficient. For his career, he’s had an eFG% of 49% in the playoffs, which is below average. With just Houston, he’s had an eFG% of 48%. If you want to look at last year, he shot 41% from the field, and 28% from 3. Otto Porter is one of the best wing defenders in the league, and while Harden will get his points, he’s going to do it very inefficiently. Batum is a good player, but Durant is in a whole different tier. We all know how good Durant is, I’m not going to spend a ton of time talking about him. Harris and Johnson are a pretty good draw, imo. Harris is good offensively, Johnson is good defensively. They’ll both get theirs, and it would be a fun matchup. To end with, Jokic is better than Jordan. He’s not the defender, but as good as Jordan is on defense, he can’t stop Jokic. In fact, when Jokic played the Clippers last year, he averaged 17/10/5 in 26 minutes a game. TWENTYSIX MINUTES a game, and that’s what he AVERAGED. Incredible. He shot 65% overall, 44% from 3, and had a TS% of 70%. Do you all understand how crazy that is? It’s freaking nuts. And that’s against one of the best post defenders in the league. Pretty cool.
At the end of the day, this is about who has the best star players, and Durant + Jokic > Harden + Jordan.
Starters:
Jeff Teague: Had a really nice year last year putting up 15/4/7 on a 44/36/87 shooting split. He’s not a great defender, but he’s not bad either. Pretty much right in the middle. He’s a guy who isn’t going to make a lot of mistakes, and just be a solid floor general. With Durant and Jokic around him, it lessens his playmaking role a touch, and should enable him to get more open shots as well. Teague is an experienced guard that has been on some really good teams. Teague and Hill is a fun matchup, but who even knows if Hill will play. We’ve seen how injured he is for playoff series, and we also saw how much he struggles with quick guards. Teague is a quick guard, one of the fastest in the league.
Otto Porter: Porter had the best year of his career last year, and it resulted in him signing a max contract with the Wizards. I realize it seems odd that he’s playing the 2 guard here, but it’s not that crazy. Porter is 6’8 and 200 lbs, he’s agile, quick, and has great length. Porter is a legitimate great defender…one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. He’s going to give Harden a tough game. Porter is also good offensively. He put up a 14/6/2 line on a 52/43/83 shooting split. He’s a great defender who shot 43% from 3 on over 4 attempts a game! Add in that he’s surrounded by good passers in Teague, Jokic and Durant, and he’s going to get some wide open attempts, especially since Harden is awful on defense. I’m going to get a lot of wide open looks from a 43% shooter. That’ll work.
Kevin Durant: What more really needs to be said about Durant? He’s a top 3 player in the league. He’s 7’0 and 240, and plays like a guard offensively, he’s a great perimeter defender, and he’s a great rim protector. STUD. Durant averaged 25/8/4 on a 54/38/88 shooting split while sharing a primary role with Steph Curry. That’s right, 54% overall shooting percentage. Durant is going to run the PnR with Jokic, and it’s gonna be naaaaasty. Durant is easily the best player in this series.
Tobias Harris: Harris has played out of position at SF for a lot of his career, but is getting a solid opportunity at the 4, where he belongs, with me. Harris is a potent offensive player…think Carmelo light, but more active on the defensive end. As a 4/5th option, Harris will be getting a lot of open looks. Harris averaged 16/5/2 on a 48/35/84 shooting split. I think it’s important to note that his rebounding numbers are low because he plays next to Andre Drummond. Back when Harris was with Orlando, he typically averaged anywhere from 7-8 boards a game, which is a solid number.
Nikola Jokic: Hopefully all of you have seen him play by now. He’s the most exciting post player in the league, offensively. He’s the best offensive post player in the league if you ask me. As a starter, Jokic averaged 18/10/5 in 29 minutes a game. He had a 58/33/82 shooting percentage. He’s 6’11 and he had a 63% TS%. That’s unreal. Incredible. He shot over 55% from mid range. DeRozan, who is known for his midrange prowess, had a career high of 47% from mid range. So Jokic is 6’11, and shoots better than DeRozan. Have fun defending that. He’s also the best post passer in the league. Once he became a starter, Denver’s offense instantly became one of the best in the league. DENVER! He did that to Denver! Now imagine what he’ll do with my lineup. Now, I’m planning on playing Jokic more than 29 minutes a game. So how did he do when averaging 30+ minutes? 23/13/6…and that’s a 31 game sample size. Oh, and he did that while shooting 57%. Good luck guarding him and Durant. Jokic is arguably the 2nd best player in this series. He’s more efficient than Harden, a better offensive player than Harden, and a better defender as well.
