What's new

All-Time NBA Draft Round 1: Ron Mexico vs. Wes Mantooth

Which team would win in a 7-game series?


  • Total voters
    40
  • Poll closed .

Elizah Huge

Respect All, Fear None
Contributor
2024 Award Winner
Team Ron Mexico:

PG - Kyrie Irving / Tiny Archibald
SG - Vince Carter / Allan Houston
SF - Julius Erving / Adrian Dantley
PF - Amar'e Stoudemire / Elton Brand
C - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Bob McAdoo

Team Wes Mantooth:

PG - Chauncey Billups / Joe Dumars
SG - Ray Allen / Drazen Petrovic
SF - Grant Hill / Gordon Hayward
PF - LeBron James / Wes Unseld
C - Chris Webber / Joel Embiid

Ron Mexico's Case:

Chauncey is a good player but Kyrie has done more in his career already and hit a higher peak.
Ray Allen was a good role player and shooter but never did as much as Vince
Dr J is just incredible and would give everyone fits from Wes's team
Nobody can guard Kareem from the opposing team and this is a huge mismatch.

We are better at 4 of the 5 positions, have a much better bench, and are a more athletic team overall.

My team, especially the starters is built on being the most athletic team in this competition. Built around the Greatest player in NBA history Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Wes's team is built with Lebron and some shooters around him. I have plenty of athletic bodies to throw at Lebron including another great athlete Dr J. I would probably match him up early and often on Lebron and bring in Dantley or Houston early to for Amare with Dr J sliding into the small 4 spot. But I would throw a very athletic Amare at Lebron as well. Lebron cant matchup well enough on these guys.

I have the best player in this Match up. Lebron comes in second but I have the real GOAT. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has won 6 championships and was the Finals MVP twice. He is the league MVP 6X in one of the great eras of basketball. He was an All-star 19X! He was elite offensively and defensively. Most importantly he has the most unstoppable greatest move in all of basketball. His sky hook is unguardable. He can run with the athletes that I have very well as a quick more slender big man. Chris Webber cannot even pretend to guard him even in his sleep. My team could dump it down to him all game and he would have to be double or triple teamed giving my other guys open shots. His next backup big is and undersized, unathletic Unseld or a phantom player who has never been healthy during the playoff.

Who will slow down Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 34.8 PPG, 16.6 Rebounds per game and 4.6 assists per game.

Next up we have the third best player on the court Julius Erving. Dr J is the ABA Goat. He is athletic enough to keep up with Lebron. An elite offensive player who can pass the ball and play defense. He has won 3 championships, 1 in the NBA and 2 in the ABA. Won MVP in both the ABA and NBA. His best stats were in the ABA but in the NBA he still put up 27 ppg on 52% shooting. He was a good passer and averaged over 4 assists per game for his career. He once averaged over 15 boards per game. He was also great on defense and blocked shots and got steals. He was an all defensive player in his career. He could slow down Lebron and he could put pressure on him.

Amar'e Stoudemire was a freak athlete before his injuries. Before his first major surgery he was a good defender and an elite offensive player. The season I am taking him from is before his injury when he was 22 and averaged 26 points per game on 55.9% shooting. That year he stepped up big time in the playoffs and almost averaged 30 points per game. In the western finals he outplayed prime Tim Duncan who was 28 and won the championship. Against Duncan in that series he put up 37 PPG on 55% shooting and was almost unstoppable.

Vince Carter is one of the greatest athletes ever in the NBA. All I really need him to do is dunk over the top of some of the bigs to break their spirits. He averaged 27.6 PPG on good numbers including being a solid 3 point shooter at 40.8% that season on 5.3 attempts per game. He could also pass the ball well and play defense.

Kyrie is still young but he had a phenomenal season and has outplayed Steph Curry three years in a row the finals. This season he averaged 25.2 PPG 47.3% shooting and 40.1% on 3s, 5.8 assists Per game. In the Finals this year he put up 29.4 PPG on 47.2% shooting and 41.9% on 3s with 6.2 attempts per game. He is the best or one of the best ball handlers of all time.

My bench is has one of the great scorers of all time Adrian Dantley who would run wild against Wes's bench. He could do whatever he wanted against that lineup. He averaged over 30 points per game for 3 seasons in a row. He turned the Utah Jazz franchise around and let them to the playoffs and played well in them. I also have 2 players that should probably start for me but are not well known enough for me to put them in. Tiny Archibald was the only player to lead the NBA in points and assists for the season, was a quick athlete with good handle and could do it all. He was an MVP winner in 80-81 season where there were many other great players. I also have Bob McAdoo who was a 2X NBA Champion and won the MVP in 74-75 season. Another guy who could do anything and was way ahead of his time as a stretch athletic 4/5. Him and tiny would be impossible to stop together in the pick and roll. And for good measure I have a great shooter and all around scorer Allan Houston and a great post up guy and really solid player before his injury Elton Brand.

