Team Ellis269:
PG - Michael Jordan / Walt Frazier
SG - Giannis Antetokounmpo / George Gervin
SF - Dominique Wilkins / Bernard King
PF - Shawn Kemp / Kevin Love
C - Patrick Ewing / Artis Gilmore
Team Rgiss:
PG - Damian Lillard / Kyle Lowry
SG - Klay Thompson / Eddie Jones / Kyle Korver
SF - Andrei Kirilenko / Gordon Hayward
PF - Al Horford / Carmelo Anthony
C - Shaquille O’Neal
Ellis269’s Case:
Air Jordan, Greek Freak, The Human Highlight Film, Reignman and Ewing to start. Clyde Frazier, Iceman, Bernard King, Kevin Love and A-Train off the bench.
I’m starting with an elite group of athletic freaks of nature, and great role players off the bench.
While I don’t have a traditional point guard, Jordan and Giannis are both capable of running the offense. I’ve got elite scoring, defense, rebounding, post play and the ability to get out in transition and run. My bench adds elite scoring, shooting, size and another excellent perimeter defender.
Rgiss’ Case:
Not doing a long writeup, but want to get a basic style of play across if it's not self-explanatory enough.
Starting Lineup:
I'm gonna put it simple. Shaquille O'Neal has a wide open floor, a team full of playmakers and shooters, and every player can switch just about anything. We play a 4-out offense and a switch-almost-everything defense. If anybody has any space, they're shooting the ball.
If I'm Ellis, I'm really worried about how the spacing on my team works out. Especially with a team with a slew of interior defenders, trotting out a starting lineup where your best shooter only was a 33% shooter because of a shortened three point line for a couple seasons and took 1.5 threes a game in his career isn't a good idea. His starting lineup's career 3P%: 0-33-32-28-0. His primary way to score is to go through Shaq, Horford, and Kirilenko.
Listen, Frazier is an all time defender, but when switched onto Shaq, does he have any hope? As soon as Dame and Shaq run a PnR, Walt gets burned.
If Klay gets any space, he's a knock down shooter. He's able to get his shot off against any defender, and Jordan is no different.
Kirilenko is less of a shooter, but shot 34% on 2.6 attempts per game in his all-star season. As we slide into the feel of a game, Kirilenko slides to the four and Melo comes in for a burst of scoring, or Hayward comes in as another shooter/defender. Kirilenko helps move the ball, and can be a lockdown defender on anybody he switches on. I may have him switch to guard Jordan if Jordan finds rhythm.
Horford is the perfect 4/5 for this team. He's a terrific defender, a great shooter, and can play a number of roles. When Shaq has to take a breather, Horford fills in at the five. When Horford needs a break, Kirilenko slides to the four.
I don't wanna hear this ******** that "Jordan always wins". If Jordan always won, he'd be 15-0 in the finals, not 6-0. He even proved he could lose in the middle of his prime when he went against Shaq himself. And that was when Jordan had a much more open paint with shooters in Pippen, Kukoc, Kerr, and Armstrong around him. (tangent-Jordan and the Bulls were 13-4 with him in the regular season and 12-2 to end the season. He was plenty himself by that point, the Bulls just didn't win so people made excuses. Shaq and Penny took out a pre-3-peat, healthy, Jordan led, Bulls team.)
I just want to end with a stat. Pretty simple, but hopefully it can show how problematic spacing will be for Ellis and how advantageous it will be for me.
Can Michael Jordan really win with absolutely no spacing? Can Shaquille O'Neal really lose with unlimited spacing?
PG - Michael Jordan / Walt Frazier
SG - Giannis Antetokounmpo / George Gervin
SF - Dominique Wilkins / Bernard King
PF - Shawn Kemp / Kevin Love
C - Patrick Ewing / Artis Gilmore
Team Rgiss:
PG - Damian Lillard / Kyle Lowry
SG - Klay Thompson / Eddie Jones / Kyle Korver
SF - Andrei Kirilenko / Gordon Hayward
PF - Al Horford / Carmelo Anthony
C - Shaquille O’Neal
Ellis269’s Case:
Air Jordan, Greek Freak, The Human Highlight Film, Reignman and Ewing to start. Clyde Frazier, Iceman, Bernard King, Kevin Love and A-Train off the bench.
I’m starting with an elite group of athletic freaks of nature, and great role players off the bench.
While I don’t have a traditional point guard, Jordan and Giannis are both capable of running the offense. I’ve got elite scoring, defense, rebounding, post play and the ability to get out in transition and run. My bench adds elite scoring, shooting, size and another excellent perimeter defender.
Rgiss’ Case:
Not doing a long writeup, but want to get a basic style of play across if it's not self-explanatory enough.
Starting Lineup:
I'm gonna put it simple. Shaquille O'Neal has a wide open floor, a team full of playmakers and shooters, and every player can switch just about anything. We play a 4-out offense and a switch-almost-everything defense. If anybody has any space, they're shooting the ball.
If I'm Ellis, I'm really worried about how the spacing on my team works out. Especially with a team with a slew of interior defenders, trotting out a starting lineup where your best shooter only was a 33% shooter because of a shortened three point line for a couple seasons and took 1.5 threes a game in his career isn't a good idea. His starting lineup's career 3P%: 0-33-32-28-0. His primary way to score is to go through Shaq, Horford, and Kirilenko.
Listen, Frazier is an all time defender, but when switched onto Shaq, does he have any hope? As soon as Dame and Shaq run a PnR, Walt gets burned.
If Klay gets any space, he's a knock down shooter. He's able to get his shot off against any defender, and Jordan is no different.
Kirilenko is less of a shooter, but shot 34% on 2.6 attempts per game in his all-star season. As we slide into the feel of a game, Kirilenko slides to the four and Melo comes in for a burst of scoring, or Hayward comes in as another shooter/defender. Kirilenko helps move the ball, and can be a lockdown defender on anybody he switches on. I may have him switch to guard Jordan if Jordan finds rhythm.
Horford is the perfect 4/5 for this team. He's a terrific defender, a great shooter, and can play a number of roles. When Shaq has to take a breather, Horford fills in at the five. When Horford needs a break, Kirilenko slides to the four.
I don't wanna hear this ******** that "Jordan always wins". If Jordan always won, he'd be 15-0 in the finals, not 6-0. He even proved he could lose in the middle of his prime when he went against Shaq himself. And that was when Jordan had a much more open paint with shooters in Pippen, Kukoc, Kerr, and Armstrong around him. (tangent-Jordan and the Bulls were 13-4 with him in the regular season and 12-2 to end the season. He was plenty himself by that point, the Bulls just didn't win so people made excuses. Shaq and Penny took out a pre-3-peat, healthy, Jordan led, Bulls team.)
I just want to end with a stat. Pretty simple, but hopefully it can show how problematic spacing will be for Ellis and how advantageous it will be for me.
Can Michael Jordan really win with absolutely no spacing? Can Shaquille O'Neal really lose with unlimited spacing?