Bench:
Milos Teodosic: Probably one of the best passers in the NBA, as a rookie. Long known as the best player not playing in the NBA, he finally made the move over. He’s a good shooter, a great passer, and has good size. He’ll struggle a bit with some things, but he’ll be fine.
Dante Exum: He had a great summer league, showing the ability to drive, but most importantly, showing the ability to hit open 3’s. That’s huge, especially when he’s playing with a great passer in Teodosic. We already know he’s a good defender, and I’m not going to waste a lot of time talking about a player most people here know.
Malcolm Brogdon: The reigning ROY will be coming off the bench for me. As a starter, he averaged 12/4/5 while shooting 47/40 from the field and deep, respectively. He can create, he can shoot, and he can defend. He’s 6’5 with a 6’10 wingspan, so he will be primarily guarding the 3’s as a backup. Brogdon is also a very smart defender, he was a great defender for a rookie, and I just see him improving. He’s arguably better than Rodney Hood.
Jayson Tatum: Offensive dynamite as a rookie. I like him at the 4 because I can hide him a little bit.
Bismack Biyombo: He’s really good on defense, and pretty good at rebounding. That’s about it. I have need of a rim protector, and he is it. Plus he has a really cool name.
Cy assembled a nice team, but I have too much firepower for him. Vote for justice, vote for truth, vote for triumph. Vote JTT!
PG - George Hill / Lonzo Ball
SG - James Harden / JR Smith
SF - Nicolas Batum / Andre Iguodala
PF - James Johnson / Al-Farouq Aminu
C - DeAndre Jordan / Jusuf Nurkic
Team JustTheTip:
PG - Jeff Teague / Milos Teodosic
SG - Otto Porter / Dante Exum
SF - Kevin Durant / Malcom Brogdon
PF - Tobias Harris / Jayson Tatum
C - Nikola Jokic / Bismack Biyombo
Saint Cy of JFC's Case:
His guards suck, mine are boss.
James Johnson was the best isolation defender in the NBA last year.
I have 3 plus defenders to throw at Kevin Durant.
JustTheTip's Case:
Reasoning:
I’m starting Porter at the 2 because I think he’s my best option to realistically guard Harden. His length, quick feet, and athleticism will make Harden work for everything he gets. Plus, lets talk about James Harden in the playoffs. For his career, he’s been incredibly inefficient. For his career, he’s had an eFG% of 49% in the playoffs, which is below average. With just Houston, he’s had an eFG% of 48%. If you want to look at last year, he shot 41% from the field, and 28% from 3. Otto Porter is one of the best wing defenders in the league, and while Harden will get his points, he’s going to do it very inefficiently. Batum is a good player, but Durant is in a whole different tier. We all know how good Durant is, I’m not going to spend a ton of time talking about him. Harris and Johnson are a pretty good draw, imo. Harris is good offensively, Johnson is good defensively. They’ll both get theirs, and it would be a fun matchup. To end with, Jokic is better than Jordan. He’s not the defender, but as good as Jordan is on defense, he can’t stop Jokic. In fact, when Jokic played the Clippers last year, he averaged 17/10/5 in 26 minutes a game. TWENTYSIX MINUTES a game, and that’s what he AVERAGED. Incredible. He shot 65% overall, 44% from 3, and had a TS% of 70%. Do you all understand how crazy that is? It’s freaking nuts. And that’s against one of the best post defenders in the league. Pretty cool.
At the end of the day, this is about who has the best star players, and Durant + Jokic > Harden + Jordan.
Starters:
Jeff Teague: Had a really nice year last year putting up 15/4/7 on a 44/36/87 shooting split. He’s not a great defender, but he’s not bad either. Pretty much right in the middle. He’s a guy who isn’t going to make a lot of mistakes, and just be a solid floor general. With Durant and Jokic around him, it lessens his playmaking role a touch, and should enable him to get more open shots as well. Teague is an experienced guard that has been on some really good teams. Teague and Hill is a fun matchup, but who even knows if Hill will play. We’ve seen how injured he is for playoff series, and we also saw how much he struggles with quick guards. Teague is a quick guard, one of the fastest in the league.