Wes Mantooth's Case:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-Bob McAdoo
Amar'e Stoudemire-Elton Brand
Julius Erving-Adrian Dantley
Vince Carter-Allan Houston
Kyrie Irving-Tiny Archibald

Kareem was great, no doubt. But he was soft as ****. Amar'e and Kyrie are pretty much sieves on defense. Vince and Julius can dunk, great. This is just an odd hodgepodge of players, quite frankly. I hate how they mix and match. Compare that to my team.

Chauncey Billups-Joe Dumars
Ray Allen-Drazen Petrovic
Grant Hill-Gordon Hayward
Lebron James-Wes Unseld
Chris Webber-Joel Embiid

As athletic as Ron's team is, mine is perhaps more athletic and has infinitely better chemistry, iq and passing. I will play his little game of running and pass the ball all over, his idiot defenders not rotating quickly enough as Chauncey "Mr. Big Shot" and Ray-Ray drill 3's and Grant and Lebron catch alley oops. It would be pretty ugly.

By the way, all-time three pointers made.

Ray Allen is 1st.
Chauncey Billups is 11th.
Lebron James is 26th.

Add in Drazen and Dumars and Benedict and Hill to a lesser extent and good luck trying to defend all that while Lebron and Hill attack the basket.
 
I think my bench could give his starters a run. Although people dont respect some of the old players much but I have two MVPs coming off the bench which is more than all of Wes's team.

This should be a blow out but Wes will get some votes because of recency bias, especially with Lebron. Lebron is great but his career looks much better due to playing in the Leastern Conference his whole career.
 
Both Amar'e and McAdoo >> Webber
Kareem > Lebron
Kyrie Irving and Tiny > Chauncey
Dr. J > Grant Hill
Vinsanity > Ray Allen

Its Lebron and a bunch of okay role players.
 
I think my bench could give his starters a run. Although people dont respect some of the old players much but I have two MVPs coming off the bench which is more than all of Wes's team.

This should be a blow out but Wes will get some votes because of recency bias, especially with Lebron. Lebron is great but his career looks much better due to playing in the Leastern Conference his whole career.

I have Lebron and Wes who won MVP's.
 
Kareem wasn't soft and Embiid was a horrific pick, but Wes's team still fits better imo. Amare might be the most overrated player I've ever seen. Nash absolutely made him, and with no playmakers of note on Ron's team he's not a very good player in this setting with his horrific defense (I'd start Brand over him).
 
I like the Kareem and Dr. J pairing for Ron, but don't like the rest of his starting lineup.

I much prefer Wes team's overall starting lineup all the way. HATE the Embiid pick, but he made up for it in my mind by taking Wes Unseld and keeping him from being the biggest snub of this year.

Don't particularly like either bench. Closer than I expected, but I think it's Wes by a hair.
 
Chauncey was a Finals MVP and was a hair from winning back to back titles if it wasn't for the Spurs greatness. He was that good.
 
I think this was the hardest for me to pick out of the four so far
 
Chauncey was a Finals MVP and was a hair from winning back to back titles if it wasn't for the Spurs greatness. He was that good.

He won built on a team that was good at every position. Chauncey was good but not a high level pg. Stats wise his best year isnt anywhere close to Irving. His best playoffs are far behind what Irving did this year. But Chauncey is a better defender.

He also is sub par in almost every way to Nate Archibald. The only player ever to lead the NBA in points and assists for a season. Was a good defender and very athletic. 34 ppg and 11.4 assist per game in his MVP year.
 
Don't particularly like either bench.

What? That bench for me is killer. Archibald's best season was one of the best ever in the NBA when he won MVP. He should be starting for me but I knew he would get no respect in this. McAdoo is one of the greatest all time stretch bigs. He put up 34.5 ppg and 14.1 rebounds in his MVP season. All while playing really good defense as well. One of the most well rounded bigs ever.

I thought of all places Adrian Dantley would get a little more respect on here. He turned the Jazz around and put a team on his back and started the tradition of winning for the Jazz.
 
I still have no idea what Wes's team would do to slow any of my bigs down. Lebron is his best post defender. Is he going to guard Hakeem?
 
I have a feeling Hayward is biting Wes in the ***. Lol no way he should be losing this match.

He is no where near the player Dantley was but I think that has very little to do with this, most people pick based on starters and only glance at the bench if they cant decide.
 
Toughest one for me. I hate the Kyrie pick, but Stoudemire is underrated. I'm not a fan of Webber, and Ron's team doesn't have Gordon ****ing Hayward on it.

Pains me to vote against GOAT, but it is what it is.
 
Back
Top