Otto Porter: Porter had the best year of his career last year, and it resulted in him signing a max contract with the Wizards. I realize it seems odd that he’s playing the 2 guard here, but it’s not that crazy. Porter is 6’8 and 200 lbs, he’s agile, quick, and has great length. Porter is a legitimate great defender…one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. He’s going to give Harden a tough game. Porter is also good offensively. He put up a 14/6/2 line on a 52/43/83 shooting split. He’s a great defender who shot 43% from 3 on over 4 attempts a game! Add in that he’s surrounded by good passers in Teague, Jokic and Durant, and he’s going to get some wide open attempts, especially since Harden is awful on defense. I’m going to get a lot of wide open looks from a 43% shooter. That’ll work.
Kevin Durant: What more really needs to be said about Durant? He’s a top 3 player in the league. He’s 7’0 and 240, and plays like a guard offensively, he’s a great perimeter defender, and he’s a great rim protector. STUD. Durant averaged 25/8/4 on a 54/38/88 shooting split while sharing a primary role with Steph Curry. That’s right, 54% overall shooting percentage. Durant is going to run the PnR with Jokic, and it’s gonna be naaaaasty. Durant is easily the best player in this series.
Tobias Harris: Harris has played out of position at SF for a lot of his career, but is getting a solid opportunity at the 4, where he belongs, with me. Harris is a potent offensive player…think Carmelo light, but more active on the defensive end. As a 4/5th option, Harris will be getting a lot of open looks. Harris averaged 16/5/2 on a 48/35/84 shooting split. I think it’s important to note that his rebounding numbers are low because he plays next to Andre Drummond. Back when Harris was with Orlando, he typically averaged anywhere from 7-8 boards a game, which is a solid number.
Nikola Jokic: Hopefully all of you have seen him play by now. He’s the most exciting post player in the league, offensively. He’s the best offensive post player in the league if you ask me. As a starter, Jokic averaged 18/10/5 in 29 minutes a game. He had a 58/33/82 shooting percentage. He’s 6’11 and he had a 63% TS%. That’s unreal. Incredible. He shot over 55% from mid range. DeRozan, who is known for his midrange prowess, had a career high of 47% from mid range. So Jokic is 6’11, and shoots better than DeRozan. Have fun defending that. He’s also the best post passer in the league. Once he became a starter, Denver’s offense instantly became one of the best in the league. DENVER! He did that to Denver! Now imagine what he’ll do with my lineup. Now, I’m planning on playing Jokic more than 29 minutes a game. So how did he do when averaging 30+ minutes? 23/13/6…and that’s a 31 game sample size. Oh, and he did that while shooting 57%. Good luck guarding him and Durant. Jokic is arguably the 2nd best player in this series. He’s more efficient than Harden, a better offensive player than Harden, and a better defender as well.
Bench:
Milos Teodosic: Probably one of the best passers in the NBA, as a rookie. Long known as the best player not playing in the NBA, he finally made the move over. He’s a good shooter, a great passer, and has good size. He’ll struggle a bit with some things, but he’ll be fine.
Dante Exum: He had a great summer league, showing the ability to drive, but most importantly, showing the ability to hit open 3’s. That’s huge, especially when he’s playing with a great passer in Teodosic. We already know he’s a good defender, and I’m not going to waste a lot of time talking about a player most people here know.
Malcolm Brogdon: The reigning ROY will be coming off the bench for me. As a starter, he averaged 12/4/5 while shooting 47/40 from the field and deep, respectively. He can create, he can shoot, and he can defend. He’s 6’5 with a 6’10 wingspan, so he will be primarily guarding the 3’s as a backup. Brogdon is also a very smart defender, he was a great defender for a rookie, and I just see him improving. He’s arguably better than Rodney Hood.
Jayson Tatum: Offensive dynamite as a rookie. I like him at the 4 because I can hide him a little bit.
Bismack Biyombo: He’s really good on defense, and pretty good at rebounding. That’s about it. I have need of a rim protector, and he is it. Plus he has a really cool name.
Cy assembled a nice team, but I have too much firepower for him. Vote for justice, vote for truth, vote for triumph. Vote JTT!
